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{{short description|Company that produces mathematical computing software}}
'''The MathWorks''' is a company which specializes in technical computing [[computer software|software]], including [[MATLAB]], [[Simulink]] and [[Stateflow]]. The company was founded by [[John N. Little|Jack Little]] and [[Cleve Moler]] in [[1984]] and is privately held. The headquarters is in [[Natick, Massachusetts]].
{{Use American English|date = February 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2020}}
{{Infobox company
| name = The MathWorks, Inc.
| logo = Matlab Logo.png
| logo_size = 150px
| type = [[Private company|Private]]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1984|12|7}} in [[Portola Valley, California]], U.S.
| founders ={{ubl|[[John N. Little|Jack Little]]|[[Cleve Moler]]|Steve Bangert}}
| location_city = [[Natick, Massachusetts]]
| location_country = U.S.
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = {{ubl|class=nowrap|Jack Little (CEO and President)|Cleve Moler (Chief Mathematician)}}
| industry = Mathematical computing software
| products = [[MATLAB]], [[Simulink]]
| revenue = {{Increase}} {{US$|1.25 billion|link=yes}} (2022)<ref name=about>{{cite web |title=About MathWorks |url=https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/policies_statements/taxid.html |access-date=30 April 2022 |website=mathworks.com}}</ref>
| num_employees = 6,000 (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mathworks.com/content/dam/mathworks/fact-sheet/2023-company-factsheet-8-5x11-8282v23.pdf |title=2023 Company Fact Sheet |access-date=2 July 2024 |publisher=MathWorks}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|https://mathworks.com/}}
}}
'''The MathWorks, Inc.''' is an American privately held [[corporation]] that specializes in mathematical computing [[computer software|software]]. Its major products include [[MATLAB]] and [[Simulink]], which support data analysis and simulation.


==History==
Employees of the MathWorks refer to themselves as MathWorkers.
Mathwork's flagship product, MATLAB, was created in the 1970s by [[Cleve Moler]], who was chairman of the computer science department at the [[University of New Mexico]] at the time. It was a free tool for academics. [[John N. Little|Jack Little]], who would eventually set up the company, came across the tool while he was a graduate student in electrical engineering at Stanford University.<ref name=Globe1997/><ref name=MolerIEEE>{{cite journal |last1=Haigh |first1=Thomas |title=Cleve Moler: Mathematical Software Pioneer and Creator of MATLAB |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |date=January 2008 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=87–91 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.2008.2|s2cid=31651607 }}</ref>


Little and Steve Bangert rewrote the code for MATLAB in [[C (programming language)|C]] while they were colleagues at an engineering firm.<ref name=Globe1997/><ref name="Nagar"/> They founded MathWorks along with Moler in 1984,<ref name="Nagar">{{cite book |last1=Nagar |first1=Sandeep |title=Introduction to MATLAB for Engineers and Scientists: Solutions for Numerical Computation and Modeling |date=2017 |publisher=Apress |location=New York |isbn=978-1484231890 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsJADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref> with Little running it out of his house in [[Portola Valley, California]].<ref name="Higham">{{cite news |last1=Higham |first1=Nicholas |title=Tracing the Early History of MATLAB Through SIAM News |url=https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/tracing-the-early-history-of-matlab-through-siam-news |access-date=5 December 2018 |work=SIAM News |date=16 March 2017}}</ref> Little would mail [[diskettes]] in baggies (food storage bags) to the first customers.<ref>{{cite news| title = At Mathworks, support + fun = success CEO Jack Little believes in power of his workers -- and their ideas| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26952065/the_boston_globe/ | publisher = The Boston Globe| first=Kimberly| last=Blanton| date=20 April 1997 |access-date=10 January 2019 |page=J1}}</ref> The company sold its first order, 10 copies of MATLAB, for $500 to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) in February 1985.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ogewell |first1=Verdi |title=MathWorks: Product Digitization is a Boost for Smart Algorithms and Simulation |url=https://www.engineering.com/PLMERP/ArticleID/11942/MathWorks-Product-Digitization-is-a-Boost-for-Smart-Algorithms-and-Simulation.aspx |access-date=5 December 2018 |work=Engineering.com |date=25 April 2016}}</ref> A few years later, Little and the company moved to Massachusetts.<ref name="Higham"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Chesto |first1=Jon |title=MathWorks expansion could bring up to 2,000 new jobs to Natick in the next five years |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/06/18/mathworks-expansion-could-bring-new-jobs-natick-next-five-years/kkuDtuCS0ykAJXkNf4tM7N/story.html |access-date=5 December 2018 |work=The Boston Globe |date=18 June 2018}}</ref> There, Little hired Jeanne O'Keefe, an experienced computer executive, to help formalize the business.<ref name=Globe1997/> By 1997, MathWorks was profitable, claiming revenue of around $50 million, and had around 380 employees.<ref name=Globe1997>{{cite news| title = At Mathworks, support + fun = success CEO Jack Little believes in power of his workers -- and their ideas| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26952040/the_boston_globe/ | publisher = The Boston Globe| first=Kimberly| last=Blanton| date=20 April 1997 |access-date=10 January 2019 |page=J5}}</ref>
⚫
==External link==
[[Image:Main campus, MathWorks, Natick MA.jpg|thumb|right|250px|{{center|Apple Hill Campus in [[Natick, Massachusetts|Natick]]}}]]


In 1999, MathWorks relocated to the Apple Hill office complex in Natick, Massachusetts, purchasing additional buildings in the complex in 2008 and 2009,<ref>{{cite news|first=Charlie |last=Breitrose| title = MathWorks buys Natick building to create campus| url = http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1444026990/MathWorks-buys-Natick-building-to-create-campus| publisher = The Metrowest Daily News| date = December 30, 2009}}</ref> ultimately occupying the entire campus. MathWorks expanded further in 2013 by buying [[Boston Scientific]]'s old headquarters campus, which is near to MathWorks' headquarters in Natick.<ref>{{cite news| first=Thomas |last=Grillo |title = MathWorks pays $55M for Boston Scientific's Natick HQ| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2013/04/mathworks-pays-55m-for-boston-sci.html| publisher = Boston Business Journal| date = April 5, 2013}}</ref>
* [http://www.mathworks.com/company/ MathWorks's company page]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/109/109223.html Profile on Yahoo Finance]


By 2018, the company had around 3,000 employees in Natick and said it had revenues of around $900 million.<ref name=Globe2018>{{cite news |last1=Chesto |first1=Jon |title=Natick software firm to add 2,000 local jobs within five years |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/talking-points/2018/06/15/natick-software-firm-add-local-jobs-within-five-years/4bOlgyWEXoXcCpFodCwGtM/story.html |work=Boston Globe |date=June 15, 2018}}</ref>
⚫
[[Category:Software companies]]

==Products==
The company's two lead products are [[MATLAB]], which provides an environment for scientists, engineers and programmers to analyze and visualize data and develop algorithms, and [[Simulink]], a graphical and simulation environment for [[model-based design]] of dynamic systems.<ref>{{cite news|title=Matlab edges closer to electronic design automation world|url=http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1151422|access-date=17 July 2017|work=EE Times|date=4 October 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Ogewell|first1=Verdi|title=MathWorks: Product Digitization is a Boost for Smart Algorithms and Simulation|url=http://www.engineering.com/PLMERP/ArticleID/11942/MathWorks-Product-Digitization-is-a-Boost-for-Smart-Algorithms-and-Simulation.aspx|access-date=4 August 2017|work=Engineering.com|date=25 April 2016}}</ref> MATLAB and Simulink are used in aerospace, automotive, software and other fields.<ref name="WBJO">{{cite news|last1=Welker|first1=Grant|title=MathWorks now in more than 180 countries|url=http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20170529/PRINTEDITION/305269996/mathworks-now-in-more-than-180-countries|work=Worcester Business Journal Online|date=29 May 2017}}</ref> The company's other products include [[Polyspace]], [[SimEvents]], [[Stateflow]], and [[ThingSpeak]].

==Corporate affairs==
===Intellectual property and competition===
In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against MathWorks and [[Wind River Systems]] alleging that an agreement between them violated [[antitrust]] laws. The agreement in question stipulated that the two companies agreed to stop competing in the field of dynamic control system design software, with MathWorks alone selling Wind River's MATRIXx Software and that Wind River would stop all research and development and sales in that field. Both companies eventually settled with the Department of Justice and agreed to sell the MATRIXx software to a third party. MathWorks had total sales of $200 million in 2001, with dynamic control system design software accounting for half of those sales.<ref>{{cite news|title=Press release: Justice Department Reaches Settlement with The MathWorks Inc.|url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press_releases/2002/200164.htm|work=US Department of Justice|date=August 15, 2002}}</ref>

MathWorks's Simulink software was found to have infringed 3 patents from [[National Instruments]] related to data flow diagrams in 2003, a decision which was confirmed by a court of appeal in 2004.<ref>{{cite news|title=Federal Circuit Affirms Decision For National Instruments In Patent Suit Vs. Mathworks|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/2115/federal-circuit-affirms-decision-for-national-instruments-in-patent-suit-vs-mathworks|work=Law360|date=September 7, 2004|language=en}}</ref>

In 2011, MathWorks sued [[AccelerEyes]] for copyright infringement in one court, and patent and trademark infringement in another. AccelerEyes accepted [[consent decree]]s in both cases before the trials began.<ref>{{cite news|title=MathWorks wins copyright and patent infringement cases|url=http://www.jonesday.com/experiencepractices/ExperienceDetail.aspx?experienceid=29028|access-date=16 September 2017|work=Jones Day}}</ref>

In 2012, the European Commission opened an [[antitrust]] investigation into MathWorks after competitors alleged that MathWorks refused to grant licenses to its intellectual property that would allow people to create software with [[interoperability]] with its products.<ref>{{cite news|title=Commission opens interoperability proceedings against MathWorks|url=http://kwm.com/en/uk/knowledge/insights/commission-opens-interoperability-proceedings-against-mathworks-20120302|work=King & Wood Mallesons|date=2012|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Opening of Proceedings|url=http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/cases/dec_docs/39840/39840_1005_4.pdf|publisher=European Commission|date=29 February 2012}}</ref> The case was closed in 2014 without filing any charge.<ref>{{cite web|title=Closing of Proceedings |url=http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/cases/dec_docs/39840/39840_1248_3.pdf|publisher=European Commission|quote=''The Commission decided, as a result of the formal investigation, to close the antitrust proceedings initiated on 29 February 2012 against MathWorks in case AT.39840.''|date=2 September 2014}}</ref>

===Logo===
The logo represents the first vibrational mode of a thin L-shaped membrane, clamped at the edges, and governed by the [[wave equation]], which was the subject of Moler's thesis.<ref name=MolerIEEE/>

===Community===
The company annually sponsors a number of student engineering competitions, including [[EcoCAR]], an advanced vehicle technology competition created by the [[United States Department of Energy]] (DOE) and [[General Motors]] (GM).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lulka|first1=Jess|title=EcoCAR3 and MathWorks Partner for Advanced Vehicle Technology|url=http://www.digitaleng.news/de/ecocar-3-and-mathworks-partner-for-advanced-vehicle-technology/|access-date=17 July 2017|work=Digital Engineering|date=14 October 2015}}</ref> MathWorks sponsored the mathematics exhibit at London's [[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Booth|first1=Nick|title=MathWorks - the proof is in the Science Museum|url=http://www.computerweekly.com/microscope/news/450409914/MathWorks-the-proof-is-in-the-Science-Museum|access-date=17 July 2017|work=Computer Weekly|issue=22 December 2016}}</ref>

In the coding community, MathWorks hosts MATLAB Central, an online exchange where users ask and answer questions and share code. MATLAB Central currently houses around than 145,000 questions in its MATLAB Answers database.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Waterman|first1=Pamela J.|title=Mainstreaming Math Tools for Engineers|url=http://www.digitaleng.news/de/mainstreaming-math-tools/|access-date=17 July 2017|work=Digital Engineering|date=1 June 2015}}</ref> The company actively supports numerous academic institutions to advance [[Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics|STEM]] education (primarily through the use of MathWorks products), including giving funding to MIT Open Courseware and MITx.<ref>{{cite news|title=MathWorks supports MIT with $2M funding|url=http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20140321/METROWEST01/140329985/mathworks-supports-mit-with-2m-funding|access-date=17 July 2017|work=Worcester Business Journal Online|date=21 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=MathWorks Sponsors Boston STEM Week|url=http://www.digitaleng.news/de/mathworks-sponsors-boston-stem-week/|access-date=17 July 2017|work=Digital Engineering|date=10 October 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last1=Higham |first1=Nicholas |title=Tracing the Early History of MATLAB Through SIAM News |url=https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/tracing-the-early-history-of-matlab-through-siam-news |work=SIAM News |date=March 16, 2017}}

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==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{official website|https://www.mathworks.com/}}

{{coord|42.30025|N|71.35039|W|region:US_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:MathWorks}}
[[Category:Companies based in Natick, Massachusetts]]
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[[Category:Software companies established in 1984]]
[[Category:Software companies based in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1984 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Software companies of the United States]]
[[Category:1984 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1984]]

Latest revision as of 01:43, 11 July 2024

The MathWorks, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryMathematical computing software
FoundedDecember 7, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-12-07) in Portola Valley, California, U.S.
Founders
Headquarters
Natick, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Jack Little (CEO and President)
  • Cleve Moler (Chief Mathematician)
ProductsMATLAB, Simulink
RevenueIncrease US$1.25 billion (2022)[1]
Number of employees
6,000 (2023)[2]
Websitemathworks.com

The MathWorks, Inc. is an American privately held corporation that specializes in mathematical computing software. Its major products include MATLAB and Simulink, which support data analysis and simulation.

History

[edit]

Mathwork's flagship product, MATLAB, was created in the 1970s by Cleve Moler, who was chairman of the computer science department at the University of New Mexico at the time. It was a free tool for academics. Jack Little, who would eventually set up the company, came across the tool while he was a graduate student in electrical engineering at Stanford University.[3][4]

Little and Steve Bangert rewrote the code for MATLAB in C while they were colleagues at an engineering firm.[3][5] They founded MathWorks along with Moler in 1984,[5] with Little running it out of his house in Portola Valley, California.[6] Little would mail diskettes in baggies (food storage bags) to the first customers.[7] The company sold its first order, 10 copies of MATLAB, for $500 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in February 1985.[8] A few years later, Little and the company moved to Massachusetts.[6][9] There, Little hired Jeanne O'Keefe, an experienced computer executive, to help formalize the business.[3] By 1997, MathWorks was profitable, claiming revenue of around $50 million, and had around 380 employees.[3]

Apple Hill Campus in Natick

In 1999, MathWorks relocated to the Apple Hill office complex in Natick, Massachusetts, purchasing additional buildings in the complex in 2008 and 2009,[10] ultimately occupying the entire campus. MathWorks expanded further in 2013 by buying Boston Scientific's old headquarters campus, which is near to MathWorks' headquarters in Natick.[11]

By 2018, the company had around 3,000 employees in Natick and said it had revenues of around $900 million.[12]

Products

[edit]

The company's two lead products are MATLAB, which provides an environment for scientists, engineers and programmers to analyze and visualize data and develop algorithms, and Simulink, a graphical and simulation environment for model-based design of dynamic systems.[13][14] MATLAB and Simulink are used in aerospace, automotive, software and other fields.[15] The company's other products include Polyspace, SimEvents, Stateflow, and ThingSpeak.

Corporate affairs

[edit]

Intellectual property and competition

[edit]

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against MathWorks and Wind River Systems alleging that an agreement between them violated antitrust laws. The agreement in question stipulated that the two companies agreed to stop competing in the field of dynamic control system design software, with MathWorks alone selling Wind River's MATRIXx Software and that Wind River would stop all research and development and sales in that field. Both companies eventually settled with the Department of Justice and agreed to sell the MATRIXx software to a third party. MathWorks had total sales of $200 million in 2001, with dynamic control system design software accounting for half of those sales.[16]

MathWorks's Simulink software was found to have infringed 3 patents from National Instruments related to data flow diagrams in 2003, a decision which was confirmed by a court of appeal in 2004.[17]

In 2011, MathWorks sued AccelerEyes for copyright infringement in one court, and patent and trademark infringement in another. AccelerEyes accepted consent decrees in both cases before the trials began.[18]

In 2012, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into MathWorks after competitors alleged that MathWorks refused to grant licenses to its intellectual property that would allow people to create software with interoperability with its products.[19][20] The case was closed in 2014 without filing any charge.[21]

[edit]

The logo represents the first vibrational mode of a thin L-shaped membrane, clamped at the edges, and governed by the wave equation, which was the subject of Moler's thesis.[4]

Community

[edit]

The company annually sponsors a number of student engineering competitions, including EcoCAR, an advanced vehicle technology competition created by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM).[22] MathWorks sponsored the mathematics exhibit at London's Science Museum.[23]

In the coding community, MathWorks hosts MATLAB Central, an online exchange where users ask and answer questions and share code. MATLAB Central currently houses around than 145,000 questions in its MATLAB Answers database.[24] The company actively supports numerous academic institutions to advance STEM education (primarily through the use of MathWorks products), including giving funding to MIT Open Courseware and MITx.[25][26]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "About MathWorks". mathworks.com. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  2. ^ "2023 Company Fact Sheet" (PDF). MathWorks. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Blanton, Kimberly (April 20, 1997). "At Mathworks, support + fun = success CEO Jack Little believes in power of his workers -- and their ideas". The Boston Globe. p. J5. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Haigh, Thomas (January 2008). "Cleve Moler: Mathematical Software Pioneer and Creator of MATLAB". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 30 (1): 87–91. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2008.2. S2CID 31651607.
  5. ^ a b Nagar, Sandeep (2017). Introduction to MATLAB for Engineers and Scientists: Solutions for Numerical Computation and Modeling. New York: Apress. p. 3. ISBN 978-1484231890. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Higham, Nicholas (March 16, 2017). "Tracing the Early History of MATLAB Through SIAM News". SIAM News. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  7. ^ Blanton, Kimberly (April 20, 1997). "At Mathworks, support + fun = success CEO Jack Little believes in power of his workers -- and their ideas". The Boston Globe. p. J1. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  8. ^ Ogewell, Verdi (April 25, 2016). "MathWorks: Product Digitization is a Boost for Smart Algorithms and Simulation". Engineering.com. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  9. ^ Chesto, Jon (June 18, 2018). "MathWorks expansion could bring up to 2,000 new jobs to Natick in the next five years". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  10. ^ Breitrose, Charlie (December 30, 2009). "MathWorks buys Natick building to create campus". The Metrowest Daily News.
  11. ^ Grillo, Thomas (April 5, 2013). "MathWorks pays $55M for Boston Scientific's Natick HQ". Boston Business Journal.
  12. ^ Chesto, Jon (June 15, 2018). "Natick software firm to add 2,000 local jobs within five years". Boston Globe.
  13. ^ "Matlab edges closer to electronic design automation world". EE Times. October 4, 2004. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  14. ^ Ogewell, Verdi (April 25, 2016). "MathWorks: Product Digitization is a Boost for Smart Algorithms and Simulation". Engineering.com. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  15. ^ Welker, Grant (May 29, 2017). "MathWorks now in more than 180 countries". Worcester Business Journal Online.
  16. ^ "Press release: Justice Department Reaches Settlement with The MathWorks Inc". US Department of Justice. August 15, 2002.
  17. ^ "Federal Circuit Affirms Decision For National Instruments In Patent Suit Vs. Mathworks". Law360. September 7, 2004.
  18. ^ "MathWorks wins copyright and patent infringement cases". Jones Day. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  19. ^ "Commission opens interoperability proceedings against MathWorks". King & Wood Mallesons. 2012.
  20. ^ "Opening of Proceedings" (PDF). European Commission. February 29, 2012.
  21. ^ "Closing of Proceedings" (PDF). European Commission. September 2, 2014. The Commission decided, as a result of the formal investigation, to close the antitrust proceedings initiated on 29 February 2012 against MathWorks in case AT.39840.
  22. ^ Lulka, Jess (October 14, 2015). "EcoCAR3 and MathWorks Partner for Advanced Vehicle Technology". Digital Engineering. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  23. ^ Booth, Nick. "MathWorks - the proof is in the Science Museum". Computer Weekly. No. 22 December 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  24. ^ Waterman, Pamela J. (June 1, 2015). "Mainstreaming Math Tools for Engineers". Digital Engineering. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  25. ^ "MathWorks supports MIT with $2M funding". Worcester Business Journal Online. March 21, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  26. ^ "MathWorks Sponsors Boston STEM Week". Digital Engineering. October 10, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2017.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to MathWorks.

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