Mathematica (company)

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For the Wolfram's Mathematica software package, see Wolfram Mathematica.

Mathematica was founded by Princeton University professors in 1969 and had a multi-faceted history.[1]

  • It did consulting work, mostly "to develop mathematical models for marketing decision making."
  • a leading developer of state lottery systems
  • developer of RAMIS

Early day participants[]

  • Oskar Morgenstern, economist; one of the company's founders (1969)
  • Tibor Fabian, Mathematica's Hungarian-born president (1980s)
  • William Baumol and William Bowen: economists, early day participants

Divisions[]

  • Mathematica Policy Research - the only unit still carrying the Mathematica name.
  • Mathematica Products Group - best known for developing RAMIS
  • MathTech, the company's technical and economic consulting group - "research projects and computer systems other than Ramis."[1]

A quarter of a century after Mathematica's founding, it "was largely owned by a group of professors in Mathematics and Economics at Princeton University ... as this group aged, they opted to cash out by selling." The result was a 3-way split: two units became employee-owned companies and another was sold several times.

Mathematica Products Group[]

In 1982, Mathematica Products Group's RAMIS was described as "nonprocedural" and "bordering on artificial intelligence."[2] This unit of Mathematica was purchased by Martin Marietta Corporation in 1983,[3] and, eventually[4] by Computer Associates.

The RAMIS product sold well, initially on mainframes,[5] subsequently on PCs.

Mathematica Policy Research[]

The Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) unit's strength was in "social experiments and surveys."[1] In 1983 MPR reported "a major survey assignment for the American Medical Association."

In 1986 it became a separate, employee-owned company.

MathTech[]

Like MPR, in 1986 MathTech became an employee-owned company. Known today as Mathtech, Inc.,[6] it was described by The New York Times as "a Washington-area educational consulting firm [7]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Karen W. Arenson (February 22, 1983). "MATHEMATICA'S SHIFT INTO SOFTWARE FIELD". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Mathematica, Inc". February 24, 1982.
  3. ^ "RAMIS II, PC Unison". Computerworld. September 9, 1985. p. 6.
  4. ^ including after ownership by On-Line Software International
  5. ^ including 40 AT&T licenses, and other known-name companies
  6. ^ "Mathtech Inc. was originally formed as the Strategy and Consulting arm of Princeton-based professional services firm Mathematica, Inc." "History".
  7. ^ James Barron (November 8, 1987). "Learning The Facts of Life". The New York Times.
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