The pricing algorithm used for this software is more complicated than is typical for most software products, but at the same time it gives you more freedom in what you can do with the software. You don't need to understand anything written here. You can simply fill out the form on the web page for the software and get an immediate quote. We do not keep any record of those who request quotes and thus you do not need to be registered to get a quote.
The software and support is free for teaching use, or for research that involves testing and comparing software. The software is free for anybody who is not getting paid for doing the work which involves using this software. If your job involves doing research, and you publish work which refers to the Math à la Carte software, you can get a 50% refund on the base price (one time per product only) upon request. If you are developing a product on your own, you should pay for the software upon making your first sale. Except as noted, support is only available to those who purchase the software. Documentation (Acrobat or PostScript) and demonstration drivers are always free.
The default distribution product is mangled source. This is source that for all practical purposes is impossible for anything other than a compiler to read. It has the advantage over a binary distribution of being a product that you can compile in a variety of environments with your choice of compiler options. It compiles to exactly the same object code (except for line numbers or variable names stored as part of the debugging information) as does the clean source. The clean source is available for an extra price upon advance payment together with a signed hard-copy nondisclosure agreement. Except for the clean source, all software can be downloaded and tried before paying for it. You will be reminded to delete the software if payment is not received.
Our goal is to maximize profits, which we believe will be accomplished by being a price leader and by making high quality support available. If it makes you feel any better, Math à la Carte is committed to NOT going public, profits will be used to support work in computational mathematics, and an attempt will be made to insure that control of the corporation is always such that this continues to be the case.
The price depends on the following:
| p | The base price. |
| c | Number of users writing code using the routines. |
| b | Number of users getting binary copies of the code as part of an application. |
| m | Number of users getting mangled copies of the source code as part of an application. |
| B | As for b but the people are paying for the software. |
| M | As for m but the people are paying for the software. |
| s | This is 0 unless you are getting the clean source. It requires a hard copy signed hardcopy nondisclosure agreement and requires a paid copy of the mangled source first. |
| S | This is 0 unless you elect to get support. (Without support one still gets automatic notification of bug fixes and enhancements.) |
For each routine (or in the case of some complicated routines, features in that routine) there are defined jx values, where x takes any of the letters in the above table which depends on a number of users. Similarly, p, s, and S are defined. The function f(i, j) is defined in the table heading below. f(0, j) = 0, f(1, j) = 1, ... f(infinity, j) = j.
Let ix be the number of users for which you wish to license the software in the categories mentioned above. You agree to buy additional licenses for people if the number you have paid for is exceeded by a factor of 2. Since, for example, buying a license for 8 people is cheaper than buying two licenses for 4 people, it may pay you to overestimate the numbers slightly. Any value for ix > 254 is treated as if it were 255.
The price for the software is then
price = p * sumx f(ix, jx) + s + S * f(ic, 12)
Support is always charged on a yearly basis. It covers general questions on setting up and making effective use of the software, but not detailed questions about setting up your particular application. It does include some help in tracking down bugs. More specific support is available on a case by case basis. There is a discount of 75% after the first year if you keep continuous support.
The price for the entire library depends on the total number of users who might conceivably use the software on that machine, which we denote by N. Math à la Carte source code is not to be made available to anyone other than the system administrators on these machines. Those who wish to use their application in another environment should purchase a separate license for the particular routines they are using. The price for the entire library is given by $100 * f(N, 24), where as before if N > 254 it is treated as if it were 255. If one wants support for the entire library beyond bug fixes, the price for the first year of support $100 * f(N, 8). As above, you may want to pay for more users than you currently use if more users are likely.
Sample Values of f(i, j) = j*i / (i + j - 1)
i j= 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
2 1.000 1.333 1.500 1.600 1.666 1.714 1.750 1.777
4 1.000 1.600 2.000 2.285 2.500 2.666 2.800 2.909
8 1.000 1.777 2.400 2.909 3.333 3.692 4.000 4.266
16 1.000 1.882 2.666 3.368 4.000 4.571 5.090 5.565
32 1.000 1.939 2.823 3.657 4.444 5.189 5.894 6.564
64 1.000 1.969 2.909 3.820 4.705 5.565 6.400 7.211
128 1.000 1.984 2.953 3.908 4.848 5.774 6.686 7.585
256 1.000 1.992 2.976 3.953 4.923 5.885 6.839 7.787
i j= 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
2 1.800 1.818 1.833 1.846 1.857 1.866 1.875 1.882
4 3.000 3.076 3.142 3.200 3.250 3.294 3.333 3.368
8 4.500 4.705 4.888 5.052 5.200 5.333 5.454 5.565
16 6.000 6.400 6.769 7.111 7.428 7.724 8.000 8.258
32 7.200 7.804 8.380 8.930 9.454 9.955 10.434 10.893
64 8.000 8.767 9.513 10.240 10.947 11.636 12.307 12.962
128 8.470 9.343 10.202 11.050 11.885 12.709 13.521 14.321
256 8.727 9.660 10.586 11.505 12.417 13.323 14.222 15.114
i j= 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
2 1.888 1.894 1.900 1.904 1.909 1.913 1.916 1.920
4 3.400 3.428 3.454 3.478 3.500 3.520 3.538 3.555
8 5.666 5.760 5.846 5.925 6.000 6.068 6.133 6.193
16 8.500 8.727 8.941 9.142 9.333 9.513 9.684 9.846
32 11.333 11.755 12.160 12.549 12.923 13.283 13.629 13.963
64 13.600 14.222 14.829 15.421 16.000 16.564 17.116 17.655
128 15.111 15.889 16.657 17.414 18.162 18.899 19.626 20.344
256 16.000 16.879 17.751 18.618 19.478 20.332 21.179 22.021
Updated January 30, 2001