Help with Calculations: Google has added a Calculator function that allows you to "evaluate mathematical expressions involving basic arithmetic (5+2*2 or 2^20), more complicated math (sine(30 degrees) or e^(i pi)+1), units of measure and conversions (100 miles in kilometers or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories), and physical constants (1 a.u./c or G*mass of earth/radius of earth^2)." » Read more
(August 18, 2003 8:04AM PT)

Fast Math with JNI: There is a tradeoff between speed and consistency that is particularly apparent in calls to the math libraries. In his article Fast Math with JNI, Jeffrey S. Smith comments on the "new math package, StrictMath, in J2SE 1.4 that guarantees identical math calculations across all platforms at the expense of execution speed." His particular application ran seven times slower. In this JavaWorld article Smith shows you how to use JNI to call into the optimized native routines for performing calculations.
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Java Numerics: The Java Grande Forum has been working to make Java a better environment for what they refer to as Grande applications. The Java Numerics working group is working "(1) to assess the suitability of Java for numerical computation, (2) to work towards community consensus on actions which can be taken to overcome deficiencies of the language and its run-time environment, and (3) to encourage the development of APIs for core mathematical operations."
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