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Does Mathematica provide any kind of warranty that their calculations are correct?

Say I'm running a billion dollar company, and I relied on Mathematica to do calculations, like aerodynamics or car accidents simulations, etc. After releasing my product, I found that Mathematica is buggy and provided me with wrong results, and I lost a few Millions because of that.

What kind of warranty will Wolfram provide?

The Quantum Physicist
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  • None. That is most likely covered in the EULA or similar. There was a question or discussion in chat about this, but I cannot find it right away. You could ask this at community.wolfram.com :D – Yves Klett Jul 21 '14 at 16:37
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    Do you really live in fantasy? There are no guaranties that mathematics is correct (at least such rich axiomatic systems as arithmetics of natural numbers - Goedel theorems) the more it concerns Mathematica – Artes Jul 21 '14 at 16:40
  • I suspect that such a warranty would be very expensive. Not many pieces of software come with that kind of guarantee. – Ymareth Jul 21 '14 at 16:40
  • @Artes I'm not talking about theories that call mathematics incomplete. I'm talking about software problems that could get me to lose millions just because of bugs in code. – The Quantum Physicist Jul 21 '14 at 16:51
  • Since axiomatic systems are incomplete you can't expect that you will be provided any kind of serious warranty. – Artes Jul 21 '14 at 16:56
  • @Artes is this the reason why there's no warranty really or is it your assumption? Because I'm talking on the level of software bugs. – The Quantum Physicist Jul 21 '14 at 16:58
  • Both might be true, however if you take a closer look at S.Wolfram's blog you'll find that he seems to ignore limitation theorems in mathematics. Nevertheless I'm quite sure he is not so naive to play with warranting anything seriously. – Artes Jul 21 '14 at 17:04
  • Somewhat related: http://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/27505/when-i-can-assume-that-all-decimal-digits-returned-by-mathematica-are-provably-c – Michael E2 Jul 21 '14 at 17:18
  • Do you know any comparable software package that guarantees anything`? – Yves Klett Jul 21 '14 at 17:19
  • Anyone developing serious software that may risk "Millions" should probably design an appropriate level of user acceptance testing prior to rolling it into production. Then, the responsibility properly falls on the user. – Jagra Jul 21 '14 at 17:26
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    If you read the EULA of almost any software package, I'm not going to name any but pick any spreadsheet, word-processor, accounts package, database and compiler and you'll find a clause that specifically says they are not liable if the results are wrong - ever. – Ymareth Jul 21 '14 at 17:27
  • @Jagra ...And other players http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/07/24/hackers-reveal-nasty-new-car-attacks-with-me-behind-the-wheel-video/ – Dr. belisarius Jul 21 '14 at 17:35
  • I can also picture the cascading and endless court cases. Product A failed, they blame the OS manufacturer for changing a library, they blame the compiler they used, they blame the hardware manufacturer who blames the design software... – Ymareth Jul 21 '14 at 17:35
  • See also http://www.wolfram.com/legal/agreements/wolfram-mathematica-raspberry-pi.html – Daniel Lichtblau Jul 21 '14 at 21:48
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    Were I not an Wolfram Research employee with a vested interest, I would vote to close the question. I see nothing to distinguish it from a troll. Feel free to offer enlightenment to indicate otherwise. – Daniel Lichtblau Jul 21 '14 at 22:19
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    a) What you describe is not warranty, it would be liability. b) WRI DOES actually provide warranty, if you read the terms. If the disk is broken, they'll send you a new one, and that is the maximum remedy. c) Liability in software is generally not offered, and if it's contractually agreed, then it's based on a custom contract, and not for standard software. But such contracts are rarely done, and the terms will usually specify things like free from liability, hold harmless, and indemnify. d) you really don't seem familiar with the regular business practices in the software industry. – Andreas Lauschke Jul 21 '14 at 22:51
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    As of today, there are no known approaches in software engineering that would allow to create completely bug-free software of such complexity (and the progress in this area seems quite slow). There exist quite simple pieces of software that are claimed to be provably correct, but it usually requires a lot of resources to do (and closer look usually shows that some parts are still only believed to be correct). Unfortunately, we don't yet have completely bug-free CPUs, OS kernels and compilers (except most trivial ones). And even published math results occasionally turn to be wrong... – Vladimir Reshetnikov Jul 21 '14 at 22:56
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    This question appears to be off-topic because the answer is easily found in the EULA. – m_goldberg Jul 21 '14 at 22:59
  • @Vladimir Reshetnikov [Off topic for this query, but I can no longer comment on your response.] I have tracked that erroneous integral to a problem in Series and filed a fairly detailed report. – Daniel Lichtblau Jul 22 '14 at 03:33
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    All: If you've got something to say please consider posting an answer rather than extending the comments indefinitely. – Mr.Wizard Jul 22 '14 at 03:43
  • @m_goldberg If the answer is "easily" found in the EULA, that doesn't mean it's off-topic. It means the answer is "easily" found in the EULA that has to do with Mathematica... Seriously you should learn some logic! – The Quantum Physicist Jul 22 '14 at 09:01

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Excerpt from the license agreement, http://www.wolfram.com/legal/agreements/wolfram-mathematica.html:

Limited Warranty and Disclaimer

WRI warrants that the Product shall be free from defects in the physical media for a period of 90 days following the date of purchase when used under normal conditions. You acknowledge that WRI shall provide, as Your sole remedy for breach of this warranty, another copy of the physical media. The foregoing warranty is in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied.

WRI does not warrant that the Product is free from all errors and/or omissions, and in fact it may contain them. Except as specifically set forth above, the Product is provided "as is". WRI makes no representations or warranties, express, statutory, or implied, with respect to the Product or the Software contained in the Product or data accessed thereby, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability, interoperability, or fitness for a particular purpose, all of which are expressly disclaimed. WRI does not warrant that the functions contained in the Product will meet Your requirements or that the operation of the Product will be uninterrupted or error free.

WRI, and its agents, representatives, and independent contractors, shall not be obligated to provide or liable, under any circumstances, for providing information on or corrections to errors and/or omissions discovered at any time in the Product, whether or not they were aware of the errors and/or omissions. WRI does not recommend the use of the Product for applications in which errors and/or omissions could threaten life, injury, or significant loss. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so this may not apply to You. This warranty gives You specific legal rights, and You may also have other rights that vary from state to state. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Illinois in the United States of America without effect to any choice of law provisions.

Limited Damages

In no event shall WRI or its agents, representatives, and independent contractors be liable for any lost profits, lost use, lost benefits, or any consequential, indirect, incidental, special, or punitive damages, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise, even if WRI has been advised of the possibility of such damages. WRI's cumulative liability to You or any other party for any loss or damages resulting from any claims, demands, actions, or otherwise arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall not exceed the license fee paid for the Product. Some states do not allow certain limitations of damages, so the above limitations may not apply to You.

You should read the agreement that came with your copy of Mathematica, in case it differs. On a Mac, it can be accessed through the menu, Mathematica > About Mathematica... (or About Wolfram Mathematica...). This brings up a palette with a "License Agreement" button that will display the license agreement.

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