About CodeCogs
Numerical engineering, made runnable.
The name “Code Cogs” reflects what the site actually does:
- Providing the core numerical building blocks — the “cogs” — that larger engineering and scientific software is built from.
- Delivering that code in the language you actually need it in, rather than whatever we happened to write it in.
- Making it easy to try a method before committing to it — every function on the site can be run and plotted right here, not just read about.
Reducing the distance between a mathematical idea and working code is the whole point. Science and engineering shouldn't be gatekept by hard-to-find or badly documented libraries.
Our history
CodeCogs was started in 2004 by engineers who were struggling to find a well-documented, easily navigable library of numerical C/C++ code that was also affordable and usable in commercial products. We wanted software that could be dropped into both proprietary and open-source projects, submitted and licensed on the author's own terms, and broken down small enough that you only ever download what you actually need.
The interactive calculators came later, once the library itself existed — not as a separate product, but as the most direct way to prove that a piece of code actually works: run it, change the inputs, see the result, then take the code away with you.
That's still the whole idea today: an equation becomes an implementation, the implementation is something you can test before you trust it, and the code is yours to use under a licence that doesn't get in your way.
In memory of James Bateman
1937 – 2024
James was a loving father and an enthusiastic supporter of this project. He spent many hours writing and reviewing its reference pages, drawing on more than fifty years of mechanical engineering experience and a lifetime of carefully kept notes.
In an age when it can be difficult to know what information to trust, James cared deeply about getting things right. You can trust that he did his very best to ensure that everything he contributed to this site was accurate, useful, and worthy of the engineers and students who might rely upon it.
Get in touch
Found a bug, have a suggestion, or want to license code on different terms? Every page's Licence details explain the default MIT terms — for anything else, reach out via the details above.