The Apache Commons Team is pleased to announce the availability of Apache Commons Math 3.6. Apache Commons Math is a library of lightweight, self-contained mathematics and statistics components addressing the most common problems not available in the Java programming language or Commons Lang. Version 3.6 is a minor release: It combines bug fixes and new features. Changes to existing features were made in a backwards-compatible way such as to allow drop-in replacement of the v3.x JAR file. Most notable among the new features are: field-based version of Ordinary Differential Equations framework, numerous improvements in distributions, statistics and neuralnet packages, refactored implementation of microsphere interpolation algorithm, explicit specification of rotation convention to use (both vector operator and frame transform conventions are now available). The minimum version of the Java platform required to compile and use Commons Math is Java 5. Users are encouraged to upgrade to this version as this release not only includes bug fixes but also deprecates numerous classes and methods that will be deleted from the next major release (4.0). Caveat: 1. The implementation of the BOBYQA optimization algorithm is in alpha state (cf. MATH-621): Many code paths are untested, and we are looking for volunteers to improve the code readability, robustness and performance and to extend the unit tests suite. 2. A few methods in the FastMath class are in fact slower that their counterpart in either Math or StrictMath (cf. MATH-740 and MATH-901). Users are encouraged to upgrade to this version as this release not only includes bug fixes but also deprecates numerous classes and methods that will be deleted from the next major release (4.0). A full list of all changes can be found in the release notes at http://www.apache.org/dist/commons/math/RELEASE-NOTES.txt Source and binary distributions are available for download from the Apache Commons download site: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-math/download_math.cgi When downloading, please verify signatures using the KEYS file available at the above location when downloading the release. Maven artifacts are also available in the maven central repository: GroupId: org.apache.commons ArtifactId: commons-math3 Version: 3.6 For complete information on Apache Commons Math, including instructions on how to submit bug reports, patches, or suggestions for improvement, see the Apache Commons Math website: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-math/ Luc Maisonobe, on behalf of the Apache Commons community