What is MAPLE?

MAPLE is an algebra manipulation and graphic visualization tool used that  has been adopted by hundreds of colleges and universities and is very widely available.

MAPLE is supported by Harvey Mudd College's Computing and Information Services and is available on both the MAC and PC Clusters at HMC.

Instructions on how to install MAPLE on your computer if you are an HMC student is here.

On the web, "MAPLE central" is the MAPLEsoft website, http://www.maplesoft.com where you can purchase a copy of MAPLE, find example worksheets, and look for the answer to your favorite MAPLE trivia questions.

Two notes on MAPLE 17

I. Worksheet vs. Document Mode

1. Click MAPLE 17 -> Preferences (on a MAC) or Tools  -> Options (Windows) 
2. Click the Interface tab
3. Select Worksheet from the drop-down menu titled Default format for new worksheets.
   

II. Maple Notation (>  y:=x^2) vs. 2d Math Notation (y:=x²)

1. Click MAPLE 17 -> Preferences or Tools  -> Options (Windows) 
2. Click the Display tab
3. Select Maple Notation from the drop-down menu titled Input Display.
   

Online Collections of MAPLE Worksheets

• MAPLE maintains a collection of worksheets in a broad variety of disciplines at MAPLE Application Center which among other disciplines has a collection of worksheets on PDEs. They also have an extensive list of MAPLE resources.
• Harold Boas at Texas A & M has assembled a collection of MAPLE Resources and tutorials.
• Matthias Kawski of Arizona State University has a large collection of MAPLE worksheets including many on Fourier series and PDE.

Juan Tolosa's Top 10 MAPLE Tips

1. Always start a new worksheet, or a new chapter, with restart: . This make the sheet easier to re-execute independent of past definitions.
2. When you find a particularly good way to do something make a note of it. Include an  explanation, and save it in a special folder ("my MAPLE folder"). Otherwise, after a while you will forget how it was done, and where it was.
3. To break your input into several lines without executing it, use <Shift> <Enter>. This is particularly useful to neatly arrange long inputs, and to carry out "DO" loops. To insert a page break (for printing) after a region, highlight the left vertical bar of a Maple line and  type <Ctrl> <Enter> .
4. Learn to insert text and execution groups at will. When you highlight the left vertical bar of a Maple line and you press the Text key on the menu ("T" key), Maple inserts a text line right before the line you highlighted. However, if you press the Command key("[>" key), Maple will insert a command line right after the highlighted line. To insert a Maple command before the line, press <Ctrl> M after highlighting the left bar.
5. Use MAPLE online help . Say, to learn about the "plot" command, type ?plot; .The most useful thing about the information you get is the examples, which are at the end of the help page. You can copy them, paste them into your document, and carry out approppriate modifications. You can also go to the "help" menu and search the Glossary, or search by Topic, or by Text. The "help" menu even has a new user's tour.
6. For animations involving several objects, e.g. plots, points, and lines, use "display" with the option "insequence=true". To learn more about this wonderful command, see examples in the help menu using ?display;.
7. Use the web. It is an excellent source of MAPLE worksheets that you can  shamelessly copy. The MAPLE website is particularly useful, http://www.maplesoft.com. (Try the "Applications Center".)
8. Use the "indent" and the "unindent" commands to divide a long worksheet  into sections and subsections. This is particularly useful for presentations. 
9. Before saving a document, go to the Edit menu and select Remove Output -> From Worksheet. You will get a file that is a lot smaller. Outputs, especially graphs, use up a lot of memory. The Edit menu also has the Execute option, which allows you to execute a whole bunch of commands at once (highlight them prior to choosing Execute), or even the whole worksheet.
   
10. Backup your work often. If you have performed a lot of operations and graphs, use restart or remove output from worksheet every now and then, or even save your work, quit, and restart MAPLE, to avoid nasty crashes.