Netscape caches recently accessed data. If you have used a web page, hold down shift-key while clicking on the Reload button to be sure you are getting the latest version. (This will usually but not always get the most up to date document.)
Click on the worksheet you wish to download. A dialog box will appear which will allow you to save the file. Place it in an appropriate directory or folder, which should be in your Private directory or folder if you are using the university system. Make sure that you organize your computer in appropriate directories or folders for different purposes so you can find important files like your Maple worksheets. The worksheet file will have some abbreviated name indicating its purpose, and it will have an extension of the form `.mws' or `.ms'. (Some systems may suppress the extension.)
Maple will start with a blank worksheet which you should close (unless you wish to write your own worksheet). Normally, you will be loading existing worksheets. You may also want to adjust the size of the window so that it fills the screen. Open the desired worksheet by choosing the File menu option `Open'. A dialog box will appear allowing you to find the worksheet and load it. On a Mac if Maple can't find the worksheet, it might be because you started working on the worksheet on a different kind of computer. In this case, first open the file in Word on the Mac. (Be sure to tell Word to check All Files.) Then save it as Text Only with Line Breaks. Then open Maple, go to the File Menu, then Open. You should now be able to open it.
> with(plots):
> polarplot(2*sin(theta),theta=0..2*Pi);
if you execute the second statement without having executed the first, Maple will just print the statement again. The first statement loads the plots package which contains the operation `polarplot'. Without that operation loaded, Maple doesn't know what to do when you invoke it, so it just repeats it to you.
Since output and text can overflow the screen, you may have to use the scroll bar to move back in the worksheet to see relevant output.
Many Maple statements will be self explanatory, but don't worry about the meaning of obscure syntax in commands. The text in the demonstration and help worksheets will explain what is being done. Your main tasks on Maple assignments are to learn how to use Maple to do routine calculations and to observe the output and think about what it means, not to become an expert Maple programmer.
An important warning. Maple and similar programs have one confusing aspect. If you save a partially completed worksheet and later reopen it, your previous output will appear on the screen, but the statements won't have been executed. So you should start again at the beginning of the worksheet and re-execute all the statements. This just amounts to pressing enter or return until you get to the point you left off. You need not read all the text and output again unless you want to review it. (In a subsequent release, Maple promises that it will provide a way to avoid this annoyance.) Similarly, as mentioned previously, Maple remembers the order in which statements have been executed rather than their order on the screen. If you move around in the worksheet and execute statements, you may produce some unexpected results.
When done, you should save the worksheet, then print the worksheet by selecting the `Print' option from the File menu. To print it from a Sparc on a printer in the cluster where you are working, choose Print Command. (Otherwise, you create a postscript file.) On a Mac, to get plots to print, you might have to give the Maple command: plotsetup(gdi); then do the plot. (After giving the plotsetup command, you might get a message: Warning, unknown plot device--ignore it.) There have been several cases of Maple crashing--which is one reason you should save the worksheet before printing--and a segmentation fault error appearing when people have tried to print from the Sparcs. There's a good chance that you can solve this problem by starting Maple again, going to Edit/Remove Output/From Worksheet on the menu bar. Then go back to the beginning of the worksheet and hit enter after every command to execute the commands again. Now you can probably print. If you have any other trouble printing, consultants in the labs may be able to help you with printing, but they probably won't know be able to help you with the substance in the worksheets. Maple is available in all the labs on campus. If none of these instructions help, don't spend an hour struggling to print. Contact your instructor for help.
It is important to understand that Maple is just one tool to help you understand mathematics, and it is not the major part of your course. Your instructor and teaching assistant will rightfully be concentrating on how to help you understand the mathematics and may not be particularly interested in the intricacies of Maple programming, which requires specialized knowledge. If you have a question about Maple which they cannot answer, they will direct you to someone who can.
> int(f(x), x=a..b);
may calculate the integral of an expression in x, here denoted
f(x) between the limits a and b. f(x)
could be an explicit
expression such as 2*x + x^2, or it could be a function value
for a function defined previously by a statement of the form
> f := x -> some expression in x;
Similarly,
> plot3d(f(x,y),x=a..b,y=c..d);
will allow you make a three dimensional plot of an expression.
Thus, you might find it helpful to use Maple in routine homework assignments
as you learn more Maple statements. Don't rely too strongly on this, however,
since, at least at present, you will have to do your tests the old
fashioned way, by hand. You may be tested on material which appears in
Maple worksheets, but such questions
will relate to mathematical substance and not
require you to use Maple commands.
Prepared by Nancy K. Stanton
Department of Mathematics
631-7436
8/31/00
Nancy.K.Stanton.1@nd.edu
based on material prepared by Leonard Evens at Northwestern University.