How do I get the program to give me help I can actually use?

Instead of trying to follow the numerous Help menus, try entering ?topic to go directly to the help page you want. For example, to get help with the int (integration command), enter

?int

at the Maple prompt. You will working examples for each command at the bottom of the help page for the command.

How do I print my session?

Click on "File" and select "Print" from the menu.

I am a new Maple user and I do not know how to program in Maple. What should I do?

Maple's syntax is very intuitive and not complicated. The best way to learn how to use Maple is to take The New User's Tour . The New User's Tour presents the fundamental Maple commands that every user should be aware of. The tour covers many areas of Maple, including: The Maple Worksheet Environment, Numerical Calculations, Algebraic Computations, Graphics, Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Finance and Statistics, Programming, and Online Help. The tour is easy to proceed through, and it can take up to two hours if all topics are examined.

In order to start The New User's Tour you should go to Help --> New User's Tour . The New User's Tour should start in a new window.

I opened a worksheet that I saved before, but now Maple doesn't know the values of the variables I used. Why?

When you open a Maple worksheet you must execute it to get the variables defined. You can do this by stepping through the commands from the beginning, or by clicking on the execute all button on the toolbar which looks like this, !!!

What does "unexpected" mean?

Here are some examples to illustrate syntax errors.

 > fsolve((1-x)/x^2),x);
 `)` unexpected

In this case, I made a typing error; there is an extra right parenthesis after the "2". Removing it fixes the problem.

 
 > fsolve((1-x)/x^2,x);
                                        1.
 
 > y : = sqrt(4);
 `=` unexpected

In this case, the problem is that the ":=" has a blank separating the ":" and the "=".

 
 > y := sqrt(4);
                                      y := 2
 
 > by:=3;
 `:=` unexpected

In this case, the problem is that the variable name "by" is a word reserved by Maple for another meaning. Here's a list of such reserved words:

by do done elif else end fi for from if in local od option options proc quit read save stop then to while

Why doesn't Maple recognize the standard mathematical function name I gave it?

Here is an example to illustrate the problem.

  
 > y := SQRT(4);
                                   y := SQRT(4)

To get the square root function, you must use the name "sqrt", because Maple is case sensitive. Other examples of this are:

• use "Pi" rather than "pi" to get 3.141etc
• use "exp(1)" rather than "e" to get 2.718etc
• use "I" rather than "i" to get the square root of minus 1

Also note that, for example, "Int" and "int" are both Maple commands, but work differently.