We’ve just released a major new version of MapleSim. The MapleSim 2017 family of products provides new and improved model development and analysis tools, expands modeling scope, introduces new deployment options, and strengthens toolchain connectivity.  Here are some highlights:

• The new Initialization Diagnostics App further simplifies the initialization task by helping you determine how your initial values are computed and what you need to do to adjust them.
   
• The new Modal Analysis App helps you explore and understand the natural vibration modes of your mechanism, so you can determine how to reduce the vibration in the final product. 
   
• Over 100 new components include expansions to the Electrical and Magnetic libraries.
   
• A new Modelica® code editor makes it easier to create Modelica-based custom components.
   
• The MapleSim Heat Transfer Library from CYBERNET, a new add-on component library, provides a comprehensive view into heat transfer effects in your model, enabling you to refine your  design to improve performance and avoid overheating.
   
• The new MapleSim Explorer product provides a cost-effective deployment solution that allows you to make MapleSim models available to more people in your organization.

There’s more, of course.  See What’s New in MapleSim for lots more details.

eithne

Maple 2017 has launched!

Maple 2017 is the result of hard work by an enthusiastic team of developers and mathematicians.

As ever, we’re guided by you, our users. Many of the new features are of a result of your feedback, while others are passion projects that we feel you will find value in.

Here’s a few of my favourite enhancements. There’s far more that’s new - see What’s New in Maple 2017 to learn more.

MapleCloud Package Manager

Since it was first introduced in Maple 14, the MapleCloud has made thousands of Maple documents and interactive applications available through a web interface.

Maple 2017 completely refreshes the MapleCloud experience. Allied with a new, crisp, interface, you can now download and install user-created packages.

Simply open the MapleCloud interface from within Maple, and a mouse click later, you see a list of user-created packages, continuously updated via the Internet. Two clicks later, you’ve downloaded and installed a package.

This completely bypasses the traditional process of searching for and downloading a package, copying to the right folder, and then modifying libname in Maple. That was a laborious process, and, unless I was motivated, stopped me from installing packages.

The MapleCloud hosts a growing number of packages.

Many regular visitors to MaplePrimes are already familiar with Sergey Moiseev’s DirectSearch package for optimization, equation solving and curve fitting.

My fellow product manager, @DSkoog has written a package for grouping data into similar clusters (called ClusterAnalysis on the Package Manager)

Here’s a sample from a package I hacked together for downloading maps images using the Google Maps API (it’s called Google Maps and Geocoding on the Package Manager).

You’ll also find user-developed packages for exploring AES-based encryption, orthogonal series expansions, building Maple shell scripts and more.

Simply by making the process of finding and installing packages trivially easy, we’ve opened up a new world of functionality to users.

Maple 2017 also offers a simple method for package authors to upload workbook-based packages to the MapleCloud.

We’re engaging with many package authors to add to the growing list of packages on the MapleCloud. We’d be interested in seeing your packages, too!

Advanced Math

We’re committed to continually improving the core symbolic math routines. Here area few examples of what to expect in Maple 2017.

Resulting from enhancements to the Risch algorithm, Maple 2017 now computes symbolic integrals that were previously intractable

Groeber:-Basis uses a new implementation of the FGLM algorithm. The example below runs about 200 times faster in Maple 2017.

gcdex now uses a sparse primitive polynomial remainder sequence together.  For sparse structured problems the new routine is orders of magnitude faster. The example below was previously intractable.

The asympt and limit commands can now handle asymptotic cases of the incomplete Γ function where both arguments tend to infinity and their quotient remains finite.

Among several improvements in mathematical functions, you can now calculate and manipulate the four multi-parameter Appell functions.

Appel functions are of increasing importance in quantum mechanics, molecular physics, and general relativity.

pdsolve has seen many enhancements. For example, you can tell Maple that a dependent variable is bounded. This has the potential of simplifying the form of a solution.

Plot Builder

Plotting is probably the most common application of Maple, and for many years, you’ve been able to create these plots without using commands, if you want to.  Now, the re-designed interactive Plot Builder makes this process easier and better.

When invoked by a context menu or command on an expression or function, a panel slides out from the right-hand side of the interface.

Generating and customizing plots takes a single mouse click. You alter plot types, change formatting options on the fly and more.

To help you better learn Maple syntax, you can also display the actual plot command.

Password Protected Content

You can distribute password-protected executable content. This feature uses the workbook file format introduced with Maple 2016.

You can lock down any worksheet in a Workbook. But from any other worksheet, you can send (author-specified) parameters into the locked worksheet, and extract (author-specified) results.

Plot Annotations

You can now get information to pop up when you hover over a point or a curve on a plot.

In this application, you see the location and magnitude of an earthquake when you hover over a point

Here’s a ternary diagram of the color of gold-silver-copper alloys. If you let your mouse hover over the points, you see the composition of the points

Plot annotations may seem like a small feature, but they add an extra layer of depth to your visualizations. I’ve started using them all the time!

Engineering Portal

In my experience, if you ask an engineer how they prefer to learn, the vast majority of them will say “show me an example”. The significantly updated Maple Portal for Engineers does just that, incorporating many more examples and sample applications.  In fact, it has a whole new Application Gallery containing dozens of applications that solve concrete problems from different branches of engineering while illustrating important Maple techniques.

Designed as a starting point for engineers using Maple, the Portal also includes information on math and programming, interface features for managing your projects, data analysis and visualization tools, working with physical and scientific data, and a variety of specialized topics.

Geographic Data

You can now generate and customize world maps. This for example, is a choropleth of European fertility rates (lighter colors indicate lower fertility rates)

You can plot great circles that show the shortest path between two locations, show varying levels of detail on the map, and even experiment with map projections.

A new geographic database contains over one million locations, cross-referenced with their longitude, latitude, political designation and population.

The database is tightly linked to the mapping tools. Here, we ask Maple to plot the location of country capitals with a population of greater than 8 million and a longitude lower than 30.

There’s much more to Maple 2017. It’s a deep, rich release that has something for everyone.

Visit What’s New in Maple 2017 to learn more.

The Joint Mathematics Meetings are taking place this week (January 4 – 7) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. This will be the 100th annual winter meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the 123nd annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society (AMS).

Maplesoft will be exhibiting at booth #118 as well as in the networking area. Please stop by our booth or the networking area to chat with me and other members of the Maplesoft team, as well as to pick up some free Maplesoft swag or win some prizes.

There are also several interesting Maple-related talks and events happening this week:

Teaching Cryptology to Increase Interest in Mathematics for Students Majoring in Non-Technical Disciplines and High School Students

Wednesday, January 4, 0820, L401 & L402, Lobby Level, Marriott Marquis

Neil Sigmon, Radford University

Enigma: A Combinatorial Analysis and Maple Simulator

Wednesday, January 4, 0900, L401 & L402, Lobby Level, Marriott Marquis

Rick Klima, Appalachian State University

MYMathApps Calculus - Building on Maplets for Calculus

Thursday, January 5, 0800, Courtland, Conference Level, Hyatt Regency

Philip B. Yasskin, Texas A&M University 
Douglas B. Meade, University of South Carolina 
Andrew Crenwelge, Texas A&M University

Maple Software Technology as a Stimulant Tool for Dynamic Interactive Calculus Teaching and Learning

Thursday, January 5, 1000, Courtland, Conference Level, Hyatt Regency

Lina Wu, Borough of Manhattan Community College-The City University of New York 

Collaborative Research: Maplets for Calculus

Thursday, January 5, 1400, Marquis Ballroom, Marquis Level, Marriott Marquis

Philip Yasskin, Texas A&M University 
Douglas Meade, U of South Carolina

Digital Graphic Calculus Art Design in Maple Software

Thursday, January 5, 1420, International 7, International Level, Marriott Marquis

Lina Wu, Borough of Manhattan Community College-The City University of New York 

Maplesoft will also be hosting a catered reception and brief presentation on Teaching STEM Online: Challenges and Solutions, Thursday January 5th, from 6:00pm – 7:30pm, at the Hyatt Regency, Hanover AB, on the exhibitor level. Please RSVP at www.maplesoft.com/jmm or at Maplesoft booth #118.

If you are attending the Joint Math meetings this week and plan on presenting anything on Maple, please feel free to let me know and I'll update this list accordingly.

See you in Atlanta!

Daniel

Maple Product Manager

Today we have published an update to MaplePrimes that includes a variety of improvements. Many of these changes are a direct result of member feedback and suggestions, and I am very appreciative for that!

What follows is a brief summary of the changes. As always, we remain very interested in your thoughts and feedback, and look forward to your further suggestions.

Also, a note that, as mentioned in a previous post, we have already begun working on a further update to address the influx of spam we have been receiving. This update will be published within the next 2-3 weeks.

Updated Look and feel
The most obvious change is the updated interface. With a few exceptions, the previous layout and functionality has been maintained, but with a cleaner, more responsive, and more appealing look.

New message editor
This update includes a new text editor called CKEditor. This editor provides a simpler, cleaner experience for posting your messages and also aligns MaplePrimes more closely with the Maplesoft product suite.

Notifications
You will notice a new flag icon in the upper right hand corner of the interface. This is the new MaplePrimes Notification feature, and it provides similar functionality to what we have become accustomed to on other social media sites. The icon is displayed in an orange color when you have notifications, and then when opened, your new notifications are highlighted in blue. Clicking on a notification will take you directly to the item being referenced.

Improved flow for removing spam messages
As any MaplePrimes moderator could tell you, removing spam on MaplePrimes was a cumbersome process taking 4 clicks. In this update, this process has been streamlined to 2 clicks, which will make the process considerably faster for our legion of spam fighters. In addition, the ability to remove spam is now available on all message types – comments, replies, etc.

Identification Badges
There are now 3 identification badges that are used throughout MaplePrimes wherever member information is displayed. These include:

 Denotes a member who works at Maplesoft

 Site moderators are the heart and soul of MaplePrimes, and are now identified by this new badge

 A member who also particpates in the Maple Ambassador Program

Other fixes and improvements
In addition to the changes mentioned above, several other minor fixes and improvements were made.

We have just released a new version of the Multivariate Calculus Study Guide.  It provides a new section on Vector Calculus, with over 100 additional worked problems, and makes extensive use of Maple’s Clickable Math tools as well as commands.

Existing study guide customers can get the new content via a free update, available through the Check for Updates system or from our website. See Multivariate Calculus Study Guide 2016 Update for details.

For more information about this guide, including a full table of contents, visit Multivariate Calculus Study Guide.

eithne

Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite  2016 is now available. It leverages all the improvements found in Maple T.A. 2016, including:

• A redesigned authoring workflow that makes it faster and easier to create and modify questions and assignments
• A new content repository that makes it substantially easier to manage and search for content
• New built-in connectivity options for integration with course management systems

To learn more, visit What’s New in Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite 2016.

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Online Education Products

MapleSim 2016 is here!

MapleSim 2016 provides variety of improvements to streamline the user experience, expand modeling scope, and enhance connectivity with other tools. Here are some highlights:

• Collapsible task panes provide a larger model workspace, so you can see more of your model at once.
• Improved layout ensures the tools you need for your current task are available at your fingertips.
• The expanded Multibody component library now supports contact modeling.
• A new add-on library, the MapleSim Pneumatics Library from Modelon, supports the modeling and simulation of pneumatic systems.
• The MapleSim CAD Toolbox has been extended to support the latest versions of Inventor®, NX®, SOLIDWORKS®, CATIA® V5, Solid Edge®, PTC® Creo Parametric™, and more.
• The MapleSim Connector, which provides connectivity to Simulink®, now supports single precision export of S-functions so you can run your MapleSim models on hardware that only supports single precision.

See What’s New in MapleSim 2016 for more information about these and other improvements.

eithne

You, I, and others like us, are the beneficiaries of decades of software evolution.

From its genesis as a research project at the University of Waterloo in the early 80s, Maple has continually evolved to meet the challenges of technical computing.

A new Maple e-book, Multivariate Calculus Study Guide, is now available. Part of the Clickable Calculus collection of interactive Maple e-books, this guide takes full advantage of Maple’s Clickable Math approach. It has over 600 worked examples, the vast majority of which are solved using interactive, Clickable Math techniques. 

Deisgned to help students taking this course, instructors may also find this e-book useful as a guide to using Clickable Math to teach Multivariate Calculus.

See Multivariate Calculus Study Guide for more information.

eithne

A new Maple e-book, Multivariate Calculus Study Guide, is now available. Part of the Clickable Calculus collection of interactive Maple e-books, this guide takes full advantage of Maple’s Clickable Math approach. It has over 600 worked examples, the vast majority of which are solved using interactive, Clickable Math techniques. 

Deisgned to help students taking this course, instructors may also find this e-book useful as a guide to using Clickable Math to teach Multivariate Calculus.

See Multivariate Calculus Study Guide for more information.

eithne

We have just released updates to Maple 2015 and MapleSim 2015 that fix the problems on Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan).  If you want to use the new OS, you should update your products.

Updates are available through Check for Updates and from the Downloads section of our website. See Maple 2015.2 and MapleSim 2015.2 for details. MapleSim users, please note that this update also gives you all the new features in MapleSim 2015.2.

If you are using earlier versions of these products, please read the  Maple and MapleSim on Mac OS X 10.11 FAQ for more information about your options.

eithne

As the year draws to a close, we start looking forward to a new year and a new release of Maple. With every new release comes many new features and updates to explore.

We are looking for several new beta testers with a good working knowledge of Maple; We need your input, your ideas, and your experience with our products to help us improve the software and get it ready for general release.

There are many benefits to becoming a beta tester:

• You’ll get to use the new software before anyone else does.
• You’ll help us make our software better in ways that work for you.
• Your suggestions could determine the future direction of the software.
• You’ll get feedback right from the development team.

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester for the next version of Maple, please email: beta (at) maplesoft.com for more information.

As the year draws to a close, we start looking forward to a new year and a new release of Maple. With every new release comes many new features and updates to explore.

We are looking for several new beta testers with a good working knowledge of Maple; We need your input, your ideas, and your experience with our products to help us improve the software and get it ready for general release.

There are many benefits to becoming a beta tester:

• You’ll get to use the new software before anyone else does.
• You’ll help us make our software better in ways that work for you.
• Your suggestions could determine the future direction of the software.
• You’ll get feedback right from the development team.

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester for the next version of Maple, please email: beta (at) maplesoft.com for more information.

We have just released a major update to MapleSim 2015. MapleSim 2015.2 provides a variety of enhancements that make it even easier to create, simulate, and analyze your multidomain, system-level models, including:

• Advanced diagnostic tools that help you identify the source of problems in your models and simulations, and improve their efficiency and robustness
• Over 50 new components in the magnetic, thermal, electrical, and signal block libraries
• A new connections manager that makes it easier to keep track of connections and port variables
• And more! See What’s New in MapleSim 2015.2 for more information about these and other improvements in MapleSim.

We have also updated and expanded the MapleSim 2015 family of products:

• The new MapleSim CAD Toolbox, which is available as a separate product, helps engineers understand and improve their mechanical designs by making it easy to import CAD models directly into MapleSim and understand how they behave as part of a larger system.
• MapleSim Connector, for connectivity with Simulink®, and the MapleSim Connector for FMI both generate code that provides more detailed run-time error reporting to assist in trouble-shooting on the target platform
• Updates to the specialized component libraries MapleSim Battery Library,  MapleSim Driveline Library, and MapleSim Tire Library provide improved modeling power and scope

This update is being distributed through the automatic Check for Updates system, and is also available from our website. See MapleSim 2015.2  for details on obtaining this update. This new MapleSim release is available immediately on Windows and Linux, with a Mac version following in the coming days. 

eithne

We are looking for enthusiastic Maple users to become Maple Ambassadors, to inspire and educate others about the benefits that Maple brings to education.

As an Ambassador, you will have the opportunity to influence the development of Maple through regular meetings with Maplesoft developers, get advance news of upcoming features and products, get assistance with Maple events on your campus, and more. In return, we ask that you do what you are probably already doing – sharing your experiences with Maple, answer questions on forums (like this one!), sharing your Maple applications, providing us with feedback, etc.

You can find more information and an application form at Maple Ambassador Program. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Daniel

Maple Product Management