Maple/Initialization and Documentation

Starting the Program

Maple is free to Duke students and resides on the OIT system in the same way that MATLAB does. To start Maple, make sure your terminal is set up to receive graphics and type

xmaple17 &

at the prompt. Maple will start up. If not, note that whenever OIT updates Maple, the command may change. If sometime in the future xmaple17 does not seem to work, type xmaple followed by the tab key and UNIX should auto-complete the appropriate command for you.

Maple may have a window at startup containing hints or tips - go ahead and close that window. There will most likely be some initial blank document in the main window - go ahead and close it as well by selecting File-Close Document. Then, open a new blank worksheet with File-New-Worksheet Mode.

Documenting Your Work

When Maple starts a worksheet, it expects everything to be an input. To document your work with the title of the assignment, your name and NET ID, and any kind of explanation you would like to add, you need to tell Maple to switch to paragraph mode. Go to Insert-Paragraph-Before Cursor and you will notice that a blank line opens up above the red cursor mark. You can type text in here and Maple will know not to try to process it. You should be sure to use paragraphs to give your worksheet a title, a date, and your name and NET ID. Within the body of the worksheet, you can use paragraphs to clarify or indicate solutions to specific parts of an assignment.

Clearing the Worksheet

When Maple runs, it "remembers" everything that it has done in the worksheet, regardless of what order you ran lines of code. For that reason, it is good programming practice to have Maple "restart" itself at the beginning of each worksheet. To give Maple a command, first tell Maple you are ready to issue commands by selecting Insert-Execution Group-After Cursor. This will start a new bracket (black lines at the left of the worksheet) and give you a prompt (red >). At the prompt, type restart. When you hit return, if you quickly look at the bottom left of the Maple window, you will see that Maple evaluates the command then then tells you that it is Ready. The restart command clears out any variables Maple was taught and also clears out any packages that were loaded. It is a good way to make sure you have a "fresh start."

Questions

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