Advanced Computing Research Centre

Maple

Description

Maple is a system for mathematical computation - symbolic, numeric and graphical. There are two interfaces for running Maple, the standard interface and an X11/Motif interface.

Documentation

Manual page - type: man maple

The following manuals are relevant to Maple 11:

• Maple

A copy of this manual set is kept by Ian Stewart, ext 87866.

Links

• Visit the Maple home page.

How to access Maple

To start Maple 11 in command line mode type the command: maple

Please note that Maple is not automatically added to your environment when you log on to BlueCrystal.

A module has been set up : maple-11

If you want to use Maple you must execute the following command: module add maple-11

If you are running Maple jobs through the queues, you should also remember to include the appropriate module add command in your job submission script.

Examples

The '>' at the beginning of the line is the Maple prompt. Maple is now ready to receive commands. Type in a command and terminate the input with either a colon ':' or semi-colon ';'. Maple will return the answer in 2 dimensional output form and redisplay a prompt. For example:

> int( exp(-x^2)*ln(x), x=0..infinity );

          1/2          1/2

- 1/4 Pi gamma - 1/2 Pi ln(2)

>

On line help for commands is available by typing a '?' followed immediately by a command name. For example, to find help about the integration command type: > ?int

To exit Maple type the 'quit' command at the Maple prompt: > quit;

X11/Motif Interface

To use the X11/Motif interface you must have a terminal capable of displaying output from the X Window system, for example an X-terminal or a PC with Windows and Vista-eXceed software.

To start the X11/Motif version of Maple type: xmaple

xmaple Worksheets

The X11/Motif interface supports "worksheets" which allows integration of text, Maple input commands, Maple output commands and graphics in one document. Worksheets can be edited, saved and used in another Maple session, printed (PostScript output), or transfered to another Maple session on a different platform.

Apart from worksheets, other features of the X11/Motif interface are:

• Improved 2 dimension output which uses mathematical, Greek and italic fonts
• A Maple help browser
• Improved plotting including 2D and 3D animation.

X Resources

To modify any of the X resources create a file, called .Xmaple say, containing the specified changes. Prior to each invocation of xmaple type: xrdb -merge .Xmaple

This command can be included in your X initialisation file.