ECOR 1010

Lecture 19
Introduction to Maple
 Maple
• Maple is computer algebra software
• Great for symbolic computations
– Historically, MATLAB has been used for numerical
calculations and MAPLE for symbolic, but both
now do both
• Originally developed at the University of
Waterloo (now Maplesoft)
– www.maplesoft.com
 What Can Maple Do?
• 2D Plotting
• Great for 3D plotting
• Symbolic and numerical computations
• Differential and integral calculus
• Matrix manipulation
• Statistics and data management
• Algebraic geometry
• Differential geometry
• Much more, …
 User controlled update

• We can go back and change the function

and everything is updated if we click !!!
• If you only want to update a small
‘selected’ portion of the work then click !
 see the icons circled in red at the top of the next slide
You can output your Maple file to:
• Rich text format (Word)
• LaTeX
• Adobe pdf
• .txt Text file
• .zip
• html, htm
• Hitting ‹ENTER› executes the input given. In
“document” mode
• Hitting ‹CNTR›+‹=› executes an inline expression and
displays the result inline (without linebreak).
• You can hit ‹SHIFT›+‹ENTER› for a new line while
postponing the execution of the input. (Don’t forget
the semicolon in this case.)
• In a “worksheet” or “document” you can go back,
change lines and re-execute them by hitting enter.
• In a “worksheet” or “document” you can enter
normal (formated) text which is not executed. ‹F5›
switches between entering text and math.
• ‹ESC› shows a list of possible completions. The right
mouse button displays a list of sensible operations
on the object. Executing such might write something
in text and math mode.
• Everything following # is a comment and will not be
interpreted.
• % is a placeholder for the previous expression
entered. %% and %%% are placeholders for the
second and third last expression.
 There are two basic ways of displaying
and entering math in Maple.
• “1-D Math” (also called “Maple Notation”) is in plain
ascii text form. Input must be terminated by either ;
(displays the result) or : (does not display the result).
• “2-D Math” is a more graphical way of entering and
displaying math notation.
– Everything so far has been 2-D Math

ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII code is the
numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@' or an action of some sort.
 Basic Operations
• Maple uses the same basic operations as in
MATLAB (+, −, *, /)
• Also, factorial ! and exponents ^
In 1-D Math mode:
Some Basic Maple Functions
 Special Characters

• Spell out Greek letters

to use them in Maple
– To get θ type theta
– To get π type pi
– To use the numerical
value of π type Pi
– Use evalf to find the
numerical value
 Assignment Operator
• Assign equations and
values to a variable, use
the := operator
• Value on the left of := is
assigned to the value on
the right
• The = and := operators
are not the same
• You cannot perform
recursive assignments
a := a + 1;
 Using the % Operator
• Allows you to use the output from the last
command % in the next command
 Evaluating Expressions
• Maple does not automatically evaluate the
numerical value of results
• Use the eval and evalf commands:
– Expression goes in the argument: see below
– Or use evalf(expression,n) for evaluation
to n significant digits
What can Maple do with
Equations?
• Factor
• Expand
• Differentiate
• Integrate
• Limits
• Solve
• Plot
 Factoring
• Maple can factor
• Use the factor(expression) command
– If it can’t factor it, it will just return the expression
• Use expand(expression) to expand a
factored expression
Factor & Expand Examples
 Solving an Equation
• Use solve(expr,var)
• If you do not specifiy an equation, it sets the
expression to zero and solves
 Solving a System of Equations
• Use the following syntax
> solve({expr1,expr2,..},{var1,var2,…})
• Can return parametric solutions for the case
where infinite solutions exist
Solve Examples
Three Equations, Three Unknowns
Solve Using Maple
 Mesh Current Network
R
Analysis
R1 3

V1 i1 i2 i3 R5

R2 R4

• Kirchhoff’s voltage law: the sum of the voltage

drops around any closed loop is equal to the
sum of the voltage rises. (Recall Ohm's Law: V = i R)
R1 + R2 -R2
Loop 1: i1 (6  5)  i2 5  i3  0  50
-R2 R2 + R3 + R4 -R4
Loop 2: -i1 (5)  i2 (5  18  4)  i3  4  0
Loop 3: i1 (0)  i2 4  i3 (4  4)  0
-R4 R4 + R5
Now fill in the numbers
Now fill in the numbers
Symbolic Answer
 Harmonic Oscillator
• For a mass moving in
the y direction with a
linear restoring force:

F  ky
 Harmonic Oscillator
• For a mass moving in
the y direction with a
linear restoring force:
d2 y
F  ma  m 2  ky
dt
 Harmonic Oscillator
• For a mass moving in
the y direction with a
linear restoring force:
2
d y
F  ma  m 2  ky
dt
• The solution is:
y (t )  A sin(t   )
k 2
 
m T
 Damped Harmonic Oscillator
• Friction can often be modelled with an
additional term proportional to the velocity:

2
d y dy
F  ma  m 2  ky  c
dt dt
 Driven Damped Harmonic
Oscillator
• We can drive the damped oscillator with an
external force, F(t):

2
d y dy
F  ma  m 2  ky  c  F (t )
dt dt

• This is a driven damped harmonic oscillator

and the solution is more complicated.
Bungee Jumping