Maple
The Use of Maple in Our Courses
Our first-year Calculus courses (Math 149, 151, and 152) are all 5 credit hours, of which 4 hours are devoted to lectures and 1 hour alternates between recitations and a computer laboratory. During the labs the students get a chance to solidify their basic understanding of the principles learned in class, work on "applied" problems, as well as other problems for the solution of which a computer is useful. Visualization plays a central role in this lab experience. This may range from a simple plot to complicated three-dimensional animations as some of the examples on this page show.
Our Labs
Physically, most computer labs are held in either Stuart building 112E/F, 112J, or Siegel Hall 237. Throughout campus there are a variety of other computing facilities (which contain computers which have Maple loaded) such as in Siegel Hall, E1, in the library, or the student dormitories. (See here for lab locations and hours.) Guides and Introductions for Calculus Students
- Introduction I (written by Dr. Platon Deliyannis) Maple source
- Introduction II (written by Dr. Greg Fasshauer) Maple source
- Introduction III (written by Dr. David Maslanka) Maple source
- Guide & Tips (written by Dr. Michael Pelsmajer), built around Dr. Fasshauer's Introduction.
Some Examples
- The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus Maple source
- Planar Parametric Curves Maple source
- Solids of Rotation Maple source
- Studying Systems of Linear Equations Maple source
- Newton's Method Maple source
- Art Gallery I (generated by students of Calculus II, Spring 1998) Maple source
- Art Gallery II (generated by students of Calculus II, Spring 1998) Maple source
Other Maple Sites
- Official Maple Site
- Training Videos for Maple 10 and Maple 11 at maplesoft.com. They recommend the latest, cutest ways of doing things, which might not be the same way that your instructor tells you do things. It will probably be hard to get help if you only learn to do things this way.
- Tips and Techniques at maplesoft.com I haven't checked this out carefully, but Robert Lopez is involved, and he wrote a very nice article Maple Tips for instructors that is the last item on this list.
- Fractals
- A Wikipedia book introduction.
- Potential alternatives to Maple
- An article on Maple pedagogy (a bit out of date, though still relevant) found here