What is Maple?
Maple is a powerful computer algebra and graphing package, kind of
a super graphing calculator. It can help you in doing a wide variety of
mathematics -- arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, graphing, calculus, differential
equations, etc.
Some reasons to learn Maple...
- Practical reasons: Mathematics and science is being greatly
influenced by software programs such as Maple. It is not unreasonable to expect
that in a future profession if you do mathematics, you will use a tool such as Maple.
Also, you may find uses for Maple in other courses not necessarily mathematics --
chemistry, physics, engineering, and maybe even biology to name a few. Future math
courses may actually require you to use Maple. For example, engineering mathematics.
- Learning reasons: After having learned the concepts of a particular topic
and worked on some of the problems I suggest Maple to help you further visualize and
learn the mathematics and how it all fits together. When you use a tool such as Maple
to do mathematics, the results are often not you first expect. When this happens, ask
yourself why? Sometimes it's just a simple syntax error, but other times it can point
to problems in your understanding. Maple, used correctly, can help you better learn.
Helpful Maple Links