Launching Maple

To get into Maple, you will need to:

1. Turn the computer and monitor on.
2. Wait a few minutes while the computer ``boots up.'' Eventually you will see a prompt to log onto the Novell campus network. It is possible to bypass that, by pressing ENTER. IMPORTANT NOTE: To get paper printouts of your work, though, you will need to log onto the network. See printing directions at the end of this handout. In any case, you should next see a prompt C:> or F:> (this is the DOS input prompt). When that appears, type in win to launch Windows. On some machines, at this point you may see another "round" of login prompts for the campus network, displayed in windows. If you get these, and you don't want to log on, press the SKIP, then CANCEL buttons to bypass logging onto the network.
3. You should now see the Windows Program Manager, possibly with a smaller window opened for Maple V Release 4. You may need to double click on Maple V Release 4 group icon, if this window is not open to start with. Move the cursor arrow with the mouse until it is over the Maple V R4 for Windows icon and quickly click the left mouse button twice to launch Maple. Also note: There is an older version of Maple V -- Release 3 -- still installed on these computers. The description of Maple in this document is geared to Maple V Release 4, which is somewhat different from what you will see if you get into Release 3. Make sure you start the right version.
4. After a few more seconds you should see a new Maple V Release 4 window, with a ``subwindow'' marked Untitled (1) opened inside it. The Untitled (1) window is a blank Maple worksheet.

Maple Worksheets

Worksheets are integrated documents containing any or all of the following:

1. commands typed in from the keyboard at the input prompts >, to ask Maple to perform many different kinds of calculations,
2. output (numerical values, symbolic formulas, and graphics) generated by Maple (you can also modify commands, generating new output each time).
3. text entered to annotate and explain the results of computations.

Input and Text Regions in a Worksheet

A new input prompt will be generated automatically at the bottom of a worksheet each time you enter a command and execute it at the end of a worksheet in progress. You can also insert a command prompt and an input region at any point in the worksheet by placing the cursor at the desired location and pressing the toolbar button marked with [>. (After executing an inserted command like this, Maple will drop to the next input line if there is one, so to insert several input lines in the middle of a worksheet, you will need repeat the above.) As we mentioned before, Maple worksheets can contain text as well as commands and output. To create a text region you can press the [> button above, then the button marked by a capital T (this changes the region into a text region). Any text can now be entered, and this will not be treated as Maple input.

Saving and Reloading your Maple Worksheets

1. If you are using a diskette, insert it in the diskette drive (it's called the A: drive on all the lab machines). Otherwise go directly to step 2.
2. In Maple, select the SAVE option from the FILE pull-down menu.
3. If you are saving your work for the first time, you will see a SAVE AS dialog box. In the Drives box, highlight the A: or P: drive as appropriate, then go to the File Name box, and type in a name for the file where the worksheet will be stored (any string of letters and digits -- no spaces -- no more than 8 characters long is OK) type in a period after the file name you chose and then the ``extension'' mws for Maple work sheet. For instance, a good choice for a lab day worksheet might be something like labday1.mws. Descriptive names are also good if you need to be able to tell what is in a particular worksheet by looking at the directory listing. Then click the OK button to write the worksheet to the P: drive or to your diskette. (You will only need to type the filename in once in a session. Subsequent saves just update the file.)
4. When you have the worksheet saved as you want it, wait for the diskette drive light to go off, then it is safe to remove the diskette and exit Maple.
5. To update the worksheet further in a later session, you can read the worksheet back into Maple using the OPEN option from the FILE Menu. Get into Maple as above, (if the worksheet is stored on diskette, insert it in the A: drive), and select OPEN from the FILE Menu. Maple will prompt you as above for the name of the worksheet with a dialog box very like the SAVE AS box described above. Highlight the A: or P: drive as appropriate, then the worksheet you want, and click OK.

Printing in HA 408

To print a Maple worksheet in HA 408, you will need to log onto the campus network before launching Windows and Maple. This is done by typing in your network username and password at the prompts that come up automatically when you boot up. Then get into Windows and Maple as above. OPEN the worksheet you want to print, and press the toolbar icon that looks like a printer, and press OK on the PRINT dialog box (the settings should be set up correctly to print automatically). Your output should appear shortly on the printer at the end of the lab. If you have problems, or if the printer runs out of paper, come and get me or another math faculty member for help. (If several print jobs are sent at the same time, you may need to wait a short time.)

Getting Out

When you leave, quit the Maple window (FILE/EXIT), exit Windows, and turn the computer and monitor off.