MAPLE(1)

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

In the following example from a Maple session, Maple's output is shown to the right of the input expressions.


p := x^2-x-2;
2
p := x - x - 2

q := (x+1)^2;
2
q := (x + 1)

s := p/q;
2
x - x - 2
s := ------------
2
(x + 1)

diff(s,x); # Differentiate with respect to x.

2
2 x - 1 x - x - 2
---------- - 2 ------------
2 3
(x + 1) (x + 1)

normal(s);
x - 2
-------
x + 1

x := 3^50;
x := 717897987691852588770249

s; # Re-evaluate s with a value substituted for x.
717897987691852588770247
--------------------------
717897987691852588770250

# Set the precision to use for floating point results.
Digits := 40;
Digits := 40

evalf(s); # Re-evaluate s in floating point format.
.9999999999999999999999958211332927043849

quit

The command maple actually invokes a script which parses various command line options, sets appropriate environment variables, and then starts the Maple kernel (and possibly a separate user interface). The command xmaple invokes maple with the -x option (see below).

OPTIONS

• The -b (library) option tells Maple that the following argument should be used as the pathname of the directory which contains the Maple library. This initializes the Maple variable `libname'. By default, `libname' is initialized with the pathname /usr/local/maple/lib. Some sites may customize the maple shell script to redefine the library pathname to be whatever is appropriate for those sites. For example,
  
  
  maple -b /usr/public/waterloo/maple/lib $*
  
  
  
  More than one -b option can be specified. In this case, the first -b option overrides the default `libname' setting, and subsequent -b options are appended to `libname', forming a Maple expression sequence of directory names.
• The -e (break on error) option tells Maple what to do when an error is encountered while reading a file. -e0 tells Maple to to report the error and keep reading the file. -e1 (the default) tells Maple to stop reading the file (and skip to the end) when a syntax error is encountered. -e2 tells Maple to stop reading and skip to the end when any type of error is encountered. This behaviour can also be changed from within Maple using the command interface(errorbreak=n) where n is 0, 1, or 2.
• The -g (garbage collection interval) option tells Maple at what interval (in terms of number of words of storage allocated) to perform garbage collection. The default on most UNIX platforms is every 250,000 words. This setting can also be changed from within Maple using the command gc(n) where n is the desired interval.
• The -u (user interface) option tells Maple that the following argument is the name of a program that is to be used as Maple's user interface. This is used to provide special user interfaces for different windowing systems and operating environments, without requiring separate `algebra engines' for each environment. If this option is omitted, Maple does simple terminal style input and output. The -u option is usually used in a script to enable a particular user interface.
• The -f (filter) option forces Maple to exit when the standard input has been redirected from a file, and the end of the file is encountered. By default, Maple will not exit, and will instead continue interactively at that point.
• The -q (quiet) option will suppress the printing of Maple's startup message, various informational messages (bytes used messages and garbage collection messages), and the signoff message. Maple is better suited for use as a filter when these messages are suppressed.
• The -s (suppress initialization) option causes Maple to forego reading any initialization file when initiating a session.
• If there is a system-wide Maple initialization file with the name init under the src subdirectory of the Maple library, then this file is read and the Maple statements in it executed before the session starts. If there is a Maple initialization file named .mapleinit in the user's home directory, this file is read next.
• The -t (test mode) option causes Maple to change its prompt to "#-->" and disable prettyprinting, suitable for running the Maple test suite. This is not normally used by Maple users.
• The -w (warning level) option specifies whether maple should print certain warnings. In previous versions of maple, variables are assumed to be global unless explicitly declared local, but this has changed in the present version. -w 0 turns off the local variable warning. -w 1 (the default) enables the local variable warning. For further details, see m2src and updtsrc.
• The -x (X interface) option causes Maple to run with an X Window System user interface (see the following section).

WINDOW SYSTEMS

In addition to the Maple options described above, window system specific options can also be used. For example, the option -bg red tells the X version of Maple to use red as the background color.

SEE ALSO

ENVIRONMENT

The MAPLE variable is used to tell Maple where to find its library, the Maple share library, the help browser index, and various configuration files.

The HOME variable is used to determine where to look for the user's .mapleinit file.

The PAGER variable is used to determine which program to use to display help files (when running with the terminal interface). If this variable is not defined, the more program is used.

The PATH variable is used to find auxiliary programs, such as the plot driver.

The XAPPLRESDIR variable is used to indicate where the Maple X Window resource files are.

FILES

AUTHORS

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