Maple 9.5 Graphical User Interface (GUI) Updates
Maple 9.5 continues to provide users with two worksheet interfaces. Both have access to the full mathematical Maple engine and take advantage of the new functionality in Maple 9.5.
By default, worksheets open in the enhanced Standard Worksheet interface. The Classic Worksheet interface, available on Windows and UNIX platforms, has the traditional Maple worksheet look and uses less memory. In Windows, you can change the Maple worksheet file association using the Worksheet File Association Selector application from the Tools folder of the Maple 9.5 Start menu.
If your system has less than the recommended amount of physical memory, it is suggested that you use the Classic Worksheet version of Maple 9.5.
Maple 9.5 includes many new features and improvements to the worksheet interfaces. The most notable enhancement, available in the Standard, Classic, and Command-line interfaces is the new Math Dictionary.
Math Dictionary
Command Completion
Confirmation Dialogs
ContextMenu Package
Elision - Numerics & Lists
Highlighting Text
Hyperlink to a Math Dictionary Definition or a Maplet Application
Interactive Plot Builder
Interrupting the Current Operation
Opening a Mathematica Notebook Using the File Menu
Options Dialog
Palettes
Plotting
RTF Copy - Copying Large Selections
Superscript and Subscript Character Styles
Tools Menu
Maplet User Interface Customization System
Command Completion (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Confirmation Dialogs (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Elision - Numerics & Lists (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Highlighting Text (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Hyperlink to a Math Dictionary Definition or a Maplet Application (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Interrupting the Current Operation (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Opening a Mathematica Notebook Using the File Menu (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Options Dialog (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Palettes (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Plotting (Standard Worksheet interface only)
RTF Copy - Copying Large Selections (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Superscript and Subscript Character Styles (Standard Worksheet interface only)
Tools Menu (Standard Worksheet interface only)
No longer must you search the Web for a definition. As a Maple user, you can find over 5000 mathematical definitions in your Maple 9.5 Math Dictionary. The definitions can be accessed as general help pages by viewing the alphabetical listing in the Dictionary Contents of the Maple help system, through links in a help page, or hyperlinks in your Maple worksheet.
Definitions in the Standard Worksheet interface include over 300 figures and equations. When accessing a definition through a worksheet or help page link, short definitions are conveniently displayed as pop-ups (Standard Worksheet interface only). The mathematical dictionary pop-up feature can be deactivated through the Options dialog.
Entering commands has been made even easier. When entering a command in the worksheet, Maple compares your entry with all Maple commands. If there is unique completion, Maple displays a tool-tip containing the matching command name above the entry in the worksheet. You can continue typing the command or press ENTER to insert the displayed command. This feature can be deactivated through the Options dialog.
By default, confirmation dialogs are displayed with certain actions. These dialogs include confirming style conversion, indicating an error in the Standard Math equation, issuing a restart warning, and confirming whether a large rich text format (RTF) copy action should be undertaken. In Maple 9.5, you can disable one or all of these confirmation dialogs through the Options dialog.
A context-sensitive menu is displayed when you right-click (Control-click on Macintosh platforms) a Maple expression. The new ContextMenu package provides tools to control and customize Maple context-sensitive menus.
The Precision tab of the Options Dialog contains settings for digit and term elision. Elision controls the maximum number of terms or digits displayed by displaying only leading and trailing elements. You can set a threshold at which elision is used, as well as the number of leading and trailing digits (or terms).
For example, setting elision digit threshold at 10, leading digits at 2, and trailing digits at 2, returns the following result for the factorial 20!
24[...15 digits...]00
Elision can be applied globally or to a session.
You can emphasize information in your worksheets by using the text Highlight feature. This option is accessed from the Format menu and in the Character Style dialog.
Previous releases of Maple allowed you to enhance worksheets by adding links to related information, for example, linking text in your worksheet to a Web page, email address, worksheet, or a help topic. With Maple 9.5, you can link text to a Math Dictionary definition or a Maplet application. For Maplet applications, clicking the link launches the Maplet application in a separate Maple session.
The interactive plot builder has been enhanced greatly. The plot builder supports plotting multiple expressions simultaneously and allows expressions to be added interactively.
The types of supported plots have increased. Animations are now supported in addition to static plots. Furthermore, instead of generating a plot or animation, you have the option of generating a Maplet application in which the value of plot parameters can be dynamically adjusted.
The interactive plot builder is accessed from the Tools>Assistants>Plot Builder menu. For instructions, see worksheet,interactive,plot.
When interrupting an operation by clicking the Interrupt icon, Maple returns a short warning message indicating that the computation has been interrupted. If, however, after five seconds the kernel has not responded to your request, a dialog is displayed giving you the option to restart the math engine. In cases where your system is unable to communicate with the kernel, a message is displayed indicating that your operation cannot be interrupted. The interactive Maple debugging facility is invoked by clicking the Debug icon (beetle image) beside the Interrupt (hand on stop symbol) icon.
Using the File>Open menu, you can open a Mathematica(R) Notebook (.nb) file. When translating Mathematica notebooks, most interface elements in these notebooks have an equivalent in a Maple worksheet. For exceptions and general details about translation, see MmaTranslator.
The Options dialog, accessed from the Tools menu, has been redesigned. The dialog contains four tabs, General, Display, Interface, and Precision that allow you to access various options.
For your convenience, certain check box options have been replaced with drop-down lists.
Options associated with spelling can be accessed in the General tab.
Plotting options can be accessed in the Display tab.
The Interface tab has additional options for setting whether menu tips or confirmation dialogs are displayed. Also, you can set whether target information is displayed when your mouse travels over a hyperlink in a help page or worksheet.
The new Precision tab provides options for setting digit and term elision.
Maple has four palettes (Expression, Matrix, Vector, and Symbol) for building or editing mathematical expressions interactively. In the Maple 9.5 Standard Worksheet interface, the palettes are automatically displayed in the left-hand side of the worksheet interface. You can position palettes using a context-sensitive menu, that is, you can dock a palette to the top, bottom, left, or right side of the worksheet. Note that in Windows and Mac OS X, you can use the drag and drop mouse action to position the palettes. As in previous releases, you can hide or display a particular palette.
Inserting Maple Commands From the Palette
To insert a specific command from a palette, you simply click the icon. The associated Maple syntax is inserted in the worksheet.
The areas where you must supply additional parameters are highlighted and also indicated as Maple Input Placeholder in the menu bar style drop-down list.
Many palettes can enclose associated functions or Maple commands. For example, you can enter and highlight sin(x) in the worksheet, and then click the indefinite integral symbol in the Expression palette. The resulting expression is correctly formatted as int(sin(x),%x), whereby %x indicates the Maple Input Placeholder.
Note: In Windows and Mac OS X, a palette command can be dragged and dropped onto the worksheet to insert corresponding command.
Animation controls
Maple 9.5 provides slider control for viewing individual frames of an animated plot. The exact frame speed (Frame Per Second) is displayed when increasing or decreasing the animation speed of a plot.
You can now play animations backward and forward by using the Oscillate menu item.
Automatic Highlighting in 2-D Plots
In 2-D plots, lines and polygons are automatically highlighted when the mouse pointer is placed on them. This makes object selection easier.
Displaying Coordinates of 2-D Plots
In 2-D plots, you can determine the coordinates of the plot at the position of the cursor. Coordinates corresponding to the cursor position are displayed in the worksheet context bar (upper left-hand corner) or by using the context-sensitive Transform>Point Probe menu.
Scale and Pan 2-D and 3-D Plots and Animations
You can transform your plot by using the Scale or Pan plot options. Scale changes the size of the plot, and Pan changes the position of the plot in the anchored frame. Note that the plot structure does not change. These options are accessed from the main or context-sensitive Plot>Transform menu.
Processing time increases when copying large selections in your worksheet. Sometimes you may need to disable the copying of all Rich Text Formatting (RTF). In Maple 9.5, you can disable RTF copy Always, for Large Selections Only, or Never if the increased processing time is not an issue. The Disable RTF Copy option is accessed through the Options dialog.
In addition to the bold, italic, and underline character style options, Maple 9.5 allows you to include superscript and subscript characters in the text regions of your worksheets. You can access these styles through the Character Styles dialog or from the main Format>Character menu.
If your Standard worksheet contains superscripts and subscripts, these options will appear as regular text in the Classic worksheet. Superscripts and subscripts are supported when exporting the Standard worksheet to RTF, LaTeX, and HTML formats.
The Tools menu provides quick access to the Maple Assistants, such as the Unit Converter or Plot Builder. The Tools menu also provides quick access to the Maple Tutors associated with such topics as Linear Algebra or Multivariate Calculus.
Maplet application authors now have a third option when designing the layout of a Maplet application. BorderLayout offers a layout scheme in which you can add an element for each of the four compass directions or centered. The location of the cell in the border layout is defined using GridCell2 elements.
See Also
Index of New Maple 9.5 Features
trademarks
Download Help Document
