Naming Expressions

Something important to Maple that you do not do with pencil and paper is naming mathematical expressions. Giving a name (or tag) to the mathematical expression that you type allows you to refer to it later in the Maple document. Using the name later on is the same as cutting and pasting the expression itself, but is much more convenient and is the preferred way to write Maple documents. There are two ways to assign a name to an expression. Names are assigned to expressions by typing the expression as (name := expression). The := symbol is used to assign names. It has no effect on the math. The second way is to type just the expression, as you would with pencil and paper, and strike the enter key. Then right click on the expression with the mouse and a menu of options will appear. Select ‘Assign to a name’ by left clicking that item and a box will appear where you can type a name for the expression and click ok.

At this point it is important to discuss the command and right-click alternatives in Maple. Just as there are two ways to assign a name to a mathematical expression, there are two ways to accomplish most common mathematical tasks in Maple. Either a command to accomplish a task is typed into the Maple document or a mathematical expression in the document is right-clicked and a task is selected from the menu of options that appear. In some cases the direct typing of the command is preferred and in other cases the right-click approach is more convenient. They each accomplish the same mathematical results, however the document may appear different, depending upon which approach is used.