M2 Maple Assignment and Discussion
Each module in this course includes a Maple Assignment and Discussion. For these, you will create a Maple file on an assigned Calculus topic which you will upload to the discussion board. The Maple file you create will include more than just mathematics. You will include verbal descriptions/explanations, relevant graphs, and clear labeling (of sections of the document and plots) so that the Maple file you attach to the discussion board will be a complete report.
The goal of this assignment/discussion is for you to become familiar with Maple and how it can assist you understanding calculus concepts and working calculus problems. Complete the activities below in a single Maple file and then attach the file to your main discussion post. In the body of your main post, please include a paragraph about what new thing most impressed you and why, no matter if it is calculus or Maple in origin.
General Maple tip: When in Maple, navigating from the tool bar at the top, visit Help>>>Maple Help and search for a key word relevant to what you are doing. The search results will return three types of information. The letter D in a box denotes a mathematical definition. A Question Mark in a box denotes the information there is a “how to” using Maple. The letters WS in a box denote a link to a Maple Math Apps.
Module 2 Maple Assignment
For the Module 2 Maple assignment, please watch the two videos, Evaluate the Limit and Stepwise Evaluation, found at the Maplesoft website MapleSoft Teaching Concepts with Maple: Evaluation of a Limit (http://www.maplesoft.com/teachingconcepts/detail.aspx?cid=48).
Now it is your turn to work in Maple. Select one problem from the Chapter 2 Practice Exercises 9 through 28 (found at the end of the chapter). Make sure no one else has already chosen that problem. Once you have selected a problem, even before you start work on it, please post to the discussion board your claim on that problem by posting an empty post with the subject “Exercise ## Already Taken”. This will ensure you don’t have an unpleasant surprise later that the problem you wanted to post has already been posted.
Use Maple to solve the problem. Also find the limit for the function as the free variable approaches pi from the right, pi from the left, infinity, and negative infinity. For each limit you calculate include a relevant graph and a verbal analysis. It may take some experimentation and adjusting of the horizontal and vertical axis to get graphs that show the pertinent features.
For formatting within the Maple file, please include a descriptive title and your name. At the end of your Maple file, please include a paragraph sharing what you have learned and any difficulties you found (mathematically or with Maple).
Attach this Maple file to your main discussion post.
It is important that you understand that Maple is like a calculator. It not only can create useful plots for you, it also can evaluate limits, derivatives, integrals, and so many other things. The problems in the MML assignments are to be worked using pencil and paper (you may find creating a plot in Maple useful when setting up some problems). The problems in the Maple Discussion assignments are to be worked in Maple WITHOUT the use of pencil and paper. You set up the problem and have Maple solve it. But note the problems you are assigned to do in Maple are from the textbook, and as such are meant to be worked using pencil and paper. You may find it useful to solve the Maple assignment problems on pencil and paper to check that you are using Maple correctly.
