Maple Tutor

Appendix: Use of Palettes

In Maple you may use palettes to simplify the entering of commands. There are three of these palettes:

• Symbol Palette

• Expression Palette

• Matrix Palette

Each of these palletes may be displayed by clicking on View, then on Palettes, and then on the particular palette desired. We will illustrate their convenience by using them to enter and evaluate the integral of exp(-x²) from 0 to infinity.

Follow these steps in order.

1. Display the Symbol Palette and the Expression Palette.

2. In the Expression Palette, click on the definite integral button. If you are in Maple Notation entry mode, you should see
   int(%?, %?=%?..%?);
   If you are in Standard Math entry mode, you will see a definite integral template with ? symbols at the places to enter the limits of integration, the integrand, and the variable of integration. We assume that you are in Maple Notation entry mode; the instructions for Standard Math are analogous.

3. The cursor is positioned for you to enter the integrand. In the Expression Palette, click on the exponential function button e^a. Then type -x^2 on your keyboard to complete the integrand.

4. Press the Tab key. Notice that the cursor moves to the beginning of the specification of the variable of integration and of the limits. In general, the Tab key cycles you through the places in the template where entries are needed. Now, type x, then Tab, then 0, then Tab again.

5. You are now ready to enter the infinity symbol. In the Symbol Palette, click on the infinity button -- the second button from the left in the bottom row. Your Maple Input line should look like
   int(exp(-x^2), x=0..infinity);
   Now, if you press Enter, Maple will calculate the value of the integral.

6. Use the palettes to enter the same integral with Maple in Standard Math entry mode.