Modules for
Differential
Calculus
Maple Tutor
Part 5: What Maple
remembers
- Create a new region
and type
x:=15;
Then press the SHIFT and RETURN keys together. This gives you a
new line within the region and does not evaluate the current line. Now
type
7.3/2.5;
Then press RETURN to evaluate both lines.
- Go back into the
region, delete the line
x:=15;
and press RETURN. In the new region, enter
x;
Notice that Maple still remembers that x has been assigned the value 15 -- even though that line no
longer appears in the worksheet.
We have come to the
second
important fact about Maple. (Ending a computation line with a
semicolon
or colon was the first.) Maple remembers what has been
entered
in the order it was entered.
- It doesn't matter
what
is currently in the worksheet, nor the order things appear in that
worksheet.
You may have assigned a value, erased the assigning command line, and
forgotten
about it. But Maple remembers. If you use x later, assuming it is
an unassigned variable, strange things will happen.
- If variables are
assigned
new values, formulas using those variables acquire new values as well.