Professor Farris
Think of Maple as a mathematical assistant: you give it a mathematical instruction and it responds by doing exactly what you've asked. For instance, if you type
> int(x^2,x=0..1);
and press return, Maple will respond with 1/3, the correct value of the integral.
For our Maple projects, you will often want to see the integral displayed, rather than seeing its value right away. This would allow you to check the set-up. In that case you would type
> Int(x^2,x=0..1);
This shows that Maple uses case-sensitive syntax. Usually, a lower-case first letter means you want the operation carried out, while an upper-case first letter means you want to see the operation in standard notation.
If you use upper-case version of the command, and then want to see the actual result, one simple way to get it is to type
> value(%);
This will give you the value of the previous result, which you refer to as %.
Note that every line of input ends with a semi-colon (;). Maple responds to your input when you press Enter. If you've made a mistake, simply use the Undo command under the Edit menu, fix your mistake, and press Enter again. Sometimes you will want Maple to carry out a command without displaying the result; in that case, end your line with a colon (:).
In doing several integrals in a row, I like to Cut and Paste, so I don't have to type as much. The keys Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V are standard shortcuts to Cut and Paste and they work nicely in Maple.
A few things deserve special comment. The famous number 3.14159... is known to Maple as Pi; if you type pi Maple will think you mean to use that as the name of a variable. Exponentiation with e as the base is written like this: exp(x).
This is enough to get you started. Depending on your tastes, you may wish to take the New Users' Tour under the Help menu. My favorite way to learn software is simply to try things. If you need about concerning a particular term, just type the term, highlight it with the mouse, and look under the Help menu.
Come see me, or send email, if you need help.