ABSTRACT
Maple is a computer algebra system which can assist you in solving mathematical problems which would be quite inaccessible without its help. This introduction is not intended to make you an expert on Maple but it should be a reasonably self-contained start which will enable you to handle many problems in the analysis of ordinary differential equations and difference equations which are found in this book. Maple is intended as an aid, not as a replacement for thinking. Ideally, you will begin by working on a problem to understand what is required and will turn to Maple to provide graphic output where appropriate. While Maple has considerable capacity for calculation (good enough to pass most calculus courses), this is an aspect which we shall try not to emphasize. Our use of Maple will be concentrated on
(i) plotting graphs of functions or pairs of functions and thus finding intersections of two graphs,
(ii) graphical solution of ordinary differential equations, including first-order equations and systems of first-order differential equations,
(iii) difference equations, including the cobweb method for first-order difference equations and the graphing of solutions of difference equations of first or higher order by iterative calculations.
