This talk of Maple brings to mind a recent item in PHYSLRNR which some
of you may have missed. The subject is the application "Suremath" which
does algebra and some calculus, and in a more advanced form, "SureMath
Plus", handles more advanced topics. These applications may be previewed
on the web at http://www2.hawaii.edu/suremath/home.html
Suremath is, in my opinion, one of the best aids to learning physics I
know. I have been using it in my own work for more than a decade (I
started with its predecessor, an application called "Milo" which was
written by a physics student). It is a "weak" mathematics processor
which helps the student perform mathematical operations slowly and
sequentially, allowing the work to be checked easily at each step. I
prefer it for many purposes to applications like Mathcad, Mathematica,
and Maple, all of which are much more powerful, but which suffer from
being simply black boxes that crank out results. SureMath will involve
the student in the process of problem solving by preventing her from
making simple errors (e.g. missing factors of two or sign errors) while
requiring her to perform the manipulations that are necessary for the
solution of a problem.
Two of my colleagues here at SFU also use SureMath or Milo in their
daily work. It is worth taking a serious look at this application, both
for its value as a learning tool and as an aid to your own thought.