Top 10 Ways to Enrich Curriculum and Enhance Research

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Top 10 Ways Maple Can Help

5 ways to 5 ways to
Enhance your + Accelerate your
classroom research

Reduce Errors Save Time Save Money

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Topics

•  Top 5 ways to enrich the curriculum

–  Example - Connecting concepts
–  Case studies
•  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
•  SUNY Stony Brook
•  Top 5 ways to enhance research performance
–  Example - Revitalization of classic research methods
–  Case studies
•  University of Waterloo
•  Waseda University
•  Conclusions

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Top 5 Ways to Enhance The Classroom

1. Demonstrations in class
2. Laboratories and projects
3. Testing and assessment
4. Self-directed student use
5. Lesson preparation

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 1. Demonstrations

•  Instructors can lead the class through a

wide range of dynamic explorations of
even the most complex concepts. You
can use the countless built-in
demonstration tools for core topics or
quickly configure your own.
–  Visualization: quickly create vibrant
images of complex mathematics without
hassle of chalk, rulers, or drawing skills.
Animations in 3D or 2D provide instant
insight.
–  Live “what if?” analysis: change
parameters and discuss results.
–  Also perfect for one on one tutorial
sessions where you can quickly illustrate
clarifying concepts.

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 2. Labs and Projects

•  Lectures and demonstrations become self-

motivated discovery experiences using
Maple. With Clickable Math®, Maple’s
easy-to-use smart documents allow
students to solve complex, multifaceted
problems and establish relevance to the
material.
–  Maple eliminates the mechanical tedium of
finding a solution so students can focus
directly on the concepts.
–  Time savings and reduction of errors mean
that students can do more problems and
more meaningful problems.
–  Extensive range of free and optional
content and resources to quickly implement
lab strategies.

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 3. Testing and Assessment

•  Maple T.A. is Maplesoft’s second major product

line that automates testing and comprehension
assessment of mathematical topics. It solves
many of the challenges of an increasing teaching
load while also improving the quality of individual
learning experiences for students.
–  Eliminates manual marking freeing your time to
teach and motivate.
–  The MAA-Maple T.A. Placement Test Solution
precisely pinpoints freshmen knowledge levels
allowing you to place each student in the perfect
section, course, or corrective activity for them.
–  Optimize your teaching. Frequent comprehension
tests are easy to give and let you adjust your
material and pace to suit the particular class: Just In
Time teaching!
–  The ideal drill and practice tool for self-paced
reinforcements by students.
Online Testing and Assessment…Powered by MapleTM

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 4. Student Use

•  An affordable tool that stays with the student

for his/her entire academic and professional
career. Maple will allow them to do more
problems, dig deeper into exercises, and
overall reduce their dependence on the
teaching staff.
–  Cheaper than most text books and graphing
calculators but does so much more.
–  Countless student-specific features presents
complex concepts in engaging and motivating
ways.
–  Live online support network provides human
assistance freeing you to teach math and not
the tool.
–  Lots of available e-books and study guides
for reference and tutorial instruction.

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 5. Lesson Preparation

•  Answer checking: speeds up creation of assignments

and lectures.
•  Variations of textbook examples: no need to stick to
the same old example. Making changes has no time
penalty.
•  Visualization options: different perspectives on the
same topic.
•  Word-processing: great alternative to Word® for
technical documents (assignment sheets, tests,
course notes, etc.)
–  Web publishing via HTML or live via MapleNet™
–  Documents sharable and reusable. No need to
reinvent wheels.
•  Traditional test preparation: varying standard
questions, marking, etc.

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Case Study: Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute

•  Premier private university excelling in teaching and research in the applied sciences
and engineering
•  Two decades of Maple use. Began as NSF funded initiative to revitalize calculus
•  Complete integration of Maplesoft products in classrooms, labs, student-owned
computers
•  Essential part of mobile computing initiative
•  Results:
–  Greater focus on concepts and “what if?” scenarios without bogging down on detailed
calculations
–  Wide spread adoption. Courses include: calculus, differential equations, engineering
analysis, circuit studies, physics, chemistry

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Case Study: SUNY Stony Brook

•  Stony Brook University of the State University of New York (SUNY)

system renowned for computer and mathematical sciences
•  Part of system-wide SUNY license
•  Major challenges in funding and managing placement tests for freshmen
(3500 per year)
•  Tests are now fully automated using Maple T.A.
–  Easy to implement, extensive and adaptable, compatible with existing content
and software, easy to use for students and faculty.
–  Faculty spend time dealing with the results and implication of exams and not
with the delivery or administration.
–  Students are now precisely placed in courses and sections that optimizes their
learning experience.
–  “a net increase in satisfaction and happiness with the [testing] process”: Dr.
Scott Sutherland

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Top 5 Ways to Accelerate Research

1. Reduce algebraic errors

2. More publishing opportunities
3. Perfect programming for research
4. Connectivity to research tools
5. Reduced teaching effort

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 1. Reduction of Errors

•  Automated algebra
–  Never drop a minus sign again: symbolic manipulation
reduce errors in derivations
–  Analytical (closed-form) solutions for algebraic
equations, differential equations, inequalities, and
more
–  Save hours/days of time from manual or reference-
book based techniques
–  More effective than numerical approaches
•  Rapid math entry
–  Easy to use natural math notation entry: palette-based,
or keyboard-based with real-time 2D formatting
–  Most common operations are menu-driven to eliminate
syntax errors that are common with other math
systems
–  Hundreds of templates to streamline multi-step tasks

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 2. More Publishing Opportunities

•  Expand the scope of research

–  Adjust concepts for new research variation (or
paper) without months of algebraic rework
–  Inter-disciplinary research: adapt mathematical
methods from other fields without learning an
entire new dialect of mathematics
–  Modernization of classical methods: revive
elegant mathematical techniques that has lost
favor to numerical techniques
–  “Symbolicize” numerical techniques
•  More efficient publishing
–  Solution checking, rapid theorem and model
derivation
–  Rapid adaptation or mathematical replication of
others’ papers
–  Publishing tools for LaTeX, MathML, Word
(RTF), and more

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 3. The Perfect Language

•  Rapid development of prototypes and proofs of concept in

applied fields
–  Interpretive yet fast: easy to code and debug. Low-level
computations done by compiled code.
–  Optimized for math applications. Maple takes care of the
details.
•  E.g. differential equations. Natural input as a single equation as opposed to a
system of first order equations.
–  Procedural and familiar. If you’ve programmed in C,
FORTRAN, BASIC, Java, or MATLAB, Maple will be easy
–  Complete application development environment combine
code and concept/documentation. Debugging tools. UI
development and more.
–  Open algorithms. Most Maple math source code is visible.
•  Automatic code generation
–  Perfect preparatory tool for large-scale application
development
–  Use Maple to prepare models and theory à optimized source
code in all primary languages can be plugged right into your
source code

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 4. Connectivity

•  Enhance the effectiveness of MATLAB®

–  Maple Toolbox for MATLAB adds a rich set of
research tools to MATLAB: world’s best symbolic
tools, fastest algorithms, easy equation entry, very
high precision, report creation, extended math
libraries

•  Accelerates the theory AND the simulations

–  Computational assistance from theoretical concept
to code
–  Database connectivity allows you to easily query,
create, and update your databases without any
detailed SQL knowledge.

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 5. Reduced Teaching Effort

•  Educational applications of Maple and

Maple T.A. frees up time from lesson
preparations, marking, and more.
–  More learning from effective self-paced and
directed activities by students

•  Enhances the educational experience

AND saves time

•  Continuous toolchain from freshman to

grads and research

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Demo: Revitalizing Classic Methods
•  Conventional CAD surface designs took
weeks to make modifications for complex
surfaces (too many “control points”)
•  Develop mathematical technique to
minimize shape parameters while
maintaining all necessary geometric
properties
*Project funding included Boeing (division now part of Bombardier), Natural
•  Using Maple, Liming’s classic “lofting” Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
method was modified to model complex 3-D
surfaces
Liming’s conic lofting

C(x,y)=0
Essential shape properties modified by
very small number of parameters: minimal
time for design alternatives

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Case Study: University of Waterloo

•  Dr. John McPhee, Systems Design Concept

Engineering, University of Waterloo,
Canada
•  Universal modeling technique for
physical systems using linear graph
theory
–  Mechanical, electronic, hydraulic,
mixed
•  Platform for simulation and control
•  Using Maple, a 30 year old theoretical
concept became a practical design
tool that automatically generates
detailed mathematical models of
physical systems.
–  Core technology now incorporated in
MapleSim

Simulation

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Case Study: Waseda University

•  Dr. Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda

University Humanoid Robotics
Laboratory, Tokyo
•  Japan’s leading research for
human-like robots
•  Maple used to derive models
and control strategies
•  Maple’s algebraic power
makes projects feasible and
dramatically reduces derivation
errors.

Waseda University
Humanoid Robotics Lab

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.

 Conclusions

1.  Reduce errors

2.  Save time
3.  Save money
4.  Teach better
5.  Do better research

© Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc. 2012

© 2009 Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc.