Maplesoft’s CEO, Dr. Laurent Bernardin, has written an opinion piece on Fostering Student Retention through Success in Mathematics. In it, he discusses ways to reduce university dropout rates by turning the technology shortcuts students are already using in their math courses into data-driven insights and interventions that promote student success.

You can read the whole article here:  Fostering Student Retention through Success in Mathematics

You will not be shocked to learn that Maplesoft plays a role in the strategy he proposes. 😊 (But this is a serious problem for a lot of schools, and we really would like to help!)

As a university-level math student, I am constantly working through practice problems. An issue I constantly face is that when I get a problem wrong, it can be challenging to find out which line I did wrong. Even if I use Maple Calculator or Maple Learn to get the full steps for a solution, it can be tedious to compare my answer to the steps to see where I went wrong.

This is why Check My Work is one of the most popular features in Maple Learn. Check My Work will check all the lines in your solution and give you feedback showing you exactly where you went wrong. I honestly didn’t know that something like this existed until I started here at Maplesoft, and it is now easy to see why this has been one of our most successful features in Maple Learn.

Students have been loving it, but the only real complaint is that it’s only available in Maple Learn. So, if you were working on paper, you'd either have to retype your work into Maple Learn or take a picture of your steps using Maple Calculator and then access it in Maple Learn. Something I immediately thought was, if I’m already on my phone to take a picture, I’d much rather be able to stay on my phone.

And now you can! Check My Work is now fully available within Maple Calculator!

To use Check My Work, all you need to do is take a picture of your solution to a math problem.

Check My Work will recognize poor handwriting, so there is no need to worry about getting it perfect. After taking the picture, select the Check My Work dropdown in the results screen to see if your solution is correct or where you made a mistake.

Check My Work will go through your solution line-by-line giving you valuable feedback along the way! Additionally, if you make a mistake, Maple Calculator will point out the line with the error and then proceed with checking the remainder of the solution given this context.  

For students, Check My Work is the perfect tool to help you understand and master concepts from class. As a student myself, I’ll for sure be using this feature in my future courses to double-check my work.

What makes Check My Work great for learning a technique is that it doesn’t tell you what mistake you made, but rather where the mistake has been made. This is helpful since as a student you don’t have to worry about the time-consuming task of finding the step with an error, but rather you can focus on the learning aspect of actually figuring out what you did wrong.

Once you have made corrections to your work on paper, take a new picture and repeat the process. You can also make changes to your solution in-app by clicking the “Check my work in editor” button in the bottom right, which runs Check My Work in the editor where you can modify your solution.

No other math tool has a Check My Work feature, and we are very proud to bring this very useful tool to students. By bringing it fully into Maple Calculator, we continue working towards our goal of helping students learn and understand math.

View the GIF below for a brief demonstration of how to use Check My Work!

We hope you enjoy Check My Work in Maple Calculator and let us know what you think!

I was working in my living room.  My computer was upstairs, but I had my phone and tablet.  I'm working on The Book ("Perturbation methods using backward error", with Nic Fillion, which will be published by SIAM next year some time).

I've discovered something quite cool, historically, about the WKB method and George Green's original invention of the idea (that bears other people's names, or, well, initials, anyway).  (As usual.)  Green had written down a PDE modelling waves in a long narrow canal of slowly varying breadth 2*beta(x) and slowly varying depth 2*gamma(x).  Turns out his "approximate" solution is actually an exact solution to an equation of a very similar kind, with an extra term E(x)*phi(x,t).  The extra term depends in a funny way on beta(x) and gamma(x), and only on those.  So a natural kind of question is, "is there a canal shape for which Green's solution is the exact solution with E(x)==0?"  Can we find beta(x) and gamma(x) for which this works?

Yes.  Lots of cases.  In particular, if the breadth beta(x) is constant, you can write down a differential equation for gamma(x).  I wrote it in my notebook using y and not gamma.  I wrote it pretty neatly.  Then I fired up the Maple Calculator on my little tablet, opened the camera, and pow!  Solved.

I wrote the solution down underneath the equation.  It checks out, too.  See the attached image.

Now, after the fact, I figured out how to solve it myself (using Ricatti's trick: put y' = v, then y'' = v*dv/dy, and the resulting first order equation is separable).  But that whole "take a picture of the equation and write down the solution" thing is pretty impressive.

So: kudos to the designers and implementers of the Maple Calculator.  Three cheers!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new Student Success Platform! Over the past several months, our academic team has dedicated itself to understanding how we can better support institutions in addressing their concerns around student retention rates. The numbers tell a concerning story: In the U.S., nearly 25% of first-year undergraduates don’t complete their studies, and in STEM fields, the numbers are even higher. In both STEM programs and non-STEM programs with math gateway courses, struggles with math are often a key reason students do not, or cannot, continue their studies. This has a profound impact on both the students’ futures and the institution’s revenue and funding.

From what we’re hearing from institutions and instructors, one of the most pressing issues is the lack of readiness among first-year students, particularly in math courses. With larger class sizes and students arriving with varying levels of preparedness, instructors face challenges in providing the personalized support that is essential. Additionally, many students don’t fully utilize existing resources, such as office hours or TA sessions, which increases their risk of falling behind and ultimately dropping out.

Our new Student Success Platform is designed to tackle these issues head-on. It combines all of our existing tools with exciting new features to help students succeed on their own terms—without adding to instructors' already busy workloads. The early feedback has been fantastic, and we can’t wait for you to see the impact it can make.

You can read more about the Student Success Platform here: https://www.maplesoft.com/student-success-platform/

Where can I find my purchase code to complete the installation for Maple Calculator? I am not able to use it without one.

I'm excited to announce the creation of a new LinkedIn group, Maple Software Community! This group is dedicated to discussions about the use of Maple software and is designed to be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and all Maple enthusiasts.

By joining this community, you'll have the opportunity to:

• Learn about upcoming events and workshops that can enhance your skills.
• Stay informed on the latest projects that leverage Maple software.
• Engage in discussions that explore the many uses of Maple across various fields.
• Connect with Maple ambassadors and users worldwide who are eager to share their knowledge and experience.

Whether you're a seasoned user or just starting out with Maple, your contributions to this group are welcome and encouraged. Let's build a thriving community together!

Looking forward to seeing you there! 

Maple Software Community

As AI becomes increasingly relevant in the tech world, Maplesoft has taken steps to integrate AI into our products. We recently launched two new features: Ask AI in Maple Learn and Word Problem Solver in Maple Calculator. 

Ask AI - Maple Learn

As a Math Content Creator at Maplesoft, sometimes I find myself in a creative rut. What documents would be engaging for students? How can I address certain math topics in a fun and interactive way?

I've had the pleasure of creating several collections during my time, including Extreme Value Theorem, Intermediate Value Theorem, and Polynomial Long Division. Nonetheless, each collection took a lot of storyboarding and creativity before I even began drafting them, and I've missed out on creating so many more collections because of this long idea generation process. Having a tool in my back pocket to reignite those creative juices would make it so much easier and faster to create new and exciting Maple Learn documents. 

Luckily, our new Ask AI feature in Maple Learn can help with that! 

Whenever you enter text into a Maple Learn document, a new Context Panel operation called "Ask AI" will pop up. Simply click that button to receive an AI response related to your prompt.

One of my favourite uses of Ask AI is to pick a random subject or phrase and see what the AI responds with. The Ask AI feature is designed to respond with a mathematics-centric answer so it will twist even the least mathematical of concepts into a math problem! The prompt "tacos" resulted in some formulas about sharing tacos with friends, and a prompt of "celebrity gossip" introduced statistical functions to compute the number of celebrity mentions per day. 

I also found that completing part of a tongue twister will result in some funny AI responses!

Here are a couple of my favorites below:

"She sells sea shells..."

Ask AI completes this tongue twister, then offers some formulas to compute the profit of selling S shells!

"How much wood..."

After relating that this tongue twister is not a mathematical problem, Ask AI then builds a simple formula for computing how much wood a woodchuck would (hypothetically) chuck.

There are many more applications of this feature, and I hope you all enjoy exploring them as you create documents on Maple Learn. If you're having trouble inputting text into your documents, or looking for a quick introduction to Maple Learn, check out the Walkthrough Tutorial. Beginner Tutorial (slide 8) addresses adding text to your document. Check out this blog post if you aren't sure how to access the Walkthrough Tutorial. 

Word Problem Solver - Maple Calculator

Maple Calculator now offers support for word problems by leveraging AI. Simply take a picture of your word problem and Maple Calculator will provide a solution generated by AI.

Here is a quick example:

I wrote on paper, “Alice and Bob have 17 apples total. Alice has double the number of apples as Bob plus two. How many apples does Bob have?”. Then I took a picture of this in Maple Calculator, and it gave me a breakdown of the problem using linear equations. See screenshots of my Maple Calculator below.

AI can be an amazing tool, but it can also make mistakes. We ensure that all our tools that incorporate AI clearly indicate its use, so that our users can know when AI is used and choose whether to use it. We're committed to remaining transparent about AI as our journey continues and we are always open to feedback. 

For our community of educators, a valuable exercise for students might be to show examples where AI makes mistakes and encourage students to find and explain the errors.

As an example, here is an algebra problem answered by Ask AI in Maple Learn – but it made a mistake! See if your students can spot where it went wrong and explain what should happen instead.

Building these skills will translate into good critical thinking skills that will benefit students inside and outside the classroom. For example, these exercises aim to help students identify their own mistakes in math and critically evaluate online sources. We would love to hear feedback about these exercises if you try them.

We hope these features will come in handy next time you use Maple Learn and Maple Calculator! 

I have a Prime Version Abo. On my iPhone works everyrhing fine. But on IPad there is a Limit of 5 step by step solutions. Same AppleID. What's the Problem?

Does the Premium version of Maple Calculator for Android Smartphones come with Maple 2023 or does it have to be purchased separately. Thanking you in advance.

When I calculate the edge values of a matrix the result is lengthy expression that could be simplified if evaluated numerically, Why is that not done? 

1. Sorry the question is not a maple product but just wanted to know if anyone was using the sharp equation calculator with a pc link interface as it is not with a very acceptable web presence and the kit is unaffordable. If Maple has an equivalent I would love to know.

2. Does Maple have a facility for using virtual drives and emulators on a portable basis (non cloud)?

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To Scan Math with the Maple Calculator and show solution steps in Maple:

1. first scan some math with the calculator

2. Maple calculator immediately shows the solution if that is what you are looking for:

3. Calculator gives options to show the solution steps in the calculator itself ( footprint button in top-right) 

4. Or to upload the math to the MapleCloud (cloud icon with up arrow)

5. Once the math is uploaded, MapleCloud can be loaded on a desktop computer and the file opened from your account's Maple Calculator group of files:

6. Again, the solution and some more details are visible on Maple Cloud:

7. To open this math in Maple, click the blue button to Download the file.

The downloaded file can then be loaded in Maple:

8. The Maple commands to solve this math are shown, and the result. 

To show steps in Maple at this point, convert the math to inert form, then run the Student:-Calculus1:-ShowSolution() command on it:

Download MapleCalculatorMathCloudUpload.mw

Today is a very exciting day at Maplesoft! Yesterday, we released Sumzle on the Maple Calculator app. Of course, this might not mean anything to you yet, because, well, what is Sumzle? Don’t worry, we know you’re asking. So, without waiting any longer, let’s take a look.

Sumzle is a math game, inspired by the Wordle craze, where you attempt to guess an equation. Each guess:

• Must include an equal sign
• Must include up to two operators
• May include a blank column

Sumzle’s interface looks like this:

After each guess, the tile’s colors change to reflect how correct the guess was. Green means that the tile is in the right spot, yellow means the tile is in the equation but the wrong spot, and grey means that it is not in the equation. Let me show you the progression of a game, on the Fun difficulty.

Sumzle can be played once a day on the free tier. For unlimited games, you can subscribe to Maple Calculator Premium or ask your friends to challenge you!

Math games are for everyone, and Sumzle has three levels of difficulty. Are you interested in the history of Sumzle? I sure am!

Sumzle was originally designed by Marek Krzeminski, a MapleSim developer. He had called it Mathie and showed the game to his colleagues here at Maplesoft. Well, we loved it!

After a few months of discussion and development, we tweaked the game to create Sumzle. Honestly, the hardest part was naming the game! We had so many great suggestions, such as Mathstermind and Addle. Eventually, we put it to a vote, and Sumzle rose above the rest.

We hope you enjoy the game, because Math not only matters, but is fun. Don’t forget to update your Maple Calculator app in order to receive that game, as otherwise you won’t be able to find it. Next time you need a break, we challenge you to a game of Sumzle!

Vous venez de découvrir vos résultats du bac blanc et n’avez pas obtenus les résultats espérés à l’épreuve de mathématiques ?

Maple Learn pourrait vous aider à améliorer vos connaissances et vous préparer pour le vrai baccalauréat.

Commencez par revoir les théorèmes et définitions essentielles en explorant les documents de la galerie Maple Learn. Si vous avez des doutes sur certaines définitions; n’hésitez pas à utiliser les outils graphiques de Maple Learn pour approfondir vos connaissances

Consultez ces documents ici et ici.

Ensuite entrainez-vous à faire vos exercices avec Maple Learn

Consultez ce document ici.

Et enfin vérifiez vos résultats avec la Calculatrice Maple pour voir les étapes de résolutions :

N’hésitez pas à partager en commentaire vos astuces pour réviser avec Maple Learn ou la Calculatrice Maple!

I bought a subscription for the Maple calculator on google play and the app still wont give me more than 5 steps a day. Does anyone know what the problem could be?