@tomleslie I converted the following worksheet from 2D to 1D math. Download_search.mw and Download_search2.mw failed to find the 2D version and found the 1D version.

Classical_Mechanics_13.15_surface_paths_geodesic_&_fastest_descent.mw

Classical_Mechanics_13.15_surface_paths_geodesic_&_fastest_descent_1D.mw

Almost all of my worksheets are written in 2D math. Is there any code in Maple which can find specific text within them?

@acer Thanks for your information.

My worksheets are all written in 2D input.

Please see my reply to tomleslie below.

@tomleslie I thank you for your worksheet. However it did not work consistently.

Download search.mw executed against the folder containing my Maple worksheets found 6 worksheets containing "with(VariationalCalculus". Here is one worksheet that it found:

Enns_&_McGuire_3.2.1_Fall_line_arrows_on_a_f(x_y)_surface.mw

However several worksheets containing the string were not found. Here is one worksheet that it did not find:

Classical_Mechanics_5.5_bead_sliding_down_wire_at_constant_velocity.mw

Is there any explanation for this?

@vv I think the non-differentiable points are taken care of in my original posted worksheet.

The workwheet does not attempt to find tangency (i.e. evaluate the curve's derivative) at the outward pointing cusp. The cam follower never touches the inward pointing cusp, it would have to be a dimensionless point to do so.

@Markiyan Hirnyk Sorry, I just have not had time to give it the attention his kind response deserves. I will respond once I have the chance to go over it carefully.

@tomleslie Zooming in on the animation in your latest worksheet shows that it comes closest to a major aim of my original effort which was to have the follower circle or disk be truly tangent to the rotating cam.

This is why I used SolveEquations i.e. to attempt to find the common point of tangency between the follower disk and the cam.

I wonder if I will ever receive a reply from Sergey Moyseev.

@Markiyan Hirnyk In the uploaded worksheet SolveEquations is changed to include AllSolutions=true, solutions=1. Option initialpoint which is included in SolveEquations in the original worksheet is not allowed.

When the worksheet is executed, each iteration of the for..do loop takes considerable time.

The DEBUG command following SolveEquations shows that the solved value A is very close to 2.5 for the first 5 iterations, then for the sixth iteration it becomes negative 2.5.

The values of A produced by SolveEquations in the original worksheet, for the first 3 iterations are 2.4696, 2.3305, and 2.2001 through 4 decimal places. These values produce the correct first 3 animation frames.

Archimedean_spiral_cam_follower_2.mw

@vv I will try to restate my worksheet with my Archimedean spirals converted to polar coordinates. 

@Markiyan Hirnyk I have just sent an email to Mr. Moiseev with a link to this Maple forum webpage. I asked for any suggestions which would help me make better use of DirectSearch.

@Markiyan Hirnyk Thank you for your suggestons.

AllSolutions by itself produced 99 solutions. AllSolutions, solutions=1 produced the first of these which gave incorrect values.

@tomleslie I thank you enormously for grasping my problem and putting so much obvious effort into it!

It's going to take me some time to absorb all you have done, so I wanted to reply to you and "boost" your answer now, to show my gratitude. 

@tomleslie Thank you a heap for the lesson on by-pass reference.

I did not know that IntSect[i]  = xxxx automatically implements IntSect as a table if it is not previously otherwise defined as a Matrix or Array.

@Rouben Rostamian  Your reply has taught me a new technique, namely how to delimit two parametrically defined surfaces with respect to each other.

Even after 12 years working with math in Maple it seems I have barely tapped its potential.

I am most grateful to you for this and past assistance.

@rlopez Dr. Lopez, I hope the attached worksheet permits you to see what I want to do and explains my comment about awkward coding.

Desired_display.mw

@vv It seems that plot3d wants a separate procedure for each of the three elements in a surface's parametric definition. This is awkward coding. Perhaps MapleSoft could modify plot3d with an option permitting a single procedure in place of three.