Well, that last blog entry sure generated a lot of discussion! I'm going to move on to something a bit more fun and less controversial: how to generate a 3-D plot of a polyhedron. There are different ways to do this in Maple, depending on how complicated the polyhedron is and what else you want to do with it. I've uploaded a worksheet with a few simple examples. View 86_PolyhedraExample.mw on MapleNet or Download 86_PolyhedraExample.mw
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I've been asked: how do I include a mathematical expression in a plot caption without having it evaluate? An example is displaying 2(x+y) in the caption without having it appear as 2x+2y. The easiest way to do this is to create an atomic identifier from the expression in the input line. In the 2-D input line, you'll have plot(..., caption=2(x+y)). Select 2(x+y) and right-click to bring up the context menu. Then go to 2-D Math -> Convert To -> Atomic Identifier. This turns the expression into a single name. Note that it is no longer equivalent to the expression 2(x+y), even though it looks exactly like it.

In Maple 11, we added the ability to put captions on a plot. To do this, just use the 'caption' option with any plotting command, in the same way you'd use the 'title' option. These options are described in the plot/options help page. One additional change we made in Maple 11 for these two options is to allow the right-hand-side of the option equation to be a list containing the title or caption, followed by a 'font' suboption. So now you can use title=["my title", font=[times, bold, 20]] instead of having to specify the font separately with the 'titlefont' option. You can also display 2-D math in captions, titles and other text elements in a 2-D plot. To do this, simply use the mathematical expression as the option value: e.g. caption=x^2/2. To combine math with plain text, wrap everything in a 'typeset' structure: caption=typeset("my plot of ", x^2/2). If you enter the plotting command in 2-D math, you can use the palettes to build the expression directly in the command.

I'm finally going to start my MaplePrimes blog, and I will post answers to some of the questions I get about the areas with which I'm familiar. Most of time, I get asked about 2-D plotting. Some of the information here may be repeated from forum comments, but hopefully, this will make it easier to find. Unfortunately, my participation on MaplePrimes comes in spurts, as I try to find time between my other tasks, such as developing features for new releases. I tend to rely on the many Maple experts on MaplePrimes who very competently answer most questions that arise. I will, however, try to be diligent about adding a new tip at least once a week. Let's see if I can live up to my promise and get beyond this first post!