Numerical Approximations

Scientific Notebook returns an exact, or symbolic, answer whenever appropriate and otherwise returns a numerical approximation. You can force a numerical result to any evaluation either by choosing Evaluate Numerically from the Maple menu or by starting with numbers in decimal notation. You obtain numerical approximations in response to any operation when you enter numbers with decimals.

You can change the number of digits displayed in these approximations by changing the setting in the Maple + SettingsDM2-3.tex#Maple settings dialog. You can also change the number of digits used in computations and the threshold for scientific notation in that dialog. Numerical approximations are discussed in greater detail in the section Numerical ApproximationsDM2-3.tex#Numerical approximations under Real Numbers.