Sequences of Operations

Sometimes Scientific Notebook returns answers that are not in the form you need. You can take advantage of items such as Simplify, Combine, Expand, and Factor under the Maple menu to rewrite these answers. Here is an example that illustrates their use.


\begin{example}
Place the insertion point in the expression $\int e^{ax}\cos bx...
...reak e^{ax}\frac{a\cos bx+b\sin bx}{a^{2}+b^{2}}
\end{eqnarray*}
\end{example}

The integral $\int$2xcos bxdx looks just as straightforward but requires several extra steps to get the answer into an equivalent final form. (See the exercisesDM7-9.tex#Exercises at the end of this chapter.) Simplification of algebraic expressions is more subtle than it might at first appear. Sometimes you just have to experiment with the menu items Simplify, Combine, Expand, and Factor to get expressions into a manageable form. This interaction with the system is a natural part of the machine-human interface.