MaplePrimes - Maple Posts and Questions

How to calculate an infinite sum with coefficients generated recursively

Angelo Melino — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:01:57 Z

I have an expression that is an infinite sum with coefficients that are generated recursively (see below). I've tried to evaluate it and similar expressions in MAPLE but keep getting error messages. Any suggestions?

Maple icon appears as a gear on Ubuntu 26.04

Thomas Dean — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:15:36 Z

I was told this problem is with Maple and the value of StartupWMClass.

Ubuntu 26.04. The maple Icons in the dock appears as the maple icon. When I click to start maple, the running icon appears as a gear. Hovering shows java-lang-Thread.

How do I fix this.

An unruly integral

Alfred_F — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:00:36 Z

As an exercise to further familiarize myself with Maple, I would like to calculate the definite integral specified in the attached file. The integrand has an antiderivative, and a source lists the value of the integral as approximately 0.57... Based on the plot, this value is plausible according to a simple estimate (Pi/2 * 0.8 / 2). Following standard practice taught in school, I therefore calculated the difference between the values of the antiderivative at the limits of integration. Surprisingly, the result is a complex number. What am I doing wrong? Did the internal Maple calculation switch to complex principal values?

testint5.mw

Can AI Do the Math? Let’s Check

vanish — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:24:57 Z

AI can generate mathematical answers remarkably quickly. But how do we know when an answer sounds right but isn't?

Consider this example.

Suppose we ask an AI to differentiate

[
f(x)=x^x.
]

A common mistake is to treat it like an ordinary power and answer

[
f'(x)=x,x^{x-1}=x^x.
]

Looks plausible. It’s also wrong.

Using logarithmic differentiation,

[
\ln f=x\ln x,
]

[
\frac{f'}{f}=\ln x+1,
]

and therefore

[
\boxed{f'(x)=x^x(\ln x+1)}.
]

This is where a mathematical tool such as Maple becomes useful. Instead of relying on whether an AI-generated explanation sounds convincing, we can ask Maple to perform the differentiation and verify the result.

The lesson isn't that AI can't do mathematics.

It's that AI and mathematical computation have different strengths.

AI can suggest an approach, explain the reasoning, and generate code. Maple can perform the symbolic computation and help us verify what the AI tells us.

So perhaps the better question isn't:

“Can AI do the math?”

It's:

“Can AI help us do better math when we have the tools to check it?”

Fraction to percent wont work

jestrup — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 08:38:47 Z

I'm having a strange problem in Maple 2026. When I highlight a fraction to get Maple to display it as a percentage, it leaves the fraction unchanged. Is this a problem that others have encountered as well? And what can be done about it?

positive integer solutions to an equation

vanish — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:22:38 Z

a2+b2+c2+1=k abca^2+b^2+c^2+1 = k\,abca2+b2+c2+1=kabc

has a solution in positive integers $a,b,c$. For that $k$, prove every solution has $a,b,c$ all odd, and that every solution can be reduced to $(1,1,1)$ by repeated moves $(a,b,c)\mapsto(a,b,4ab-c)$.