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Section 9.1 Assigning Expressions
Having to retype the same expression multiple times is tedious, but using copy and paste in Maple can sometimes produce unwanted effects. A better way to reuse an expression multiple times is to assign a name to it. You can assign any expression to a name of your choice (with some exceptions that Maple has protected) by using the
:= operator.
Aside Protected names include common functions such as
exp. For example,
> poly := 3*x^4 - 2*x + 1;
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle poly\, := \,3\,{x}^{4}-2\,x+1
\end{equation*}
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle 3\,{x}^{4}-2\,x+1
\end{equation*}
Aside Never assign anything to single-letter names such as
\(x\) or
\(y\text{.}\) It is best to keep single letters as arbitrary variables.
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle \left( 3\,{x}^{4}-2\,x+1 \right) ^{2}
\end{equation*}
> expr := (4^x - x^4) / exp(x + 1);
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle expr\, := \,{\frac {{4}^{x}-{x}^{4}}{{{ e}^{x+1}}}}
\end{equation*}
Aside It is important to assign expressions to names that make sense to you and are easy to remember. It is also recommended not to reuse a name in the same document. If you assign a new expression to an old name, the new expression will overwrite what was previously assigned.
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle {\frac {{4}^{x}-{x}^{4}}{{{ e}^{x+1}}}}
\end{equation*}
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle \sqrt{{\frac {{4}^{x}-{x}^{4}}{{{ e}^{x+1}}}}}
\end{equation*}
