First Class (Wednesday 30 August 1995)

Goals to accomplish during class

1. Get an account set up on the mathematics department calclab machines and on either the main mathematics server or the university general access UNIX machine tam2000.
2. Get used to manipulating windows (moving, resizing, raising, lowering, iconizing, etc.)
3. Be able to send and to read electronic mail (email).
4. Be able to use simple Maple commands.
5. Be able to do simple editing of text files.
6. Be able to process a simple LaTeX file, preview it on the screen, and print hard copy.

Homework for after class

Of course, you may start on the homework during class if you have time!

1. Send the instructor email stating your name, your favorite area of mathematics, and your hobbies.
2. Use Maple to evaluate the integral that is given in LaTeX code by $\int_0^\infty \frac{dx}{1+x^2}$. (You are supposed to recall from calculus that the answer is $\pi/2$.) Can you get Maple to give both the exact answer and a decimal value? Can you get thirty decimal place accuracy? Send text output of your Maple session to your instructor by email.
3. Write a short (one or two pages) paper in LaTeX, addressed to a high school audience, on the topic "Why study mathematics?"
   • Email your instructor a first draft by 23:00 Sunday 3 September.
   • Hand in hard copy of the final version at the beginning of class on Wednesday 6 September.

Activities to do during class

Help your neighbors!

Computers can be frustrating; if the person next to you looks lost, offer assistance. If you are both lost, get your instructor's attention.

Introduction to Maple

Do the Generic First Week Maple Lab. There are instructions for this on a paper handout.

Computer accounts

If you are a graduate student from a department other than Mathematics, you will probably need an account on tam2000. Ask your instructor for directions about how to use the ACCESS system to claim an account.

If you are a graduate student registered in the Mathematics Department, and you do not yet have an account on the main mathematics server, ask your instructor how to apply for an account.

More Maple

The Department of Mathematics will lend you a copy of CalcLabs with Maple V for the semester. Work through Chapter 1. Don't just read: do the examples on the computer as you go through the chapter. Work the exercises at the end of Chapter 1.

A few of you may already know the elements of Maple. Your job is to help the other students get started with Maple.

Editing

You need to be able to access and use a text editor. If you don't know how, or you are not sure what editor to use, read my howto on editing files. If your favorite editor does not exist on the calclab machines, you may log out and log in to another machine. Then you will need to reload this Web page.

Here is a little game to make sure that you can perform basic editing tasks. Use the mouse to cut out the following: Izalp3aalp3ak Walp3alotwoedelotwoeatwo wrdelotwoeaotwoebeotwoea, "Atwoglgammatwog malp3ay bbeotwoea 2alp3agammad otwoedelotwoea bbeotwoea 2delotwoea lgammakbeotwoea otwoe3beotwoea malp3aotwoe3beotwoeamalp3aotwoegammac2, otwoe3alp3aotwoe gammaotwoe calp3atwo twobeotwoeavbeotwoear bbeotwoea fep2ilotwolly lbeotwoeaalp3artwootwoe." and paste it into your text editor. To unscramble this mishmash, use the editor to make the following global substitutions in this order: 3->h, 2->s, two->n, one->t, epsilon->u, delta->o, gamma->i, beta->e, alpha->a. What does it say?

LaTeX

The first section of Leslie Lamport's book LaTeX is titled "How to avoid reading this book." There he suggests looking at two sample LaTeX input files and comparing them with the corresponding output. Your instructor has copies of these input files on paper for you. Your first LaTeX exercise is to examine these files, process them, and preview the output on the screen.

First open a second window from your Web browser, so that you do not lose track of the instructions you are now reading. In the second window, look at the file small2e.tex. Now save the file to disk, naming it small2e.tex. You can destroy the second browser window now.

Open a terminal window and issue the command latex small2e. You will get some messages from TeX (the program underlying LaTeX). When the UNIX prompt returns, issue the command xdvi small2e. A preview window should open which shows the processed file as it will appear when printed. (The printed file will look better than the screen image because the screen does not have very high resolution.)

Now compare the screen output with the input file on paper. You should get a basic idea of how LaTeX works as a "mark-up language."

Now try the same procedure with the longer file sample2e.tex.

How do you get hard copy of the LaTeX output? First issue the command dvips small2e or dvips sample2e. This will produce a PostScript file named small2e.ps or sample2e.ps. This PostScript file is what you send to the printer to get hard copy on paper.

Finished?

If you have done all the above activities, and there is still time left, here are some other activities you can do.

• Help someone else.
• Start on the homework.
• Start on Chapter 2 of the CalcLabs with Maple V manual. We will be going further with Maple next time.
• Start thinking about the projects.
• Surf the Internet. If you are using Netscape, click on Net Directory; from Mosaic, click on Navigate and then on Internet Starting Points.

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Last modified: Wed Sep 6 16:08:49 1995