| | | Basic three dimensional plots in Maple |
The direct analogue of the two-dimensional plot command
is Maple's plot3d command. The syntax of plot3d
is similar to that of the plot command. For example, the
following command generates the graph of a paraboloid.
plot3d(x^2+y^2,x=-2..2,y=-2..2);
Try it! Remember that you can use the mouse to cut and paste commands from your World-Wide Web browser into your Maple session.
If you click on your plot in the Maple worksheet, you will probably see a button bar appear that gives some options for modifying the plot. Try clicking on some of the buttons to see their effect. (In Maple 7, the plot redisplays automatically. In older versions of Maple, you may need to press Enter or double click the left mouse button to redisplay the plot.) If you use the drop-down Help menu to turn on the Balloon Help, then you can tell what each button does by moving the mouse to hover over the button.
Other options to modify the plot are available on the Style, Color, Axes, and Projection drop-down menus on the menu bar. You can also access these menus by holding down the right mouse button over the plot.
If you hold down the left mouse button on the plot and drag the mouse, you can interactively rotate the plot into a new orientation. (Older versions of Maple under the Linux operating system did not have "real time" rotation.)
The Math 696 course
pages were last modified April 5, 2005. | | | Basic three dimensional plots in Maple |