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Letting the angle vary

Maple can also handle this problem when we don't specify values of all the parameters. Suppose you wanted to study how the distance the projectile travels varies with the firing angle. To tell Maple that the value of tex2html_wrap_inline249 can vary, just execute the following command.

  > theta := 'theta';

displaymath341

Now, if you go back and resubmit the solve command, you will get a different result.

  > t_hit := solve(y(t) = 0,t);

eqnarray129

Now the time that it takes for the projectile to hit the ground depends on the angle tex2html_wrap_inline249 . To visualize how the distance depends on tex2html_wrap_inline249 , we can plot it with the following command.

  > plot(x(t_hit[2]),theta = 0..Pi/2);


Sean O Anderson
Wed Sep 4 09:48:47 EDT 1996