Atomic Variables - Maple Help

Atomic Variables

Maple has two basic types of subscripts in 2-D math, index subscripts and literal subscripts. Use an index subscript to form an indexed name.  The indexed name ${a}_{b}$ is equivalent to a[b].  Indexed names are used to refer to the bth element of an object a.

Use a literal subscript to form a name that will not be interpreted as an index of any kind. For example, if you want to use both $x$ and ${x}_{0}$ in a worksheet as distinct names, use a literal subscript for ${{x}}_{{0}}$.

Terms with literal subscripts are one variant of atomic variables.  For more information on atomic variables, see Atomic Variables Details.

Control Formatting of Atomic Variables

You can switch the formatting of atomic variables on and off. When the formatting is turned on, atomic variables are displayed in a purple font color (for example ${{x}}_{{0}}$, distinguishing them from index subscripts. When the formatting is turned off, the atomic variables are displayed in black.

To switch the formatting of atomic variables on:

 • From the View menu, select the Atomic Variables option.
 Atomic variable formatting is now turned on for your worksheet.

To switch the formatting of atomic variables off:

 • From the View menu, clear the Atomic Variables option.
 Atomic variable formatting is now turned off for your worksheet.

Note: By default, atomic variable formatting is turned off.

You can also modify the font styles used for atomic variables by changing the Atomic Variable style set.

To modify the font or color used for atomic variables:

 1 From the Format menu, select Styles.
 2 In the Style Management dialog, select Atomic Variable from the list.  (It will be listed as a character style.)
 3 Click Modify.
 4 Modify the font style and color.
 5 To accept the changes, click OK.

For more information on modifying character styles, see Modifying Character Styles.  For more information on style sets, including how to save and reuse your style choices, see Overview of Maple Style Sets.