User Guide

Components of an Expression
The components of an expression are called its operands.
To count the number of operands in an expression:
• Use the nops command.
For example, construct a list of solutions to an equation.
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Using the nops command, count the number of solutions.
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For more information on the nops command and operands, refer to the ?nops
help page.
Indeterminates
To find the indeterminates of an expression:
• Use the indets command.
The indets command returns the indeterminates as a set. Because the expres-
sion is expected to be rational, functions such as sin(x), f(x), and sqrt(x) are
considered to be indeterminate.
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7.3 Working with Maple Expressions • 303