Maple is a symbolic math package written at University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario. It was commercialized by Waterloo Maple, Inc. in 1988 and is now privately held. The current version is Maple V10, which adds more numerical routines. An older version of the maple symbolic engine is included with Matlab, giving it limited symbolic capabilities. Maple's main competitor is Mathematica, by Stephen Wolfram.

A maple is a hardwood tree of the genus Acer.. Maples are known for their sweet sap which makes maple syrup, their vivid fall color, and their scenic forms. Maples have lobed palmate leaves, as do many other trees. However maples are distinguished in that their leaves are opposite each other on the stem. They also have those swirly seeds called samuras. Maples are common in the Eastern US, others grow in the western US, especially the mountainous areas. Maples are also common in Europe. The band Everclear has a song called the fire maple song.

When they first fall off the tree, there are two seeds stuck together with the stem sticking out of the junction between them. First, you separate the two seeds from the stem, then break them apart. You will see that the individual seed has a wing of sorts. Little kids love taking handfuls of maple seeds, tossing them into the air, and watching spiral slowly towards the ground. It's a real kick in the pants.

Of course, the fun wears off after a while. Until an 8-year-old boy's destructive streak kicks in. Then, the mysterious desire to crack the seed in half comes into play. If the inside is sticky enough, you can place it on your nose, like the horn of a rhinocerous, or a triceratops or styracosaurus if you stick enough of them to your forehead. In third grade, my friends called the seeds themselves noses for this very reason.

Ma"ple (?), n. [AS. mapolder, mapulder, mapol; akin to Icel. mopurr; cf. OHG. mazzaltra, mazzoltra, G. massholder.] Bot.

A tree of the genus Acer, including about fifty species. A. saccharinum is the rock maple, or sugar maple, from the sap of which sugar is made, in the United States, in great quantities, by evaporation; the red or swamp maple is A. rubrum; the silver maple, A. dasycarpum, having fruit wooly when young; the striped maple, A. Pennsylvanium, called also moosewood. The common maple of Europe is A. campestre, the sycamore maple is A. Pseudo-platanus, and the Norway maple is A. platanoides.

⇒ Maple is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, maple tree, maple leaf, etc.

Bird's-eye maple, Curled maple, varieties of the wood of the rock maple, in which a beautiful lustrous grain is produced by the sinuous course of the fibers. -- Maple honey, Maple molasses, ∨ Maple sirup, maple sap boiled to the consistency of molasses. -- Maple sugar, sugar obtained from the sap of the sugar maple by evaporation.

© Webster 1913.