Students are strongly encouraged to use MAPLE to perform calculations pertinent to this course. MAPLE is available on most computers in the university, as we have a site license. Make sure that Version V Release 5 is installed. Start the GUI version (which has graphical user interface) rather than the ASCII text version. In UNIX, the command is "xmaple". Once you are there, you can Open any *.mws file (Maple Work Sheet), or simply start playing with it.
Click here to see an *.html version of how finite field calculations look like in MAPLE.
If you believe that mathematics is a participation activity, then you should download (via "shift-click" on Netscape) this file (finitefields.mws) , and "Open..." it from within MAPLE. Each time you hit the RETURN key, MAPLE will execute the red command. Change things and experiment!
Hint: For information on any command, say "solve", type "?commandname" (eg. ?solve) at the > prompt, and press RETURN.