Maple vs Maxima



I am a "preservice teacher" (formerly known as a "trainee teacher") at the University of
Canberra.  In our Maths courses we are using Maple for the computing component but while I
was on my first teaching practicums, in May of this year, I met a Maths teacher who was
using Maxima and was wondering if anyone could tell me whether Maxima & Maple might have
had a common beginning and whether there might be any commonality in "operation" - that
is, function names and usage, etc?

Is Maxima a "stable" product?  The emails I've seen to date would suggest that it a
continuous work in progress.

Thanks for the help.

Paul Myers
Student, University of Canberra
S/No:    815499
Course:  BEd(GE) - Secondary, Maths/Science (Code 435AQ)
--
Paul Myers, JP(NSW), BSc(UNSW), MACS, MACM
PO Box 7007  Karabar  NSW  2620  AUSTRALIA
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