The Adventures of Captain Ralph

The vast region of our solar system and of the universe beyond are the play grounds and battle fields of Captain Ralph, a mythical friend of mine, who is a fighter pilot for the United Earth Federation. Ralph and I have shared many outer space adventures in my work with Maple and Mathematica. His daring exploits appear in several places in my Maple and Mathematica based calculus books. For many years, my students, armed with their knowledge of calculus, have attempted to help Captain Ralph successfully complete his missions.

The photograph is the surface of Venus, taken by the Magellan spacecraft, compliments of NASA.