Arithmetic expressions are formed using arithmetic operators. The * and / type expressions are formed by using the operator or the  operator with two operands, resulting in an arithmetic expression of the form operand operand or operand/operand. This error message occurs when theor operator, in a leading position, receives fewer than the expected two operands.

Example 1

All valid products and quotients require two operands. However, only one operand is given in the examples below. In the first example, no value divided by b is an invalid quotient; in the second example, no value times a is an invalid product.

Solution:

In the above examples, adding an operand before the operator corrects the error.

Example 2
In the next example, the text within the parentheses should be entered as a string. However, because this text is not enclosed in double quotes ("), Maple interprets the statement as a quotient and the error occurs.

Solution:

Placing double quotes around the path and file name corrects the error.

Example 3

In the next example, two operands appear to be on each side of the dot operator; however, the semicolon is not valid in the first spot. It is a statement terminator, so the text that follows the semicolon is considered to be part of a second statement. In this case, the second statement, *5, is an invalid product because an operand is missing before the operator. As a result, the error occurs.

Solution:

Either replacing the semicolon with an operand or inserting an operand between the semicolon and the operator will correct this error.

arithop, * type arithmetic expressions