@Rouben Rostamian  

Rouben, thank you very much for the response--so if I'm understanding what Maple needs, regarding syntax, I should be able to insert:

>dsolve((D(y))(x) = sin(x-y(x)), y = a*x+b);

where I am

1) giving Maple the command "dsolve", stating it's a differential equation, then specifying the independent and dependent variable,

2) then giving Maple the actual function, "sin(x-y(x))",

3) and finally, telling Maple that my y-component = a*x+b

I have run through this a few times and receive the error messages below:

Download Maple_Syntax_Issue.mw

Unfortunately, our only resource for the class regarding Maple is the Differential Equations textbook; so I am only familiar with the very basic commands such as "DEplot" and "dsolve" with the book's examples, although I have gone through some tutorials on generating slope fields and plotting very basic graphs.

Meeting with my diff eq professor tomorrow, so I will ask him as well.

Thank you very much for your time!