Is there a help page which explains why braces provide the partial text evaluation in this code?

RopeLen := 30;RopeAddLen := .5;

plots[textplot]([1, 1, typeset("%1", (({(1/2)*RopeLen}+{(1/2)*RopeAddLen})^2-{(1/2)*RopeLen}^2)^(1/2))])

eq1 := z = y*log(x): eq2 := z = y+x*log(x):

DispIntersecting := implicitplot3d([eq1, eq2], x = 0 .. 10, y = -30 .. 30, z = -40 .. 40, color = [blue, green]):

solve({eq1, eq2}, [x, y, z]);

assign(%):

DispIntersection := spacecurve([x, y, z], x = 0.1e-2 .. 10, color = red, view = [0 .. 10, -30 .. 30, -40 .. 40]):

display(DispIntersecting, DispIntersection, axes = boxed, scaling = constrained);

From a Maple Primes answer two years ago:

f(x,y) is the equation of a line through point [m,n]. The solve command finds values of a and b for which f(x,y) are lines through [m,n] and tangent to x^2 + y^2 = r^2.

f := proc (x, y) options operator, arrow; a*(x-m)+b*(y-n) end proc

solve([f(0, 0) = r, a^2+b^2 = 1], [a, b])

These commands are far from the conventional solution. Why do they provide the correct answers?

Has anyone solved this problem from an older Putnam paper?

An ellipse sitting in the first quadrant with its major axis parallel to the x axis is tangent to the positive x and y axes.

It slides clockwise within the first quadrant while maintaining tangency to both positive axes until its major axis is parallel to the y axis.

Prove that the locus of its centre is the arc of a circle.

I have crudely animated this motion by sliding the axes around the stationary ellipse. Is there a more elegant animation which slides the ellipse against stationary axes?

In Maple 15 it seems that plottools:-transform only accepts this form of conditional statement:  

`if`(conditional expression, true expression, false expression).

Is there any way to have plottools:-transform process more than one condition? Do later versions of Maple permit this?