All mathematics majors and minors are encouraged to develop computer skills and to make use of electronic mail (every Duke student is assigned a university electronic mail address upon matriculation). Some sections of Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, and Differential Equations may require students to use computers. In some cases, university-maintained personal computer clusters will suffice; in other cases, students may be required to use a workstation in one of the Sun Clusters, described below.
The Department of Mathematics Sun Workstation Clusters
General information. The department maintains two clusters of Sun Workstations, and each cluster has a laser printer. A cluster of ten Sun Workstations is located in Room 250A-B of the Physics Building; a cluster of nine Sun Workstations is located in Room 032. These clusters are for undergraduate and graduate instruction and other appropriate purposes; they are open 24 hours a day except when in use by classes or for scheduled laboratory instruction. Students doing mathematics work have priority for use of the workstations.
The Sun Workstations, which utilize the UNIX 
operating
system, provides access to electronic mail and the World Wide Web;
moreover, original or previously written programs in FORTRAN, Pascal,
C, and C 
may be run on these machines, and the mathematical
software packages Maple (xmaple) and
Mathematica (mathematica) are available to all
users.
Opening an account. Mathematics first majors may obtain individual accounts on the department's network of Sun Workstations; application forms may be obtained from John Davies (217A Physics Building, 660-2802, jdavies@math.duke.edu). These accounts will expire upon graduation, withdrawal from the university, or change of first major.
Other undergraduate students will be granted access to joint class accounts or to individual temporary accounts when they are enrolled in mathematics classes that require access to the department's network. Class accounts will only be accessible from the cluster in 032 Physics. The class accounts and temporary accounts will expire automatically at the end of each academic term.
Students are responsible for copying materials that they wish to preserve before the accounts expire. Files may be copied onto a DOS-formatted, doubled-sided, double-density 3.5-inch floppy disk (by using the command mcopy) or transfered to another networked computer by use of the file transfer program (ftp).
Electronic mail. Users can send and receive electronic mail through the department's network; a typical e-mail address has the form userid@math.duke.edu. From the UNIX prompt, the command for sending mail is mail userid@node, where userid is the user login identity of the recipient, and node is the address of the machine one is mailing to. To read or send mail, the user can choose from the programs mail, pine, or mailtool; one must be in the OpenWindows program (openwin) to use mailtool.
World Wide Web (WWW): Department of Mathematics Home Page. A wide variety of current departmental information, including course information, departmental policies, and pointers to other mathematical web servers, can be found on the WWW home page. An internet browser program, such as netscape, can be used to view the home page; the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is http://www.math.duke.edu.
Current versions of this handbook and the local UNIX guide (``Using UNIX in the Duke Mathematics Department'') can be accessed from the department's home page.
Inquiries and help. Routine questions (e.g., ``How do I use this program? Why doesn't this work? How do I set up the defaults?'') should be addressed by electronic mail to problem@math.duke.edu. Please include as much specific information as possible, e.g., the workstation name, the exact command syntax used, any error messages encountered, and a log of the session.
The UNIX system has an on-line manual that can be called up by the man command. To find out how to use a particular command or program, type man (or man -k for a keyword search of all man pages) followed by the name of the command or program. To find out how to use the manual pages, enter man man .
Another reference resource is the AnswerBook (answerbook) in OpenWindows; use the ``Navigator'' window to select pages for inspection, which will be displayed in the ``Viewer'' window.
Security. The UNIX operating system is not a completely secure computing environment. Every user is responsible for the security of his or her own account. Departmental policy prohibits the sharing of passwords or accounts and any other activity that undermines the security of the university's computer systems. Users should be sure to log out when they finish using the machines in university clusters. Any suspicious activities related to the computers or accounts should be reported to the system administrators immediately. More complete information on security can be found in the local UNIX guide.
User policy. The computer system of the Department of Mathematics is provided to support mathematical instruction and research. To ensure that the system is fully available for these purposes, the Department of Mathematics has established a policy on responsible use of its computer system. This policy can be found in the local UNIX guide. Violations of the user policy may lead to suspension of the user's account or referral to the appropriate authority for disciplinary action. University policies and regulations, including the Duke Undergraduate Honor Code, and state and federal statutes, including the North Carolina Computer Crimes Act, cover many potential abuses of computers and computer networks.