Softwareavailable on Math Department computers

Some of the software described below is found on most Mathematics Department computers while other programs, typically involving a substantial amount of symbolic and/or numerical computation may only be available on compute (generally in subdirectories of /usr/local), or in cases of older software, on newton. In some cases, different versions of software may be on different machines. The web page Servers and Software contains a table of Department servers and the software available on each server. Documentation for some of the software described below is available on man pages. Hard copy documentation of some software is also available on a signout basis in Hill 348. Questions about the availability of programs may be directed to Risa Hynes in Hill 348. As operating systems change, some software becomes obsolete or is superseded by other programs. Note that more up to date software is found on math, fermat, nlagrange, and compute, while older versions appear on the older servers lagrange, euler, and newton.

The Department has limited copies of software that we must purchase and a single server (compute) with limited resources available for large scale numerical and symbolic computations. For that reason, it is important to be considerate of the needs of other users when they use the resources of compute or the limited copies of software that is available on this machine. Tools like top should be used to monitor memory and cpu activity and usage adjusted to allow other faculty access to these resources.

  • ACROREAD - a program used to read .pdf files.
  • CAL - gives a calendar for a specified month and year. For example, typing cal 3 1987 will produce a calendar of March, 1987.
  • DATE - Gives the current time and date. Type date.
  • DICT - an on-line dictionary. Type dict word to get the definition.
  • DISTILL
    • - a program for converting .ps files to .pdf format.
  • DVISELECT
    • - selects a subrange of pages from a dvi document produced by TeX. The original numbering is preserved. Useful for producing only pages which have been changed in a long document.
  • DVIPS - produces a dvi file from a Postscript file.
  • GAP - Groups, Algorithms, and Programming. This is a group-theory oriented math package with its own Pascal-like programming language with a rich set of pre-defined functions. See the directory /usr/local/gap4r2 on compute.
  • GHOSTVIEW - a Postscript previewer. To preview a Postscript file (say myfile.ps), type ghostview myfile.ps. A window will open displaying the desired file. Clicking the mouse in the appropriate boxes will change the magnification, orientation, page, and file.
  • GNUPLOT - a command-driven interactive plotting program. Graphs can be drawn into a Postscript file. To access the program, type gnuplot. To exit the program, type exit. If gnuplot is being run on your local machine, a command such as plot sin(x) will cause a new window to open (labeled gnuplot) displaying a graph of sin x. Information about running gnuplot on a remote machine is provided in a later section. For information about GNUPLOT, type man gnuplot. Once the program has been accessed, on-line help may be obtained by typing help.
  • MACAULAY - a computer system for algebraic geometry. To access the program, type Macaulay. To exit the program, type exit. Some information about MACAULAY is available by typing man macaulay. On line help is available by typing help once the program has been accessed. The latest version is on compute in the directory /usr/local/Macaulay2-0.9.
  • MAPLE - an interactive symbolic algebra program. MAPLE is accessed by typing xmaple from an X-terminal or maple from an ordinary terminal. To exit the program, type quit;. On line help is available by typing ? once the program has been started. Since Rutgers has a site license for MAPLE on all platforms, MAPLE has become the preferred computer algebra system for Mathematics Department instructional use.
  • MATHEMATICA - a general computer software system and language for numerical, symbolic, and graphical computations. MATHEMATICA is accessed by typing math. To exit the program, type Quit. On line help is available by typing ? once the program has been started. There is only one copy of MATHEMATICA on compute, so please be considerate of others when you use it.
  • MATLAB - software which integrates mathematical computing, visualization, and a powerful language to provide a flexible environment for technical computing. MATLAB is accessed by typing matlab. To exit the program, type quit. On line help is available by typing help once the program has been started. MATLAB is available on compute.
  • MATLAB - PDE Toolbox -- a program for the numerical solution of partial differential equations. Available on gauss.
  • MPAGE - A command for printing a Postscript file condensing two pages to one (uses landscape mode).
  • NETSCAPE - a World Wide Web browser. Netscape is a graphical tool for viewing information available on the World Wide Web, a loosely organized set of information providers who make available hypertext pointing to various text and multimedia files. Type netscape to start the program. To start exploring, click the mouse on any underlined text. To enter a URL address, click on file, dragging the mouse and releasing on Open URL. A window opens and you type in the name of the URL.
  • PS2PDF - a program for converting Postscript files to PDF format.
  • SC - spread sheet. It is accessed by typing sc. To exit the program, type q.
  • SPELL, ISPELL, TEXSPELL - programs which check spelling.
  • SSH - program for logging into and executing commands on a remote machine. It is intended to replace rlogin and rsh, and provide secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts over an insecure network.
  • STAR OFFICE - A program which runs on UNIX/LINUX machines and gives the capabilities of Microsoft Office. In particular, it can read Microsoft Word and Excel files. To start the program, type soffice.
  • TeX, LaTeX, AmsTeX - mathematical typesetting programs
  • UUENCODE - Encode a binary file, or decode its ASCII representation. Uuencode converts a binary file into an ASCII-encoded representation that can be sent using mail. (Ordinary binary files can not be sent in mail messages.)
  • XCALC - pops open a window containing a calculator. Type q in the calculator window to quit.
  • XDVI - A previewer for viewing TeX files
  • XFIG - a drawing program for the interactive generation of figures. Output can be sent directly to a Postscript printer or translated to LaTeX picture environment commands or pictex commands for inclusion in TeX documents. See the manual page for instructions.
  • XV - interactive image display for the X Window System which displays images in the GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PBM, PGM, PPM, X11 bitmap, Utah Raster Toolkit RLE, PDS/VICAR, Sun Rasterfile, BMP, PCX, IRIS RGB, XPM, Targa, XWD, PostScript, and PM formats on workstations and terminals running the X Window System, Version 11
  • XYPIC - Xy-pic is a package for typesetting graphs and diagrams that works with plain TeX, LaTeX, and AMS-TeX.
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