W. Dale Brownawell

I am a Distinguished [sic] Professor of Mathematics in the Mathematics Department at Penn State.    

My research deals with questions of transcendental number theory and related areas of mathematics.

Office hours duirng the semester are (tentatively) T,W,Th, 10:10-11:00.

On Thursdays 11:15-12:05 I will be at the Algebra/Number Theory Seminar.

My regular address:

Department of Mathematics,
328 McAllister Bldg.
Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA 16802

Other ways of reaching me:

Office phone number: (814) 865-7104
Department phone (814) 865-7527
Fax: (814) 865-3735
Email: wdb AT math.psu.edu

Selected publications (to come):

Some Linux Tips for MathNet users:

• Installing Mathematica on FC5:
  
  At the present time, Math Department members no longer receive Mathematica CDs from Wolfram under our site license. You have to either borrow a copy from a colleague (like me) or else download the image from
  https://www.math.psu.edu/bin/mathweb/downloads.
  In the second case, you will have to burn the CD. There is a variety of software out there to do it. Here is what I do to burn isos, where *** is the name of the iso:
  cdrecord dev=ATA:1,0,0 padsize=63s -pad -dao -v -eject ***.iso
  
  
  Mount the Mathematica cdrom, on my machine at /mnt/cdrom. Your mount point may be something like /media/cdrom instead. As root, in the directory /mnt/cdrom/Unix/Installers/Linux/, enter the command
  sh MathInstaller
  instead of the previously recommended ./MathInstaller. Of course, you should adjust the beginning of the path /mnt/cdrom/ to be your cdrom mount point.
  
  
  When you first run Mathematica, choose Single-Machine configuration. You will be assigned a MathID by the process and your MachineName will be echoed. You will next be prompted for license information. Enter
  L2976-7825.
  Hit return when you are asked to enter a password and installation will be "complete"; you simply aren't able to use Mathematica yet.
  
  Obtaining and installing your password:
  
  Send the SysAdmin (SA)
  1. the MathID,
  2. the OS (linux) on which you installed Mathematica, and
  3. the Mathematica Version that you installed.
  
  
  Passfile:  SA will forward you a MathPass file from the PSU licensing person. Alter the first entry of the file if necessary so that it has the format
  MachineName    MathID     L2976-7825     dddd-ddd-ddd,
  where the MachineName and MathID were given in the installation process and dddd-ddd-ddd is the actual password for this installation. If you follow the defaults for the installation directories, you should store the file as
  /usr/local/Mathematica/6.0/mathpass
  and, if things are as expected, you can start using Mathematica. (You don't need to enter the password anymore, as Mathematica will find it when it starts.)

• Ethernet connection from a personal linux box in your office :
  • Get Help to activate the port.
  • When you first connect, assuming that you are using DHCP, you will be taken to a registry page, where you must log in. This registers your machine.
  • You will be told to reboot. Of course, that is unnecessary: simply do (as root):
    • /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down
    • /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up

• Installing Cisco's VPN client on Fedora 8 for access to PSU & MathNet: 
1. Get Cisco's VPN Client as described on MathNet. If you have trouble with this client, you might want to try the latest one (apparently not officially released yet) but available on the internet or here and, if you have a 64-bit machine, apply the patch as instructed at this site and build the client.
2. Move the gz file somewhere, say /usr/src/, and extract it. I used the new client and entered: tar zxvf vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz
3. Wherever you did this, as superuser run the installer script with the command vpnclient/vpn_install
4. Start the VPN Client service by either restarting your computer or running /etc/rc.d/init.d/vpnclient_init start
5. Warning: Every time you undate your kernel, you will unfortunately need to reinstall the cisco vpn client! You might want to try the vpnc package described in the next paragraph.
   
6. In /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/, create the profile, say, mathnet.pcf with the contents
   • Description=Math Net
   • Host=192.168.8.1
   • GroupName=mathvpn
   • Password=math1234
   The latter apparently gets magically encrypted when you first log in.
7. Connect using the profile with the command: vpnclient connect mathnet
8. Enter your MathNet username and password.
9. If you clobbered your PSU profile with the new client, you can obtain a copy from anyone, such as me.
10. Disconnect the connection with vpnclient disconnect or pressing CTRL C.
• This was done with firewall down. You may want to bring it back up (see how to do this smoothly below), respecting the client's need for access to ports 500, 4500, and 10000, as decribed in the manual. By default, Fedora 8 has the necessary IP protocols 50 (ESP) and 51 (AH) enabled as trusted service IPsec. The ports must be entered by following System > Administration > Firewall > Other Ports:
  • UDP protocol ports 500 & 10000 (for isakmp & ndmp services)
  • TCP port 10000 configured for (for ndmp service)
  • NAT-T port 4500 (for ipsec-nat-t service)
• Starting the Cisco vpn client seems to require that SELinux be disabled. Like me, you may not be comfortable running without the firewall. Here's how to bring it up to a more comfortable level (found on the web):
  • As root, make a file, say /usr/local/bin/myvpn, with the following four lines:
    
    #! /bin/sh
    /usr/sbin/setenforce 0
    /opt/cisco-vpnclient/bin/vpnclient $*
    /usr/sbin/setenforce 1
    
    (Don't forget the carriage return at the end of the last line.)
    Then make it executable with:
  • chmod +x /usr/local/bin/myvpn (or whatever the name of your file is)
  This will take down the SELinux firewall to make the vpnclient connection and then reinstate it at the "permissive" level once the connection is established.

1. Install the package vpnc-0.5.1-5-fc9.i386.rpm as root.
   
2. In /etc/vpnc/, create the profile, say, mathnet with the contents
   • IPSec gateway 192.168.8.1
   • IPSec ID mathvpn
   • IPSec secret math1234 
   • Xauth username <your username>
3. Activate your wifi interface, say eth1, via System > Administration > Network or via NetworkManager, do not mix the two.  (To find out whether the interface is up already, you can also first use the command: /sbin/iwconfig )
4. Connect using the profile with the command: vpnc --enable-1des mathnet (That is the number "one", not the letter "ell", before "des".)
5. When prompted, enter your MathNet password.
6. Disconnect the connection with vpnc-disconnect

• To connect to wireless at University Park,  I need to furnish the following information
• In /etc/vpnc/, create the profile, say, psu with the contents
  • IPSec gateway mobility.up.psu.edu
  • IPSec ID pennstate
  • IPSec secret pennstate
  • Xauth username <your username>
• Activate your wifi interface as above.
• Run /sbin/modprobe tun as root.