An account is good

This course web site is actually a wiki site. It uses the MoinMoin wiki software. And so I often call it a moin site. As the course goes along, you will be allowed to create and edit certain pages on this site. It also features an associated forum component (see the "Forum" link above). For using these advanced features, you are recommended to own a local account here.

Got an account already?

That means that you are one of my previous students, or TAs or colleagues. You can use your existing account to login here! Otherwise, you need to create an account.

Creating a local account is a breeze, if you have a Google account already. In that case, all you need is to come up with a user name to use here, without having to create a new password. This is a recommended way. Read more about it and do it by following the Login link above (assuming that you haven't logged in yet). Another way is to create a local account here more fully, with user name and password. This is very fine, too. There is nothing wrong with it, especially because this site uses a strong encryption.

The Ask and Discuss forum is for you to ask questions, discuss, and gain insights. The forum component looks different because it is based on another piece of web framework, but the forum is entirely dependent on the moin account here for all authentication needs. For the forum software to work smoothly, you are advised to login here first, and then go to the forum page.

This web site exists for you. You should learn how to retrieve information, and how to ask/answer questions. I hope you make the best use of it.
Both the moin site and the forum site support MathJax, which means that you can use simple LaTeX math expressions, and they will show up beautifully.