ABSTRACT
All applications of mathematical methods for agricultural systems in this book require use of the computer, so you need to be familiar with the modern personal computer. We use the terminology of Microsoft Windows®, but most of it also applies to other types of hardware and other operating systems, such as Unix®, Linux®, and the Apple® Operating System. This chapter reviews the software that will be used, beginning with the basics of file systems on the computer and applications versus data. Then the spreadsheet is covered for the reader not experienced with its use, because over half of the agricultural systems management methods in this text use the spreadsheet.
