PHP script in pages?

[jdonth]

I hope this is not a really stupid question but...

Can I execute php scripts from within a page?

For (a silly) example, can I embed <? phpinfo(); ?> directly into a web page?
If not, are there a set of globals that I CAN call?

The only place I seem to be able to get scripts to work are within components, which I can only get to from themes. Seems like a long way to go for access to a variable so I'm assuming I'm missing something basic.

Thanks,
~Joe