- a System VERY VERY SHORT GUIDE TO LATEX School of Mathematics September 2017
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics THE BASIC IDEA A word processor allows the user to design the document on screen whilst the text they type appears inside it In L A T E X, when writing, you will not see the final document... L A T E Xwill design the document for you. You can help with the design by using L A T E X commands. You will see this idea everywhere in computing: Computer coding html xml postscript svg
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics THE BASIC IDEA Write your document in an ACSII file file.tex Compile the file using LaTeX COMPILE latex file.tex Document ready for printing or viewing file.dvi If not satisfactory change settings
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics THE GOOD POINTS Professionally crafted layouts are available, which make a document really look as if printed. The typesetting of mathematical formulae is supported in a convenient way. Users only need to learn a few easy-to-understand commands that specify the logical structure of a document. They almost never need to tinker with the actual layout of the document. Even complex structures such as footnotes, references, table of contents, and bibliographies can be generated easily.
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics THE GOOD POINTS Free add-on packages exist for many typographical tasks not directly supported by basic L A T E X. For example, packages are available to include Postscript graphics or to typeset bibliographies conforming to exact standards. L A T E Xencourages authors to write well-structured texts, because this is how L A T E Xworks - by specifying structure. T E X, the formatting engine of L A T E X 2ε, is highly portable and free. Therefore the system runs on almost any hardware platform available.
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics THE BAD POINTS L A T E Xdoes not work well for people who have sold their souls... Although some parameters can be adjusted within a predefined document layout, the design of a whole new layout is difficult and takes a lot of time It is very hard to write unstructured and disorganized documents. Your hamster might, despite some encouraging first steps, never be able to fully grasp the concept of Logical Markup.
- a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics GETTING STARTED The easiest way to create latex documents is to use an IDE There are many of these programs available for all platforms Follow the guide for WinEdt on windows TexStudio on windows (if it works) Kile on linux depending on which platform you prefer. Note that TexStudio is available free and available to download on Windows (click here for a guide), Mac and linux.
- a System A SIMPLE L A TEXDOCUMENT Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics Every file must start with the command \documentclass{...} Like every good book it must have a start... \begin{document} and an end \end{document}
HELLO WORLD! - a System Advantages... Disadvantages... The Basics So the Hello World! tex file looks like \documentclass{article} \begin{document} Hello World!! \end{document} On unix machines, if this file is called helloworld.tex we can compile it with the command latex helloworld.tex
- a System Text Maths SPACES, LINE BREAKS AND PARAGRAPHS Several consecutive white spaces, and single carriage returns are treated as a single space We must use a special command to make a newline \\ An empty line starts a new paragraph A line break \\ Another line break \\ A large space counts as a single whilst an empty line. Makes a new paragraph. A line break Another line break A large space counts as a single whilst an empty line. Makes a new paragraph.
- a System Text Maths TITLES, CHAPTERS AND SECTIONS A good document will be divided into appropriate sections In L A T E Xwe use the following commands \section{} \subsection{} \paragraph{} \subparagraph{}
- a System Text Maths TITLES, CHAPTERS AND SECTIONS A good document will be divided into appropriate sections In L A T E Xwe use the following commands \section{} \subsection{} \paragraph{} \subparagraph{} L A T E Xwill also create a table of contents with the following command: \tableofcontents
- a System Text Maths CROSS-REFERENCING One of the most powerful tools of L A T E Xis the cross referencing Write the label commmand after the equation, section, figure or table we want to reference Commands are: \label{key}, \ref{key}, \pageref{key}
- a System Text Maths CROSS-REFERENCING One of the most powerful tools of L A T E Xis the cross referencing Write the label commmand after the equation, section, figure or table we want to reference Commands are: \label{key}, \ref{key}, \pageref{key} Use descriptive names for the key, for example \begin{equation} a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \label{eqn:pythags-rule} \end{equation}
- a System Text Maths EQUATIONS Use the amsmath is the standard package to typeset maths in L A T E X Put the following at the top of your document: \usepackage{amsmath} We can put mathematical expression within text: Paul was running at $5ms^{-1}$. Paul was running at 5ms 1. Or in its own paragraph Paul s running speed was $$v=5ms^{-1}$$. Paul s running speed was v = 5ms 1.
- a System Text Maths BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATHS Inside the math environment we can easily build complex equations using the commands \frac, \sum, \int, etc. and superscript and subscript commands ^ and _. For example $$\frac{\sum_i i^2} {N}$$ or $$ \int_0^\infty e^{x^2} dx $$ 0 i i2 N e x 2 dx
- a System Text Maths SUMMARY This should be just enough to get you started Read through the not so short guide Try the examples and check against the solutions Try to follow the tutorial on writing a School of Maths thesis and using bibtex for referencing