Making Math Look Pretty How to Use LaTeX

1
Making Math Look Pretty How to Use LaTeX

• Haseena Ahmed
• Iowa State University
• haseena_at_iastate.edu

2
Basics of LaTeX

• A computer program for typesetting text and
  mathematical formulas
• Uses commands to create mathematical symbols
• Not a WYSIWYG program
• Need to compile the file in order to see the
  finished product

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Basics of LaTeX Commands

• Always begin with a backslash \
• Case sensitive
• Consist of letters only
• Some have parameters
• Square brackets after the command name are
  for optional parameters
• Curly braces after the command name are for
  required parameters

4
Getting Started

• Can use lots of different programs to create a
  LaTeX file
• All computers here use WinEdt
• Need to begin by creating a new file

5
Downloads

• LaTeX is available online for free at
  http//www.latex-project.org/
• WinEdt is also available online with a free 30
  day trial period at http//www.winedt.com/

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Input File Structure

• Begins with a preamble (Preamble is where the
  overall construction of your document is listed)
• \documentclassoptionsclass
• class specifies the type of document to be
  created
• Usually use article or amsart
• Can also use slides or siamltex
• options customizes the document class you are
  using
• Can be used to set font size (10, 11, or 12 pt),
  set paper size, use one or two columns, etc.

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Input File Structure

• Begins with a preamble
• \usepackagepackage
• Packages add new features and commands to LaTeX
• Common packages amsmath, amssymb, graphicx
• Can also define new commands in the preamble,
  specify page numbering, etc.

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Input File Structure

• Now were ready to begin the body of the text
• \begindocument
• \begin commands always need to be followed
  (eventually) by \end commands
• Enter the actual content here
• \enddocument

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Typesetting Your Document

• Click the LaTeX or PDF LaTeX button on the
  top right
• To view your file, click DVI or the Adobe
  Acrobat symbol
• DVI stands for DeVice Independent its
  basically a generic viewer
• Can change between DVI, PDF, or PS files and
  document is automatically saved when you typeset
  it

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Types of LaTeX Files

• .tex input file, needs to be compiled
• .tex.bak backup LaTeX file and is changed when
  document is typeset
• .dvi DVI file which shows what your file looks
  like
• .log log file, tells what happened the last
  time you compiled your document - Helpful to look
  at if there are errors and you dont know why

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Typesetting Math

• Mathematical text is placed between
• Math mode is normally displayed inline
• Can make some expressions look funny
• To display math mode in a larger font, use
  \displaystyle
• Makes all symbols within larger
• For text within math mode, use \text
• Math mode uses italics and no spaces between words

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Useful Math Commands

• Greek letters
• \pi for lowercase, \Pi for uppercase
• No command for \Alpha
• Fractions
• \fracnumeratordenominator
• For a larger fraction, use \displaystyle

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Useful Math Commands

• Superscripts and Subscripts
• x2
• x_2
• Use curly braces to group items together
• x_i_2 or x_min
• Can have a superscript and a subscript on the
  same character
• x_i3

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Useful Math Commands

• Limits and Integrals
• Probably want to use \displaystyle, otherwise
  theyll look funny
• \displaystyle \lim_x \to \infty 3x
• \displaystyle \int_02 x\, dx
• The \, gives a space between x and dx
• Square roots
• \sqrtx

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Useful Math Commands

• Displaying special characters
• \mathbbR or \mathcalR
• Trignometric functions
• \sin or \cos
• Math inequalities
• \le or \ge
• Lot more commands on pages 58 65 of Getting
  Started with LaTeX

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Other Important Characters

• Quote marks
• For left-hand quote marks, use
• For right-hand quote marks, use or
• Comments
• Use at the beginning of any lines you want to
  comment out
• Creating a space between two characters
• \,
• Creating a new line
• \newline

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Environments

• Many environments available in TeX
• Used to help format parts of your document
• Always need \beginenvironment name and
  \endenvironment name

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Some Environments

• Itemize environment
• \beginitemize and \enditemize
• Creates an outline using bullet points
• Items within the section are created by \item
• Can nest itemize environments within one another

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Some Environments

• Enumerate environment
• \beginenumerate and \endenumerate
• Creates an outline using numbers and letters
• Items within a section are created by \item
• Can nest enumerate environments within one
  another

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Some Environments

• Centered environment
• \begincenter and \endcenter
• To end a line within the environment, use \\

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Mathematical Environments

• Equation environment
• \beginequation and \endequation
• Automatically numbers equations, so mainly used
  when you need equations to be numbered
• For no numbers, use equation
• Puts the equation in the center of the line
• Can label equations by \labelname
• Centers equation on page
• Do not need within equation environment

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Mathematical Environments

• Align environment
• \beginalign and \endalign
• For no numbers on all equations, use align
• For no numbers on some use \nonumber
• Put in front of the symbol in each line that
  you want aligned
• End each line (except the last one) with \\
• Do not need within align environment

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Arrays

• Especially used for matrices
• Begin with left symbol for matrix
• \left
• Next, begin array environment
• \beginarraylrc
• Tells how many columns you have and their
  alignment - left, right or center

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Arrays

• Specify the entries of the matrix
• Separate the entries by
• End each row (except the last one) by \\
• End the array
• \endarray
• Create the right side symbol for the matrix
• \right

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Arrays

• Can also have lines within arrays
• Horizontal lines
• Use \hline after each row that you want a line
  under
• x2 4x 3 \\ \hline
• Vertical lines
• Put between the columns that you want lines
  between
• \beginarraylrc

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Tables

• Basically the same as arrays
• \begintabularlrc and \endtabular
• Can add lines in the same way that you do for
  arrays
• For more info see pages 34 - 37 of Getting
  Started with LaTeX

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Figures

• Often used to import some other type of file
  (usually a .eps file) into your document
• Can generate graphics in LaTeX, but this is
  harder to do
• Any imported file needs to be in the same
  directory as your main file
• Also need to include the package graphicx in your
  preamble

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Figures

• Begin the figure environment by
  \beginfigureplacement
• placement is an optional argument that tells
  LaTeX where on the page you want the figure
• Can be h (here), t (top), b (bottom), or p (on a
  separate page)
• Put an ! before the placement if you really want
  the figure at that page location

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Figures

• Include the file that you want
• \includegraphicsdisplayfilename
• display is an optional parameter which allows you
  to change the appearance of your graphic
• Can use the following parameters
• width, height, angle (rotates the graphic
  counterclockwise), scale (number between 0 and 1)
• Changing width or height will preserve the aspect
  ratio

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Figures

• Can create a caption for your figure
• \captionshortnamelongname
• shortname is displayed in the Table of Contents
  (if you create one)
• longname is displayed below the figure
• Captioning also automatically labels your figures
• Can label your figure
• \labelreference
• Allows you to refer to your figure later by using
  \refreference

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Figures

• End the figure environment
• \endfigure
• May sometimes need to create a PostScript file
  instead of a PDF file in order to get graphics to
  display properly
• More info on pages 38 40 of Getting Started
  with LaTeX

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Sections of a Paper

• \titlelabelactual title
• If you label your title, youll be able to
  reference it later
• Can also label theorems, equations, figures,
  tables, etc.
• \authorauthors
• Need to put \maketitle after title and authors
• \today
• Gives the current date
• Usually want this centered

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Sections of a Paper

• \thanks
• Creates a footnote with whatever is in the braces
• Usually used after authors names for academic
  information
• Abstract
• Use \beginabstract and \endabstract
• Keywords
• Use \beginkeywords and \endkeywords
• OR use \keywords

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Sections of a Paper

• Papers should be divided into sections,
  subsections, etc.
• Important commands
• \sectionTitle of section
• \subsection
• \subsubsection
• \paragraph
• \subparagraph

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Sections of a Paper

• Bibliography
• \beginthebibliographynumber and
  \endthebibliography
• number is 9, 99, 999, etc.
• Tells LaTeX how if you will be using only
  single-digit numbers, double-digit numbers, etc.
• Use \bibitemLabel to create a new reference
• Label lets you reference that item elsewhere in
  the paper

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Referencing Using Labels

• May want to reference a section, theorem, figure,
  example, etc. somewhere else in the document
• To label a section
• \sectionTitle\labelLabel for section
• To reference a section
• \refLabel for section
• Only gives the section number youll need to
  type Section separately
• To reference a bibliography item, use
  \citeLabel

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Theorems and Definitions

• \newtheoremshort namelong name is used to
  typeset Theorems, Lemmas, Definitions and
  similar structures
• Short name is what you type
• Long name is what is displayed on the page
• The \newtheorem command is placed in the preamble
  of the document
• Numbering is automatic

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Theorems and Definitions

• For unnumbered theorems, use either command with
  \newtheorem
• can be used in many environments for unnumbered
  items
• May need to include the package amsthm in order
  to properly display theorems

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Defining New Commands

• Typing some long commands over and over is not
  fun
• Can define a new command thats easier to type
• Goes in preamble
• \newcommandnewnameoldname
• newname cannot be the name of an existing command