Making Math Look Pretty

1
Making Math Look Pretty or How to Use LaTeX

• Kristi Meyer
• Iowa State University
• kristi_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

3
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
Input File Structure

• Begins with a preamble
• \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.
• See Getting Started with LaTeX, pgs. 12 13, for
  more information

6
Input File Structure

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

7
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

8
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
• Document is automatically saved when you typeset
  it

9
Types of LaTeX Files

• .tex input file, needs to be compiled
• .dvi DVI file, shows what your file looks like
• .tex.bak backup LaTeX file, is changed when
  document is typeset
• .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

10
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

11
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

12
Sections of a Paper

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

13
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

14
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

15
Theorems and Definitions

• Can decide what style you want your theorems,
  definitions, corollaries, etc.
• Two possibilities for numbering
• Theorem 1, Example 1, Theorem 2, Lemma 1, etc.
• \theoremstyle
• \newtheoremshort namelong name
• Short name is what you type
• Long name is what is displayed on the page

16
Theorems and Definitions

• Two possibilities for numbering
• Theorem 1, Example 2, Lemma 3, Example 4, etc.
• \newtheoremshortnamestylelongname
• 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

17
Environments

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

18
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

19
Environments

• Enumerate environment
• \beginenumerate and \endenumerate
• Creates an outline using numbers and letters
• Items within the section are created by \item
• Can nest enumerate environments within one
  another
• Centered environment
• \begincenter and \endcenter
• To end a line, use \\

20
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

21
Useful Mathematical Commands

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

22
Useful Mathematical 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

23
Useful Mathematical 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
• Lots more commands on pgs. 58 65 of Getting
  Started with LaTeX

24
Other Important Characters

• Quote marks
• For left-hand quote marks, use
• For right-hand quote marks, use or
• Comments
• Can comment out sections of file
• Allows you to not display text without deleting
  it
• Use at the beginning of any lines you want to
  comment out

25
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

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Mathematical Environments

• Equation environment
• \beginequation and \endequation
• Automatically numbers equations
• For no numbers, use equation
• Can label equations by \labelname
• Centers equation on page
• Do not need within equation environment

27
Mathematical Environments

• Align environment
• \beginalign and \endalign
• For no numbers, use align
• 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
• Proof environment
• \beginproof and \endproof

28
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

29
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

30
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

31
Tables

• Basically the same as arrays
• \begintabularlrc and \endtabular
• Can add lines in the same way that you do for
  arrays

32
Figures

• Often used to import some other type of file
  (usually a .ps 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

33
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

34
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

35
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

36
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