A A (VERY SHORT) GUIDE TO L TEX.
LaTeX is a typesetting system. A typical LaTeX document starts with a preamble this includes command definitions, page-styles, etc. The body of your document should appear between the lines \begin{document} and \end{document} as shown below. \documentclass{amsart} \textwidth 6.5in width of writing on page. \textheight 9in length of writing on page. \pagestyle{empty} no page numbering. \definecolor{highlight}{rgb}{.357,1,.357} defines symbol highlight as color bright green. \newcommand{\fch}[1]{\fcolorboxhighlight}{highlight}{#1}} defines command \fch as bright-green box. . . . other stuff \begin{document} LaTeX is a typesetting system ... \end{document} indicates the start of your document the last line of your file.
Formatting Paragraphs should be separated by a blank line. LaTeX will automatically indent the first line of the new paragraph. If you don't want a line indented, precede it by the command \noindent. Some common formatting examples: {\bf This text is bold-faced.} {\it This text is in italics.} \underline{This text is underlined.} \tiny{This text is tiny.} \huge{This text is huge!} This text is bold-faced. This text is in italics. This text is underlined.
This text is tiny.
This text is huge!
Math in LaTeX All mathematical formulas (including variable names, etc.) should be within dollar signs. These dollar signs indicate the start and end of what is called math mode or the math environment. $f(x) = 3 x 24 \frac13 + \frac{24}{35}$ creates f (x) = 3x - 1 + 35 . Using double dollar signs ($$) at the beginning 3 and end of the equation will center it on the page (this is the displaymath environment): 1 24 f (x) = 3x - + . 3 35 The commands that produce most math symbols are generally not a surprise. Here's a list of some common symbols and the commands (in math mode) that produce them. \subseteq \forall \in \subset \exists \not\in
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\gamma \Gamma \frac{a}{b}
a b
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A A (VERY SHORT) GUIDE TO L TEX.
Equations can also be numbered by using the align environment. Equations should be typed between the lines \begin{align} and \end{align} in the form: left side & = & right side \\. You do not need to use dollar signs within the align environment. The ampersands will force alignment, the double backslash indicates the end of an equation. They will automatically be centered on the page and numbered to the right. A new align environment will continue the numbering where the previous align left off. Any numbered equation can also be given a label and referred to later by that name. Notice that in the equation array below, the second equation is given the label groovy. Thereafter, whenever you type \ref{groovy} in the document, LaTeX will fill in the appropriate number. This means you don't need to keep track of equation numbers; LaTeX is kind enough to do it for you! The align* environment aligns equations but does not number them. Simply using double dollar signs will center the equations but will not align them. The alignment comes in handy you when need to show a string of equivalent expressions. Compare the LaTeX commands below with their typeset outputs. \begin{align} |2x-5| & \leq & 4\\ 3x-2 & \neq &3 \label{groovy}\\ \tan x & = & e x. \end{align} (1) (2) (3) |2x - 5| 3x - 2 = tan x = 4 3 ex . = = 1 - u4 + C 4 1 - cos4 x + C. 4 \begin{align } \int \cos 3 x \sin x dx & = & - \int u 3 du\\ &=& - \frac14 u 4 + C \\ &=& \fch{- \frac14 \cos 4 x + C.} \end{align } cos3 x sin x dx = - u3 du
Things to note: The align and align environments will be centered on the page. I forced the formatting above so that you could see a side-by-side comparison. We can now refer to equations by any labels they've been given. Tex input: The solution to (\ref{groovy}) is $x \neq 5/3$. Dvi output: The solution to (2) is x = 5/3. The command to create the highlighted text (\fch{ highlighted text }) is not a built-in command. I defined it in my preamble. If you have not defined it in your preamble, it will not work!!
A A (VERY SHORT) GUIDE TO L TEX.
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Lists LaTeX has several list environments. The general format is \begin{environment} \item item #1 here ... \end{environment} If the environment is itemize, each item will be preceded by a bullet. If the environment is enumerate, each item will be numbered. The environments can also be nested. \begin{enumerate} \item peter piper \begin{enumerate} \item picked a peck \item of pickled peppers. \end{enumerate} \item king phillip \begin{enumerate} \item could only find \item green \item strawberries. \end{enumerate} \end{enumerate}
(1) peter piper (a) picked a peck (b) of pickled peppers. (2) king phillip (a) could only find (b) green (c) strawberries.
How it works To begin, you should open the file template.tex in WinEdt (download the file from my websi...