# Introduction to LaTex

A quick search on the web will turn up many websites with lengthy instructions on how to use LaTeX. This site is much more limited in scope. It is written with the beginning LaTeX user in mind. It is also written with the idea that the user is an undergraduate student who needs to create lab reports, term papers, and class presentations. As a result, this site is limited to the following:

## How can I get LaTeX and Why should I use it?

LaTeX is an extension of the programming language TeX, created in the 1970's by Prof. Don Knuth at Stanford University. It is free to use and can be obtained at http://www.tug.org

While there are several packages available to run LaTeX, as of 2012, I suggest using ProTeXt on a PC, http://www.tug.org/proTeXt and MacTeX on a Mac, http://www.tug.org/MacTeX

I use it for several reasons:

• Initially: Frustrations with MS Word, etc.
• Long term viability
• Separation of content and style
• Create multiple formats
• Programability

## First Document

LaTeX is like a programming language so to set up even a simple document to say Hello'' takes four lines. Your first task is to get LaTeX to work on your machine. You will need to learn the particulars for the software on your machine.

• Copy the four lines below
• Create a new LaTeX document
• Compile it

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Hello!
\end{document}

## Setting Up a Document

Often, you will want to do some basic changes to the default document style, such as change the font and the page margin. Each is these is done using a package'', which is a set of commands that someone has written. I generally like to use 1.25 inch margins and the Palatino font. This can be achieved using the geometry and mathpazo packages, respectively.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1.25in]{geometry}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\begin{document}
Hello!
\end{document}

Two other preferences I often use are to turn off page numbers and to have the ouput with a ragged right edge, rather than justified on both edges. To see the effect, the blindtext'' package is being used to generated random text. Also note the use of the %'' sign. Anything following it is treated as a comment and is not shown in the output.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1.25in]{geometry}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\raggedright %create a ragged right edge
\pagestyle{empty} %eliminate page numbers

\usepackage{blindtext} %to generate random text

\begin{document}
\blindtext
\end{document}

Finally, I often like to display stuff in landscape format and in two columns so that it fits nicely on a computer screen. This can be achieved nicely using more options with the geometry package, as shown in the second line.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1.25in,landscape,twocolumn]{geometry}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\raggedright %create a ragged right edge
\pagestyle{empty} %eliminate page numbers

\usepackage{blindtext} %to generate random text

\begin{document}
\blindmathpaper %creates a few paragraphs, including some math
\end{document}

## Typing Math

One of main reasons for using LaTeX is its capability of displaying beautiful mathematical notation. You tell LaTeX that you want to type math using one of the following:

• Display: This is math that is on it own separate line. Use the notation $your stuff$.
• Inline: This is math that is one the same line as your text. Use the notation $your stuff$

To get access to some of these commands, you will also need to use the amsmath'' package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=1.5in]{geometry}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

Here is some math that is on a line of its own.
$\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\dfrac{(-1)^{k+1}}{2k-1}=\dfrac{\pi}{4}$

Here is some math that is inline.
Note the use of two different sizes of fractions in the code:
$\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{k+1}}{2k-1}=\dfrac{\pi}{4}$
and the math is followed by more text that really doesn't matter and you can ignore it. \12pt] Here is the same thing but using the displaymath'' command so that it is not so scrunched. \displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\dfrac{(-1)^{k+1}}{2k-1}=\dfrac{\pi}{4}. Notice the difference in how the summation sign is drawn. It looks like the displayed equation at the beginning of this page. \end{document} When typing math in LaTeX, be sure to use commands for standard math operations. By this, I mean use the command \cos rather than simply typing ''cos''. Thus you should use the commands \cos\theta and not cos\theta. To see further math examples, compile the following example. \documentclass{article} % amsmath provides access to some math notation not generally available \usepackage{amsmath} % units allows for nice looking units such as \unitfrac[12]{m}{sec} \usepackage{units} \begin{document} \subsection*{More Math} The amsmath'' package allows for two environments to help type complicated equations. \begin{itemize} \item The cases'' environment opens a large brace at the beginning of a multi-line function. \item The aligned'' environment allows you to align any part of a multi-lined equation. \end{itemize} In addition, the quad'' command is used to create extra horizontal space. \[y=4+\begin{cases} \begin{aligned} \cos x \quad &\textrm{ if }\quad x<-7\sqrt{2}\\ x^2-\sqrt{x}+\sin x \quad &\textrm{ if } \quad x\ge 8 \end{aligned}\end{cases}

\subsection*{Example of the Units package}
The units'' package allows you to type nice looking scientific units
in the middle of some text. For example, it is useful to know that \unitfrac[60]{mi}{hour}
is equivalent to \unitfrac[88]{ft}{sec}.

\end{document}

## The Listings Package

The listings package allows you to insert computer code into a LaTeX document. This is useful if you are working in a program such as MATLAB and need to create a report that show the discussion of your results and the MATLAB code you used.

The listings package allows you to type the computer code inside of you LaTeX document. However, a more useful technique is simply to use an ''\include{your_computer_file}'' command to have your computer code inserted at the appropriate point in the LaTeX document. See the following three files as examples of what you can do.

## English Essays

If you are going to school, you may need to format your papers the way your teacher requires. For example, you may need to have your papers double-spaced, page numbers at the bottoms center of the page and your name in the upper right corner of every page. You may also need to embed a graphic in your essay.

In the following example there is a full demonstration of such styling. In particular, the following packages are used:

• \usepackage[margin=1.5in]{geometry}: Sets a 1.5 inch margin all around the page.
• \usepackage{lastpage}: Counts the total number of pages
• \usepackage{setspace}: Allows for double spacing (or other options)
• \usepackage{graphicx}: Allows the insertion of graphics into your document
• \usepackage{fancerhdr}: Allows creation of specific headers and footer on each page

An example of how to set up the headers is shown below

% pagestyle tells whether to have headers/foots/page numbers etc
\pagestyle{fancy}

\lhead{English 104-03\\Professor F. Bacon}
\lfoot{Essay on Pseudo-Latin}
\cfoot{}
\rfoot{page \thepage{} of \pageref{LastPage}}

% creates a footer line
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}

For the full example, see

## Graphics

There are many packages for creating graphics within LaTeX but the one that I like is called TikZ. It can be used to draw an amazing variety of graphics. For examples, see the site

Of particular use for students is the capability to graph data and functions. While you can certainly graph a function using a program such as MATLAB, there are a couple advantages of creating the graph within LaTeX.

1. The formatting of the fonts in the graph will match the fonts in the rest of the document. This will give your document a more professional appearance.
2. By creating the graph within LaTeX, you are do not need to manually keep track of each separate graphic.

After much experimentation, the package I like the most for creating such graphs is PGFPlots, which is based on the TikZ package. The following code plots a set of data. The code only marks simply prevents the data from being connected by a curve.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[xlabel=time (in seconds),ylabel=Temperature ($^\circ$C)]
coordinates {
(2,-2.8)
(3,-3.5)
(4,-3.3)
(5,-5.1)
(6,-6.1)
(7,-8.7)
(8,-7.2)
};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Imaginary data}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

The following code creates the graph of a typical function from a math course. There are two \addplot statements. The first one plots the curve while the second places blue circles at specific points on the curve.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
[xlabel=$x$,
ylabel={$f(x)$},
grid=major,
axis x line=middle,
axis y line=middle]
\addplot[color=red,domain=-2:4] {x^2 - 2*x };
\addplot[color=blue, domain=-2:4,samples=7,only marks,mark=o] {x^2 - 2*x};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{A nice parabola, $y=x^2-2x$.}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

PGF plot of a parabola (pdf)

## Slide Shows

LaTeX can be used to create slide shows with many of the features of software like Microsoft PowerPoint. As with graphics, there are many packages to do this but I like the one called Beamer. It comes with an extensive manual (300 + pages) and many option for styles and colors.

When using Beamer, each slide is called a frame. The following will create a simple slide show with three frames.

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
First slide
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
Second slide with math
$\int x^2 \, dx=\frac{x^3}{3}+C$
and then some text.
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
Some Trig Identities
\begin{itemize}
\item $\cos^2 x+\sin^2 x=1$
\item $\sec^2 x-\tan^2 x=1$
\item $\csc^2 x-\cot^2 x=1$
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

The results can be seen at First Beamer Example (pdf)

While the above works nicely, I want to change a few things:

• Add some color
• Get rid of the symbols at the bottom of the slides
• Add a title to each slide

Beamer has many built-in templates allowing you to change the colors and appearance of the slides. The templates are named after cities and the colors are named after animals. To use this, add the following lines.

\usetheme{Berkeley}
\usecolortheme{crane}

To eliminate the navigation symbols at the bottom of the slides, use the command

To add a title to each frame, put the title, in braces, in the frame command. These changes are now assembled into the file.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{Berkeley}
\usecolortheme{crane}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}{My First Beamer}
First slide
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}{Some Math}
Second slide with math
$\int x^2 \, dx=\frac{x^3}{3}+C$
and then some text.
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}{Trig is for Kids}
Some Trig Identities
\begin{itemize}
\item $\cos^2 x+\sin^2 x=1$
\item $\sec^2 x-\tan^2 x=1$
\item $\csc^2 x-\cot^2 x=1$
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

The results can be seen at Second Beamer Example (pdf)

The results are nice but I think some improvements can be made.

• Have the text at the top of the white section, not centered. Do this by changing the first line of the file to include [t]
• Place a logo in the corner by using the \logo command
• Uncover the trig identities one at a time using the \pause command.

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usetheme{Berkeley}
\usecolortheme{crane}
\logo{\includegraphics[scale=0.80]{beachlogo.jpg}}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}{My First Beamer}
First slide
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}{Some Math}
Second slide with math
$\int x^2 \, dx=\frac{x^3}{3}+C$
and then some text.
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}{Trig is for Kids}
Some Trig Identities
\begin{itemize}
\item $\cos^2 x+\sin^2 x=1$
\pause
\item $\sec^2 x-\tan^2 x=1$
\pause
\item $\csc^2 x-\cot^2 x=1$
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}