A quick guide to LATEX - Reed College

1 A quick guide to LATEXWhat is LATEX ? LATEX (usually pronounced LAY teck, sometimes LAHteck, and never LAY tex ) is a mathematics typesettingprogram that is the standard for most professionalmathematics writing. It is based on the typesetting programTEX created by Donald Knuth of Stanford University (his firstversion appeared in 1978). Leslie Lamport was responsible forcreating LATEX a more user friendly version of TEX. A team ofLATEX programmers created the current version, LATEX 2 .Math vs. text vs. functionsIn properly typeset mathematics variables appear in italics( ,f(x) =x2+ 2x 3). The exception to this rule ispredefined functions ( , sin(x)).

2 Thus it is important toalwaystreat text, variables, and functions correctly. See thedifference betweenxand x, -1 and 1, andsin(x) and sin(x).There are two ways to present a mathematical expression inlineor as mathematical expressionsInline expressions occur in the middle of a sentence. Toproduce an inline expression, place the math expressionbetween dollar signs ($). For example, typing$90^{\circ}$ is the same as $\frac{\pi}{2}$ radiansyields 90 is the same as are mathematical expressions that are given theirown line and are centered on the page. These are usually usedfor important equations that deserve to be showcased on theirown line or for large equations that cannot fit inline.

3 Toproduce an inline expression, place the mathematicalexpression between the symbols\[and\]. Typing\[x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a} \]yieldsx= b b2 get full-sized inline mathematical expressions use\displaystyle. Use this sparingly. TypingI want this $\displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n}$, not this $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n}$.yieldsI want this n=11n, not this n= can put images (pdf, png, jpg, or gif) in your need to be in the same location as your .tex file whenyou compile the document. Omit[width=.5in]if you wantthe image to be full-sized.\begin{figure}[ht]\includegra phics[width=.5in]{ }\caption{The (optional) caption goes here.}

4 }\end{figure}Text decorationsYour text can beitalics(\textit{italics}),boldface(\te xtbf{boldface}), or underlined(\underline{underlined}).Your math can contain boldface,R(\mathbf{R}), orblackboard bold,R(\mathbb{R}). You may want to used theseto express the sets of real numbers (RorR), integers (ZorZ),rational numbers (QorQ), and natural numbers (NorN).To have text appear in a math expression use\text.(0,1]=\{x\in\mathbb{R}:x>0\text { and }x\le 1\}yields(0,1] ={x R:x >0 andx 1}. (Without the\textcommand it treats and as three variables:(0,1] ={x R:x >0andx 1}.)Spaces and new linesLATEX ignores extra spaces and new lines. For example,This sentence will lookfine after it is sentence will look fine after it is one full empty line between two paragraphs.)))

5 Place\\atthe end of a line to create a new line (but not create a newparagraph).Thiscompileslike\\ \noindentto prevent a paragraph from create a comment. Nothing on the line after the%willbe typeset.$f(x)=\sin(x)$ %this is the sine functionyieldsf(x) = sin(x)Delimitersdescriptioncommandoutput parentheses(x)(x)brackets[x][x]curly braces\{x\}{x}To make your delimiters large enough to fit the content, usethem together with\rightand\left. For example,\left\{\sin\left(\frac{1}{n}\rig ht)\right\}_{n}^{\infty}produces{sin(1n) } braces are non-printing characters that are used togather text that has more than one character. Observe thedifferences between the four expressionsx^2,x^{2},x^2t,x^{2t}when typeset:x2,x2,x2t, can produce ordered and unordered list\begin{itemize}\itemThing 1\itemThing 2\end{itemize} Thing 1 Thing 2ordered list\begin{enumerate}\itemThing 1\itemThing 2\end{enumerate}1.

6 Thing 12. Thing 2 Symbols (inmathmode)The basicsdescriptioncommandoutputaddition++ subtraction- plus or minus\pm multiplication (times)\times multiplication (dot)\cdot division symbol\div division (slash)//circle plus\oplus circle times\otimes equal==not equal\ne6=less than<<greater than>>less than or equal to\le greater than or equal to\ge approximately equal to\approx infinity\infty dots1,2,3,\ldots1,2,3,..dots1+2+3+\cdots 1 + 2 + 3 + fraction\frac{a}{b}absquare root\sqrt{x} xnth root\sqrt[n]{x}n xexponentiationa^babsubscripta_bababsolu te value|x||x|natural log\ln(x)ln(x)logarithms\log_{a}blogabex ponential functione^x=\exp(x)ex= exp(x)degree\deg(f)deg(f)

7 Functionsdescriptioncommandoutputmaps to\to composition\circ piecewise|x|=|x|={x x 0 x x <0function\begin{cases}x & x\ge 0\\-x & x<0\end{cases}Greek and Hebrew letterscommandoutputcommandoutput\alpha \tau \beta \theta \chi \upsilon \delta \xi \epsilon \zeta \varepsilon \Delta \eta \Gamma \gamma \Lambda \iota \Omega \kappa \Phi \lambda \Pi \mu \Psi \nu \Sigma \omega \Theta \phi \Upsilon \varphi \Xi \pi \aleph \psi \bethi\rho \dalethk\sigma \gimel Set theorydescriptioncommandoutputset brackets\{1,2,3\}{1,2,3}element of\in not an element of\not\in6 subset of\subset subset of\subseteq not a subset of\not\subset6 contains\supset contains\supseteq union\cup intersection\cap big union\bigcup_{n=1}^{10}A_n10 n=1 Anbig intersection\bigcap_{n=1}^{10}A_n10 n=1 Anempty set\emptyset power set\mathcal{P}Pminimum\minminmaximum\max maxsupremum\supsupinfimum\infinflimit superior\limsuplim suplimit inferior\liminflim infclosure\overline{A}ACalculusdescripti oncommandoutputderivative\frac{df}{dx}df dxderivative\f f partial derivative\frac{\partial f}{\partial x} f xintegral\int double integral\iint triple integral\iiint limits\lim_{x\to \infty}limx}

8 Summation\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}a_n n=1anproduct\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}a_n n=1anLogicdescriptioncommandoutputnot\si m and\land or\lor \to if and only if\leftrightarrow logical equivalence\equiv therefore\therefore there exists\exists for all\forall implies\Rightarrow equivalent\Leftrightarrow Linear algebradescriptioncommandoutputvector\ve c{v}~vvector\mathbf{v}vnorm||\vec{v}|||| ~v||matrix\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1 & 2 & 3 \\4 & 5 & 6\\7 & 8 & 0\end{array}\right] 123456780 determinant\left|\begin{array}{ccc}1 & 2 & 3 \\4 & 5 & 6 \\7 & 8 & 0\end{array}\right| 123456780 determinant\det(A)det(A)trace\operatorna me{tr}(A)tr(A)dimension\dim(V)dim(V)Numb er theorydescriptioncommandoutputdivides||d oes not divide\not |6|div\operatorname{div}divmod\modmodgre atest common divisor\gcdgcdceiling\lceil x \rceildxefloor\lfloor x \rfloorbxcGeometry and trigonometrydescriptioncommandoutputangl e\angle ABC ABCdegree90^{\circ}90 triangle\triangle ABC4 ABCsegment\overline{AB}ABsine\sinsincosi ne\coscostangent\tantancotangent\cotcots ecant\secseccosecant\csccscinverse sine\arcsinarcsininverse cosine\arccosarccosinverse tangent\arctanarctanSymbols (intextmode)

9 The followign symbols donothave to be surrounded by sign\$$percent\%%ampersand\&&pound\##bac kslash\textbackslash\left quote marks right quote marks single left quote single right quote hyphenX-rayX-rayen-dashpp. 5--15pp. 5 15em-dashYes---or no?Yes or no?ResourcesTUG: The TEX Users GroupCTAN: The Comprehensive TEX Archive NetworkHandwriting-to- LATEX sites: Detexify, WebEquationThe Comprehensive LATEX Symbol ListThe Not So Short Introduction to LATEX 2 Software that generates LATEX code: Mathematica, Maple,GeoGebraLATEX for the Mac: MacTEXLATEX for the PC: TEXnicCenter and MiKTEXLATEX online: ShareLaTeX, Overleaf, SageLATEX integration with Microsoft Office, Apple iWork, etc:MathType, LATEXiTDave Richeson, Dickinson College .