TeX (or LaTeX) Introduction and Resources
Why TeX?
Many professional mathematicians and practitioners of other technical fields write documents for publication and presentation using typesetting software known as TeX or LaTeX. It allows the author great control and flexibility in producing files with equations and figures in a standard format.
Using TeX
All of the computers in the Applied Math department lab, in E1 214 have a TeX writing program installed on them. To find out more about the lab, please click here.
- A Basic Skeleton Format [tex] Prepared by Igor Cialenco.
Most faculty members in the Department use a form of TeX, and are willing to help fix specific problems as they might arise for the beginning user.
Working in TeX
Formatting and writing the guidelines for a TeX document can be a little intimidating at first, but here are several tutorials to help get started.
- Page Layout in LaTeX [pdf] by Piet van Oostrum. A comprehensive formatting and layout guide.
- LaTeX Tutorial [pdf] by Jeff Clark. Covers document formatting, basic math and text functions, and presentation topics.
- The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2 [pdf] by Tobias Oetiker. An accurately-named comprehensive guide to everything in LaTeX. Warning - it's really long.
- Math in LaTeX [pdf] by Eric Eaton
- Short Math Guide for LaTeX [pdf] by Michael Downes
Downloading TeX on Your Computer
If you would like to use a TeX program onto a personal computer, downloads can be found at one of the following websites:
- TUG The TeX Users Group, this is the main site for TeX info, downloads, help, and software.
- MiKTeX A free, open source website with two versions available for download.
- WinEdt A full-service writing and formatting application, but only trial version is free.
- TeXnicCenter A free, open source version of WinEdt with some modifications.
- proTeXt Combines TeXnicCenter with Ghostscript and other usability, and is based on MiKTeX.
Below is a simple, easy-to-follow guides to downloading and starting a TeX file:
- LaTeX for Beginners [pdf] Written by Igor Cialenco.
Making Presentations
TeX will also create slides for presenting research using a package called Beamer as opposed to using other presentation software such as Microsoft or Lotus PowerPoint.
- Making Presentations with BEAMER [pdf] by Igor Cialenco. A simple walk-through for making a slide presentation. Tutorial [tex] Template [tex]
- Beamer v3.0 Guide [pdf] by Ki-Joo Kim. A comprehensive and long presentation on all that is possible through BEAMER.
