What is LaTeX?

• typesetting system for mathematical/technical documents

Philosophy

• user focuses on content and purpose
• compiler takes care of how to display it

How it Works

• you write your stuff in a .tex file, using commands to indicate mathematical content and purpose
• compiler interprets the commands and produces PDF output

• Overleaf

Ways to display math

• inline - surrounded by \( \) or $ $
• displayed - surrounded by \[ \] or $$ $$
• numbered equation - \begin{equation} \end{equation}

Some symbols

• Greek letters \alpha, \beta, etc. produces \(\alpha\), \(\beta\)
• square roots \sqrt{b^2-4ac} produces \(\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\)
• fractions \frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a} produces \(\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}\)
• sums \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n^2}=\frac{\pi}{6} produces \[\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n^2}=\frac{\pi}{6}\]
• functions \lim_{x\to\infty}e^{-x}\cos x produces \[\lim_{x\to\infty}e^{-x}\cos x\]
• Detexify lets you look up a symbol by drawing it

Recovering from mistakes

• recompile frequently
• check for matching dollar signs, parentheses, braces, etc.
• seplling of command names
• space between function command and variables (e.g., \cosx gives an error, but \cos x produces \(\cos x\))

Arrays

General Principles

• & begins a new entry
• \\ begins a new line

Examples

• matrices \begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 \\3 & 4\end{bmatrix} produces \(\begin{bmatrix}1 & 2 \\3 & 4\end{bmatrix}\)
• equations aligned at equal sign \begin{align} \end{align} \[\begin{align*} (x-1)^2-4 &= x^2-2x-3 &&\text{distribute}\\ &=(x+1)(x-3) &&\text{factor}\end{align*}\]
• table with mostly math in it \begin{array}{rcc} \end{array}
• table with mostly text in it \begin{tabular}{c|ccc} \end{tabular}

Lists

General Principles

• \item starts a new item in the list

Examples

• bulleted list \begin{itemize} \item ... \item ... \item ... \end{itemize}
• numbered list \begin{enumerate} \item ... \item ... \item ... \end{enumerate}

Custom Numbering

• \usepackage[shortlabels]{enumitem}
• \begin{enumerate}[(a)] ... \end{enumerate}
• \begin{enumerate}[(I)] ... \end{enumerate}

Images

• save image file in same folder as .tex file
• \includegraphics[scale=.75]{imgfilename.png}
• \begin{figure} \centering \includegraphics{...} \caption{...} \label{...} \end{figure}
• TikZ package for drawing
• GeoGebra - draw picture and export TikZ code
• TikZ Examples

Cross-Referencing

Need to refer to a specific figure, theorem, table, etc.?

• label the item with \label{mylabel}
• refer to the item with \ref{mylabel}
• better yet, \usepackage{cleveref} and reference with \cref{mylabel} which auto-detects type of thing you are referencing (Lemma, Figure, etc.)

Document Structure and Organization

Parts of a Document

• \chapter{name of chapter}
• \section{name of section}

Environments

• \usepackage{amsthm}
• \begin{theorem} ... \end{theorem}
• \begin{proof} ... \end{proof}

Thesis

• Go to the CPP Master’s Thesis/Project Formatting Library Guidelines and follow the LaTeX link to download a .tex and .cls file
• the .tex is a template where you can fill in your thesis
• the .cls is what styles everything to match CPP Library formatting
• Thesis Example in Overleaf

Bibliography with BibTeX

Want LaTeX to automatically format and alphabetize your bibliography?

• add a file references.bib
• populate the file with BibTeX entries (for math you can get most from MathSciNet database)
• before the end of document, add \bibliographystyle{alpha} \bibliography{references}
• possible styles include alpha, plain, apalike
• Thesis Example with BibTeX in Overleaf

Presentations

• \documentclass{beamer}
• title slide - \begin{frame} \titlepage \end{frame}
• general slide \begin{frame}{myframetitle} ... \end{frame}
• reveal items one at a time - insert \pause after each item
• highlight something important - \alert{...}
• blocks - \begin{block}{myblocktitle} ... \end{block} or \begin{example} ... \end{example}
• columns - \begin{columns} \column{.4\textwidth} ... \column{.4\textwidth} \end{columns}
• Example Beamer Presentation

Worksheets, Quizzes, Exams

• lists \begin{enumerate} \end{enumerate} with \item for each item in the list
• bulleted lists \begin{itemize} \end{itemize} with \item for each item in the list
• flexible space \vfill
• exam class - use \documentclass{exam} at the beginning of your document
• Sample Quiz in Overleaf

Compilers/Editors for LaTeX

• Overleaf is good for getting started (free, online, no installation required)
• If you want a local TeX system on your machine, Getting started with TeX, LaTeX, and friends has recommendations of TeX distributions.

Learning More

• numerous tutorials and examples in Overleaf Documentation
• stackexchange
• find an example and adapt it to what you need!