LaTex Open Tutorial

You can prepare high quality math and engineering
papers using LaTeX, pronounced lah tech.

This is not intended to cover all or even most of LaTeX.

You will prepare a LaTeX file  foo.tex

running LaTeX
On UMBC GL machines you have several options to get output:

latex foo.tex
latex foo.tex  # this is needed for TOC, bibliography, etc
dvips -o foo.ps foo.dvi  # compiling produces a .dvi and other files
lpr foo.ps     # print high quality PostScript
               # your browser can view foo.ps, lower quality print
ps2pdfwr foo.ps foo.pdf # optional to also produce a .pdf


pdflatex foo.tex  # generate a   foo.pdf   directly
acroread foo.pdf  # use acroread to view and print 
evince   foo.pdf  # use evince to view and print
                  # your browser can view and print foo.pdf

and, many other auxiliary programs are available.

Use your favorite editor to create foo.tex

Best on-line reference is:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX


Getting LaTeX on your computer
Linux: sudo apt-get install texlive
MacOSX: get mactex
Windows: get protext or miktex

First example
Here is a simple, complete, .tex file
hello.tex
hello.ps
hello.pdf

% hello.tex absolute minimum to get output
\documentclass[12pt]{letter} % could be paper, article, report, book, slides ...
\begin{document} % start of document

Hello world from LaTeX.

\end{document} % end of document, nothing after this line


The Makefile commands to generate hello.ps and hello.pdef are:
	latex hello.tex
	latex hello.tex
	dvips -o hello.ps hello.dvi
	ps2pdfwr hello.ps hello.pdf


Note some syntax "\" and "{ }"
"\" starts a command, there are many.
You can define new commands to save on typing.
More commands can be brought in from packages

"{ }" are for grouping or enclosing. Usually REQUIRED!
e.g. \frac {numerator equation} {denominator equation}

Generally, arbitrary nesting is allowed, just use
lots of { { {} {} } { } }

one or mode spaces is a space.
carriage return and tab are a space.
lines automatically formatted unless you interfere
No semicolons at end of lines or statements

Printing equations
equation.tex
equation.ps

% equation.tex just a few samples
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\begin{document} % start of document
For subscript use underscore

$A_1 \; \; A_i \; \; A_{i,j} $ % \; for more spaces

For power, superscript use hat % $ your equation $

$x^2 \; \; x^{p+q} \; \; x^{y^z} $

${n \choose k} = \frac{n!}{k!(n-k!)}$

$z = \sqrt {x^2 + y^2}$

\[ \int _{i=0} ^{\infty} \frac {1}{{(x+1)}^2} dx \]

\( \sum _{j=1} ^{10} A_j \)

\end{document} % end of document, nothing after this line



printing matrices and vectors
Using \matrix

pdemat.tex
pdemat.ps
pdemat.pdf
% pdemat.tex
\documentclass[11pt,fleqn]{article} % preamble follows
\setlength{\textheight}{8.5in}
\setlength{\topmargin}{0.5in}
\setlength{\textwidth}{6.5in}
\setlength{\headheight}{0.0in}
\setlength{\headsep}{0.0in}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in}

\newcommand{\LL}{\mit L}

\begin{document}        % start of document

System of simultaneous equations that are too wide for paper


$$\left| \matrix{ \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_1(x,y) \right) \phi_1(x,y) dx \, dy \  
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_2(x,y) \right) \phi_1(x,y) dx \, dy \ 
                  \ldots \ 
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_{nxy}(x,y) \right) \phi_1(x,y) dx \, dy \cr 
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_1(x,y) \right) \phi_2(x,y) dx \, dy \  
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_2(x,y) \right) \phi_2(x,y) dx \, dy \ 
                  \ldots \ 
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_{nxy}(x,y) \right) \phi_2(x,y) dx \, dy \cr 
                  \ldots                                                   \cr
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_1(x,y) \right) \phi_{nxy}(x,y) dx \, dy \  
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_2(x,y) \right) \phi_{nxy}(x,y) dx \, dy \ 
                  \ldots \ 
                  \int_{\Omega} \LL \left( \phi_{nxy}(x,y) \right) \phi_{nxy}(x,y) dx \, dy \cr 
                } \right|
  \times
$$
$$  \left| \matrix{ U_1 \cr U_2 \cr \ldots \cr U_{nxy} \cr } \right|
  =
  \left| \matrix{ \int_{\Omega} f(x,y) \phi_1(x,y) dx \, dy \cr
                  \int_{\Omega} f(x,y) \phi_2(x,y) dx \, dy \cr
                  \ldots                                 \cr
                  \int_{\Omega} f(x,y) \phi_{nxy}(x,y) dx \, dy \cr } \right|
$$

\end{document} % end of document, nothing after this line


Drawings that have a lot of math symbols
put(x,y){\