AT X A Brief Introduction to L E

Darren Kam Thursday 27th February 2014

Abstract
A This document has been written to provide its user with a brief background in L TEX.

Please click here to leave any questions, comments or corrections.

Contents
1 Getting Started 1.1 1.2 1.3
A What is L TEX? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9

How do we get started? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A How do we install a L TEX typesetting system? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3 1.3.4 1.3.5 1.3.6

Windows Installation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Updating MiKTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maintaining MiKTEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MiKTEX Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Customising TeXworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TeXworks Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Compiling our First Document 2.1 Special Characters and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4 2.1.5 2.2 Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whitespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Document Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 Document Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Document Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.3

A A Typical L TEX Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Contents 3 Additional Considerations 3.1

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

18

A Understanding L TEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.2

Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Darren Kam

Chapter 1 Getting Started

1.1
A What is L TEX?

A L TEX is a type of code used in typesetting mathematics created by Leslie Lamport. It is an extension of the TEX language which was created by Donald Knuth. A We use L TEX to create documents which incorporate lots of mathematics. It is generally used in an academic setting, in documents that are published in scientic journals.

1.2

How do we get started?

A You cant actually install L TEX since its a programming language and not a program itself. A However, you can install a typesetting system which uses L TEX. It usually contains a TEX A editor and additional les needed to prepare a L TEX document. A I could give a rather detailed discussion of L TEX typesetting systems, but I think its just best to state the one I prefer. I generally use MiKTEX as it is generally straightforward to use. A However, it only works on Windows platforms. If you wanted to install a L TEX typesetting system on the Mac then Id go for MacTEX and if youre on Linux Id just stick with TEX Live.

Also, you may choose a dierent TEX editor from the one installed, such as TEXnicCenter or WinEdt, but you will have to learn how to use them yourself. They are all quite similar in a sense, but TeXworks has a minimal user interface.

Getting Started

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

1.3

A How do we install a L TEX typesetting system?

This section applies to Windows users only. Should you need assistance with non-Windows operating systems then please consult the following links. Mac: http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing LaTeX on a Mac Ubuntu Linux: http://linuxandfriends.com/2009/10/06/install-latex-in-ubuntu-linux These guides have not been veried, so use them at your own risk.

1.3.1

Windows Installation Guide

Heres a quick guide to setting up MiKTEX on your computer. 1) Go to http://miktex.org/2.9/setup 2) Download and run the Basic MiKTEX 2.9 Installer. 3) Accept MiKTEX copying conditions. 4) Decide whether or not you want a shared installation. 5) Install MiKTEX to: C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9 6) Preferred Paper: A4 7) Install missing packages on-the-y: Always 8) Start the installation. 9) Close the installation wizard. We install the basic installer to save time and always install missing packages as to save the hassle in accepting the installation everytime they are needed. You can install a complete installation of MiKTEX, but Id generally avoid this due to time concerns. Now that you have just installed MiKTEX 2.9, we now do a little bit of regular maintenance to reduce the number of problems we have whilst running the installation.

Darren Kam

Getting Started

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

1.3.2

Updating MiKTEX

1) Start Menu > All Programs > MiKTEX 2.9 > Maintenance 2) Right click Update and select Run as administrator. 3) Use the nearest package repository. 4) Select All > Next > Finish - if packages need updating. 5) Cancel - if packages do not need updating.

1.3.3

Maintaining MiKTEX

1) Start Menu > All Programs > MiKTEX 2.9 > Maintenance 2) Right click Settings and select Run as administrator. 3) Click Refresh FNDB and Update Formats.

1.3.4

MiKTEX Issues

When I installed MiKTEX 2.9 I found that pdatex.exe kept crashing when I tried to A compile a L TEX document and could not nd an answer to x this. If this happens to you then please fall back to MiKTEX 2.8, uninstalling MiKTEX 2.9 of course.

Darren Kam

Getting Started

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

1.3.5

Customising TeXworks

Now MiKTEX comes bundled in with a TEX editor called TeXworks. When you rst load it up you should do the following. 1) Edit > Preferences 2) Tick the box which says Line Numbers. 3) Syntax Coloring: LaTeX 4) Tick the Highlight current line box. 5) Click the Preview tab. 6) Under Default Scaling select Fit to Width. 7) Click the Typesetting tab. 8) Tick the Auto-hide the output panel unless errors occur box. 9) Click OK. Line numbers have been turned on to make it easier to correct errors. Turning syntax colouring makes it easier to read your code. Suppressing the output panel means you have more space to write code.

1.3.6

TeXworks Issues

Your version of TeXworks may force the output panel open when an error occurs, but does not close it during subsequent compilations. This can get very annoying when you compile A your L TEX document a lot of times like I do. It may be tempting to install a later version of TeXworks to x this problem, but I dont recommend it. The version of TeXworks bundled into MiKTEX is integrated into the installation. This means installing a separate version of TeXworks does not aect the one already installed, which means you end up having two dierent versions of TeXworks on your computer.

Darren Kam

Chapter 2 Compiling our First Document

A The best way to learn how to compile L TEX documents is to nd someone elses source code (which typically has the .tex extension) and try to understand what it does. Alternatively we A may use a L TEX template to do most of the hard work for us and simply edit it to suit our needs. A However, with the former case it can be hard to nd and understand a well written L TEX document. In the latter case, the authors of some templates use very complicated macros (shortcuts) which are dicult to edit. So for the purposes of this document we shall be starting from scratch. A Before we can start our document though we must look at how L TEX works. This ensures that when we do write our document we wont run into too much trouble.

2.1
2.1.1

Special Characters and Conventions

Special Characters

A The special characters in L TEX are given below.

#$%&

{}\

A These are special characters since applying them in a L TEX document will usually generate an error. This is because they have specic purposes when writing the code.

That said, if you need these symbols then you may apply them using the following commands. \# \$ \% \{} \& \ \{ \} \{} \textbackslash Note that the backslash command isnt like the rest of the other commands since \\ creates a link break as opposed to a backslash.

Compiling our First Document

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

2.1.2

Whitespace

A Whitespace in L TEX is unlike that of WYSIWYG editors such as Microsoft Word in the sense that all space is treated uniformly. What I mean is that you cannot generate extra horizontal or vertical space using the SPACEBAR or ENTER keys respectively.

Hitting ENTER once does not change the output, hitting it twice makes a paragraph and hitting it anymore than that does nothing to the output. Likewise hitting the SPACEBAR once creates a character space, but hitting it anymore than that does nothing to the output.

2.1.3

Commands

A Commands in L TEX are case sensitive and are of the form \command[options ]{parameter}. Whitespace after commands is ignored unless you put in an empty parameter {} after it.

Also, not all commands have options. In these cases we may omit the [options ] section.

2.1.4

Environments

A Environments are used on a specic section of a L TEX document to manipulate the contents within it. It can do anything from generating lists to presenting images.

Environments come in two parts - a start tag and an end tag. The start tag is of the form \begin[arguments ]{environment}. The end tag is of the form \end{environment}. You have to use both tags otherwise the environment wont work and this will generate an error.

2.1.5

Comments

We use % to denote a comment. What this does is ignore the rest of the code on that line, which means when we compile our document the comment is not seen in it. It can be useful A for placing reminders or annotations in a L TEX document for future use.
1

You can see this text. %You cannot see this comment.

You can see this text.

A Now that you are familiar with the way in which L TEX works we can now start to build our A rst L TEX document.

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

2.2

Document Format

A When a L TEX document is processed, the system expects it to be in a specic order. This order is given below.

i) Document Class ii) Preamble iii) Document Content However, this doesnt really tell us much. To learn more we must investigate the document format in more detail.

2.2.1

Document Class

A The document class is the rst line of a L TEX document. It tells the compiler what kind of document you are trying to make.

It is typically given in the following manner. \documentclass[options ]{style} The style parameter must be given. I recommend setting this to article, report or book. Of course there are other options, but you should not need them for the time being. I recommend setting the font size to 12pt, the paper type to A4 and optimising the document for duplex printing. This would be achieved in the document class given below. \documentclass[12pt,a4paper,twosided]{article} The link below provides a more detailed description of all the parameters you can enter into the document class. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Basics However, I leave it to the interested reader to learn more about them.

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

2.2.2

Preamble

The preamble consists of all the packages you intend to use and any settings you make to those packages or the rest of the document. Packages We use a package by applying the following piece of code. \usepackage[options ]{package name} Alternatively, if we have multiple packages we may apply the following. \usepackage{package name 1,package name 2,...} In this case, we dene the package options afterwards. You would learn how to do this by reading the ocial documentation for the package. Rather than go through all the packages that are available, of which there are thousands, I will briey describe some of the packages which you may nd useful. Dont worry if you dont know what they mean, Ive hyperlinked their names to the ocial documentation which illustrates their use. amsmath
A Arguably the most important package you will ever need to use in a L TEX document and thus A should be the rst package used in any L TEX document. It is used to enhance the A presentation of mathematics or extend many of the in-built functions of L TEX.

amssymb
A This provides additional support to L TEX by dening and allowing the usage of additional symbols. One of the most notable is the black square, which concludes a proof.

Note: The ocial documentation for this package isnt helpful, but you dont really need it. fancyhdr
A This package allows customisation of the header and footer of a L TEX document. There are many dierent options within this package so I recommend trying to nd someone who has already used it and copy their code to begin learning how to best utilise this package.

geometry Trying to adjust margins or page dimensions in general can be a frustrating task within A A L TEX. The geometry package makes it a lot easier to do this. I use it a lot since I feel L TEX is too generous with margin spacing. hyperref Hyperref activates cross-referencing links allowing the user of the PDF document to jump to the location of a link within the article. It also allows us to use the PDF bookmark section and modify PDF metadata.

10

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document Document Properties

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

Now that we have used the packages we want to use we now move onto document properties. These properties aect the entire document so should be used with caution. The rst properties we come across are the options which were not dened when we used the packages. We use commands as given in the ocial documentation to dene these options. Ill start with the options from the geometry package. Remember these options aect the A margins of the L TEX document.
1

\ geometry { paper = a4paper , top =2.5 cm , bottom =2.5 cm , left =2 cm , right =2 cm , headsep =0.75 cm }

Next come the options from the hyperref package. These options hide the links generated through internal and external links and dene the PDF properties.
1

\ hypersetup { hidelinks , pdftitle ={ My First Document } , pdfauthor ={ Darren Kam } , pdfsubject ={ A Brief Introduction to LaTeX }}

Finally, we have the options from the fancyhdr. Remember these options dene the header and footer of the document.
\ pagestyle { fancy } 2 \ fancyhead [ L ]{\ slshape \ leftmark } 3 \ fancyhead [ R ]{\ slshape My First Document } 4 \ fancyfoot [ C ]{\ thepage } 5 \ fancyfoot [ R ]{\ slshape Darren Kam }
1

Of course we can dene even more package options in this way, provided each package allows it. Its best to look at the ocial documentation for a package to see what you can and cannot do with it. Now we move onto general document properties. These aect the entire document, but are unaected by packages.
\ parskip 3 mm \ parindent 0 mm 3 \ raggedright
1 2 4

\ title { My First LaTeX Document } \ author { Darren Kam } 7 \ date { Sunday 23 rd September 2012}
5 6

The rst line makes all paragraphs 3mm wide. The second line removes paragraph indentation. The third line aligns the text along the left margin of the document. The fth, sixth and seventh lines dene the title, author and date so they appear when we use the \maketitle command. Now we move onto the document content. 11 Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

2.2.3

Document Content

As shown earlier, the document content is enclosed using the \begin{document} and \end{document} tags respectively. Anything beyond the \end{document} tag gets ignored when the document is compiled. Creating the Layout The rst thing we want to do is use the \maketitle command. What this does is print the information from the title, author and date commands into the document. The good thing A about L TEX is that it takes care of all the formatting itself. Next we use the abstract environment using the \begin{abstract} and \end{abstract} tags respectively. Anything between those two tags goes in our abstract.
\begin{abstract} 2 \noindent This is an abstract. 3 \end{abstract}
1

Abstract This is an abstract.

A Note that \noindent is used when your abstract is quite long. L TEX will automatically indent subsequent lines of the abstract if you dont use it since the abstract is not treated like a regular paragraph.

Now we look at introducing sectioning commands. These split up the document into the relevant sections. A handy table explaining this is given below. Command \part{part} \chapter{chapter} \section{section} \subsection{subsubsection} \subsubsection{subsection} \paragraph{paragraph} \subparagraph{subparagraph} Level -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Comment not in letters only in books and reports not in letters not in letters not in letters not in letters not in letters

Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Document Structure Since we are using the article class then we start by applying the rst section. If we used the book or report class wed start by applying the rst part or chapter.
\ setcounter { section }{ -1} \ section { My First Section } 3 \ markboth { My First Section }{}
1 2

The rst line tells us to reduce the section number by 1. The second line tells us the name of the section. The third line tells us to update the left part of the header with the section name. We adjust these three lines as necessary when utilising other section commands. 12 Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document Special Characters and Symbols

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

A There are a few things which L TEX does dierently from Microsoft Word.

The rst is quotation marks. Attempting to use quotation marks based on experience with Microsoft Word gives quotation marks. This isnt what we want. So instead we use the following code for quotation marks.
1

quotation marks

quotation marks

The 66 part of the quotation marks is the grave accent used twice, it is situated between the ESC, 1 and TAB keys. The 99 part of the quotation marks is the vertical quote used twice, it is the button you hit to get the @ symbol without pressing SHIFT on an English UK keyboard. The second is dashes. There are four kinds of them.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

- %dash -- %en-dash --- %em-dash $-$ %minus sign

The third is a tilde. We have two possibilities.

1 2 3

\~{} %the standard approach, but a less desirable result $\sim$ %an alternative approach, but a more desirable result

The fourth is ellipsis. They are given using the \ldots command.
1

I was about to say something\ldots but the ellipses stopped me!

I was about to say something. . . but the ellipses stopped me!

13

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document Maths Mode

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

A Now we consider the mathematics behind L TEX having equipped our document with the amsmath and amssymb packages. A The most basic way to insert mathematics into a L TEX document is to use the dollar signs. In other words, $ insert mathematics here $. Some TEX editors have in-built macros to help you nd the commands you need to output the mathematics you want. However, an A L TEX equation editor is a good place to start if such macros are unavailable.

Heres some examples to get you started.

$\begin{pmatrix} 2 \alpha & \beta \\ 3 \delta & \gamma 4 \end{pmatrix}^{-1} 5= 6 \dfrac{1}{\alpha\gamma-\delta\beta} 7 \begin{pmatrix} 8 \gamma & -\beta \\ 9 -\delta & \alpha 10 \end{pmatrix}$
1

$\displaystyle\left(\bigcup_{i=1}^{ n}A_i\right)^c=\bigcap_{i=1}^n A_i^ c$

Ai
i=1

=
i=1

Ac i

n
1

$\displaystyle (a+b)^n=\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}a^ib^{n-i}$

(a + b) =
i=0

n i ni ab i

A One of the few things you wont nd in a L TEX equation editor is the \displaystyle command. It is the part of the amsmath package used to improve the presentation of mathematics, but the mathematics takes up more space in the document when it is compiled. You can nd out about this command and others by clicking this link.

As an exercise, try to obtain the code used to get these mathematical outputs. i) sin(A + B ) = sin A cos B + sin B cos A ii) a1 a2 a3 a4
b

b1 b2

a1 b 1 + a2 b 2 a3 b 1 + a4 b 2

iii)
a

f (x) dx = F (b) F (a)

14

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document Environments

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

Here are some common environments which may prove useful to you. The rst environment is the enumerate environment and it is used in the following manner.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

\begin{enumerate} \item This is the first item in my list. \item This is the second item in my list. \begin{enumerate} \item This is the first item in my sublist. \item This is the second item in my sublist. \end{enumerate} \end{enumerate}

1. This is the rst item in my list. 2. This is the second item in my list. (a) This is the rst item in my sublist. (b) This is the second item in my sublist. There are other types of list such as itemize and description as mentioned here. The second environment is the tabular environment and it is used in the following manner.
\begin{tabular}{l|c|r} 2 Left & Centre & Right \\ \hline 3 (1,1) entry & (1,2) entry & (1,3) entry \\ 4 (2,1) entry & (2,2) entry & (2,3) entry \\ 5 (3,1) entry & (3,2) entry & (3,3) entry 6 \end{tabular}
1

Left Centre Right (1,1) entry (1,2) entry (1,3) entry (2,1) entry (2,2) entry (2,3) entry (3,1) entry (3,2) entry (3,3) entry

You can learn more about tables here.

15

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

The third environment is the verbatim environment and it is used in the following manner.
\begin{verbatim} This environment prints all the 3 text in a typewriter font and 4 does not execute any commands.
1 2 5 6 7

This environment prints all the text in a typewriter font and does not execute any commands. It is ideal for typing code.

It is ideal for typing code. \end{verbatim}

Finally, we have some maths environments.

\begin{equation*} 2 e^{ix}=\cos x+i\sin x 3 \end{equation*}
1 4

eix = cos x + i sin x

\begin{align*} \cos 2x&=\cos^2 x-\sin^2 x \\ 7 &=\cos^2 x-(1-\cos^2 x) \\ 8 &=2\cos^2 x-1 9 \end{align*}

5 6 10

cos 2x = cos2 x sin2 x = cos2 x (1 cos2 x) = 2 cos2 x 1

\begin{flalign*} 12 \cos 2x&=\cos^2 x-\sin^2 x \\ 13 &=(1-\sin^2 x)-\sin^2 x \\ 14 &=1-2\sin^2 x & 15 \end{flalign*}

11

cos 2x = cos2 x sin2 x = (1 sin2 x) sin2 x = 1 2 sin2 x

If we remove all the asterisks then we get the same environments, but they also include equation numbers down the right hand side. This is mentioned in greater detail in the amsmath package.

16

Darren Kam

Compiling our First Document Miscellaneous Heres some other things you might want to know.

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

Creating additional whitespace may be done with the hspace and vspace commands.
1

hspace gives me more \hspace{3mm} horizontal space. \vspace{6mm}vspace gives me more vertical space.

hspace gives me more

horizontal space.

2 3

vspace gives me more vertical space.

We can create a new page manually using the \newpage command. Referencing is done in the following manner.
\begin{enumerate} \item\label{MFI} My first item. 3 \end{enumerate}
1 2 4 5

1. My rst item. Please see item 1 for more details.

Please see item \ref{MFI} for more details.

If we are referencing an equation then its best to use \eqref{reference} instead of \ref{reference}. Also, if we dont use unique identiers when assigning labels then well get conicting references when compiling the document.

2.3

A A Typical L TEX Document

A If youve read through all of 2.2 then you should be able to build your rst L TEX document.

Note: Remember that in TeXworks to compile a document we hit the play button.
A Click here for an example of a typical L TEX document based on 2.2.

Note: A few slight modications have been made based on my own preferences.

17

Darren Kam

Chapter 3 Additional Considerations

A Now that weve nally nished making our rst L TEX document we shall now discuss how to A take your skills further. This will allow you to gain a greater understanding of L TEX so you can create whatever kind of document you are looking for.

3.1

A Understanding L TEX

A Although you have a basic grasp of what L TEX is about, you still need to know a little more so you can get used to working with it by yourself.

3.1.1

Errors

A When running any TEX editor, if your L TEX document has errors in it then the document will fail to compile the document correctly.

In TeXworks you can see this in both the PDF output of the document as well as the output panel. The output panel will stay open and the last line in the console output will be a question mark. To deal with errors we use the following process. i) Press the play button. ii) If your document does not compile then press the abort button and press CTRL+Z to undo the last change in your document. iii) Press the play button. iv) If your document compiles then proceed to step (v) and if it does not compile then go back to step (ii). v) Press CTRL+Y to redo the last change to your document. vi) Press the play button. 18

Additional Considerations vii) Press the abort button when the console output stops.
A viii) Click on the L TEX errors tab.

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

ix) The second number from the left should give you the line number which the error occured on. x) Type the error description into Google and look for a solution. xi) Once the solution has been implemented then press the play button. xii) If the document does not compile then go back to step (ii). This process works most eectively when you use compile your document regularly as youve produced less changes since the error occurred.
A Also, it should be warned that not always does the line number given in the L TEX errors panel match up with the error which the line occurred on. So its always best to be a bit A cautious when using the L TEX errors panel.

Heres some common errors. i) Mistyping a command. ii) Starting an environment, but not ending it. iii) Using an environment incorrectly. iv) Not initiating maths mode when its needed. v) Using invalid options when using a command or environment. vi) Trying to use a package when it isnt installed. vii) Trying to use a command or environment when we havent used the package it is dependent on.

3.1.2

Packages

Although I recommended some packages to you in 2.2.2 there are so many more which you A TEX. could use. All you need to do is type into Google what you want to do followed by L For example, typing dividing polynomials latex into Google gives us the polynom package. You can nd many thousands of packages on the Internet. Its all a matter of nding the name of the package you want and researching how it is used. Not always is the ocial documentation helpful mind you, so do be on the lookout for example documents which illustrate their use. For example, this archive contains the les needed to illustrate the showexpl package, which is A used to show the input and output of a piece of L TEX code.

19

Darren Kam

Additional Considerations

A A Brief Introduction to L TEX

3.1.3

Techniques

Sometimes you know what package you want to use, but you dont know how to use it since the ocial package documentation doesnt help you. For example, you want to know how to increase the spacing in the matrix environment to better accommodate fractions. To nd out the answer to this question we would type increase matrix spacing latex into Google, which gives us this solution. A similar idea applies for other queries. Its simply a case of nding the right keywords to describe what you want and hoping that someone else has asked your question. You could even join a forum and ask the question directly should you wish to.

3.2

Further Reading

For further assistance you may nd the following webpages of some use to you. i) University of Durham Maths Projects This provides a template for an undergraduate project. It was used to create this document.
A ii) L TEX Equation Editor Absolutely essential if your TEX editor doesnt have macros to help you insert A mathematics into your L TEX document. A iii) L TEX Wikibook A A comprehensive guide to everything about L TEX. If you cant nd what youre looking for then look here.

iv) TEX StackExchange A great place to get answers to all your TEX related queries. v) TEXdoc Online Provided you know the name of the package you want, this search engine will nd the ocial documentation for it.
A vi) L TEX Short Course A A great page about L TEX with plenty of exercises to test your understanding. A vii) L TEX Templates A The website describes itself as the best source of quality L TEX templates. It may prove helpful if you need a template to start your document.

20

Darren Kam

Index
A4, 9 Abstract, 12 Amsmath, 10 Amssymb, 10 Article, 9 Author, 11 Backslash, 7 Book, 9 Bookmark, 10 Chapter, 12 Command, 8 Comment, 8 Dash, 13 Date, 11 Description, 15 Displaystyle, 14 Document Class, 9 Document Content, 12 Document Format, 9 Document Properties, 11 Dollar Sign, 14 Duplex, 9 Ellipsis, 13 Enter, 8 Enumerate, 15 Environment, 8, 15 Equation Number, 16 Fancyhdr, 10 Font Size, 9 Geometry, 10 Google, 19 Hspace, 17 Hyperref, 10 Indent, 12 Itemize, 15 21 LaTeX Equation Editor, 14 Linux, 4 Mac, 4 MacTeX, 3 Maketitle, 11 Maths Mode, 14 Microsoft Word, 8, 13 MiKTEX, 4 Newpage, 17 Noindent, 12 Package, 10, 19 Part, 12 Polynom, 19 Preamble, 10 Quotation Marks, 13 Referencing, 17 Report, 9 Section, 12 Showexpl, 19 Spacebar, 8 Special Characters, 7 Tabular, 15 TeX Live, 3 TeXnicCenter, 3 TeXworks, 6, 18 Tilde, 13 Title, 11 Verbatim, 16 Vspace, 17 Whitespace, 8, 17 WinEdt, 3 WYSIWYG, 8