Difference between revisions of "LaTeX"

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'''L<sup>A</sup>T<sub><big>E</big></sub>X''', written as '''LaTeX''' in plain text, is a document preparation system for the [[TeX]] typesetting program.  
 
'''L<sup>A</sup>T<sub><big>E</big></sub>X''', written as '''LaTeX''' in plain text, is a document preparation system for the [[TeX]] typesetting program.  
  
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It offers programmable desktop publishing features and extensive facilities for automating most aspects of typesetting and desktop publishing, including numbering and cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout, bibliographies, and much more. LaTeX was originally written in 1984 by Leslie Lamport and has become the dominant method for using [[TeX]]&mdash;few people write in plain TeX anymore. The current version is LaTeX2&epsilon;.
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== Examples ==
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=== Basic document ===
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<pre>
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\documentclass[amsmath,amssymb]{revtex4}
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\usepackage{graphicx}% Include figure files
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\usepackage{dcolumn}% Align table columns on decimal point
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\usepackage{bm}% bold math
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\usepackage{epsfig}% include .eps files for figures
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\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}% SmallCaps font
  
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==The typesetting system==
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\begin{document}
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LaTeX is based on the idea that ''authors'' should be able to concentrate on ''writing'' within the logical structure of their document, rather than spending their time on the details of ''formatting''. It encourages the separation of formatting from content, whilst still allowing manual typesetting adjustments where needed. By keeping the formatting details in a separate file from the text, it is often regarded as superior to [[word processor]]s and most other desktop publishing systems, which allow trivially easy visual layout changes but tend to intertwine content and form so tightly that consistency and automation are often difficult. LaTeX also provides great flexibility in formatting while maintaining the identity of structure, which purely structural systems like [[SGML]] and [[XML]] do not directly address.  
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...
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\end{document}
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LaTeX can be arbitrarily extended by using the underlying [[macro language]] for developing custom formats. For example, there are numerous commercial implementations of the whole TeX system (which includes LaTeX), and vendors may offer extra features like phone support and additional [[typeface]]s. [[LyX]] is a [[Free software|free]] visual document processor that uses LaTeX for a back-end. [[TeXmacs]] is a [[Free software|free]], [[WYSIWYG]] editor with similar functionalities as LaTeX, but a different typesetting engine.
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</pre>
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=== Tables ===
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A number of popular commercial [[Desktop_publishing|DTP]] systems use modified versions of the original TeX typesetting engine.
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<pre>
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The recent rise in popularity of [[XML]] systems and the demand for large-scale [[batch production]] of publication-quality typesetting from such sources has seen a steady increase in the use of LaTeX.
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\begin{table}
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\caption{\label{tab:table1}Table Title}
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The example below shows an example of a LaTeX input (left) and output (right):
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\begin{ruledtabular}
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{|
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\begin{tabular}{rrrrrrrrrr}
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|+style="text-align: left" |
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\multicolumn{5}{c}{Heading 1}&\multicolumn{5}{c}{Heading 2}\\
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| style="margin:2em; padding: 1em; width:50%" |
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Seg & Res & Atom & $<B>$ & $<$A$>$ & RMSD & {$T^rB$} & eval & $<B>$ & $<$A$>$\\
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<code>
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\hline
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\documentclass[12pt]{article} <br>
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1-9 & 9 & 63 & 22.2 & 1.00 & 10.34 & 8.6 & 146.39 & 22.2 & 0.30\\
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\title{\LaTeX} <br>
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10-15 & 6 & 41 & 14.7 & 1.00 & 6.99 & 1.3 & 0.00 & 14.7 & 0.17\\
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\date{} <br>
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16-29 & 14 & 119 & 12.7 & 1.00 & 6.12 & 2.0 & 73.85 & 12.7 & 0.32\\
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\begin{document} <br>
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30-47 & 18 & 130 & 7.4 & 1.00 & 2.79 & 2.9 & 11.28 & 7.4 & 0.69\\
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\maketitle \LaTeX{} is a document preparation system for the \TeX{}  
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48-56 & 9 & 66 & 14.4 & 1.00 & 4.77 & -0.5 & 58.11 & 14.4 & 0.32\\
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typesetting program. It offers programmable desktop publishing
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\end{tabular}
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features and extensive facilities for automating most aspects of
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\end{ruledtabular}
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typesetting and desktop publishing, including numbering and
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\end{table}
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cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout, bibliographies,
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</pre>
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and much more. \LaTeX{} was originally written in 1984 by Leslie
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=== Figures ===
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Lamport and has become the dominant method for using \TeX; few
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Adding figures is easy in LaTeX:
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people write in plain \TeX{} anymore. The current version is
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ps2epsi input.ps output.eps
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\LaTeXe. <br>
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<pre>
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\newline <br>
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\usepackage{epsfig} % place at top of .tex file
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% This is a comment, it is not shown in the final output. <br>
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...
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% The following shows a little of the typesetting power of LaTeX <br>
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\begin{figure}[hbt]
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\begin{eqnarray} <br>
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\begin{center}
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E &=& mc^2                              \\ <br>
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\psfig{file=output.eps,width=3.25in}
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m &=& \frac{m_0}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}} <br>
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\end{center}
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\end{eqnarray} <br>
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\caption[short TOC caption]{\em Testing 1FIN.}
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\end{document} <br>
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\label{ReferenceLabelHere}
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</code>
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\end{figure}
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| [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/LaTeX_Output.png]
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</pre>
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|}
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=== tex2ps ===
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Convert your TeX file to a [[PostScript]] file ready for printing:
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[http://sciencesoft.at/index.jsp?link=latex&lang=en&wiki=1 Online LaTex], which uses this example.
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latex input.tex && dvips -f input.dvi > output.ps
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Or, as a shell script:
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==Community==
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latex $1.tex && dvips -f $1.dvi > $1.ps
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LaTeX was originally most commonly used by mathematicians and scientists, amongst whom it remains the favored tool for writing scientific paper, preprints, and books. Because of the underlying TeX system, originally developed for documents with mathematics, laying out [[mathematical expression]]s is considered to be easier, and the resulting typesetting of higher quality, than any competing document-processing systems. Many scientific journals and other publishers provide free LaTeX packages which implement their "in-house" typesetting styles.
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The popularity of LaTeX in the technical and academic communities is perhaps partly due to its early availability on [[Unix]] systems, and the comparative unavailability of competing word processors on those platforms until recently. But from an early stage LaTeX was available on a wider range of hardware and software than any other program, and versions are now available for almost any system from PDAs to desktop PCs to supercomputers.
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LaTeX is less popular than mainstream desktop publishing software outside the technical communities for several reasons. It is regarded as hard to learn for people with no previous experience of [[markup language]]s. Although it is very easy to customise the appearance of articles, books, and reports, using only a handful of instructions, it remains basically a typesetter for automating document production, not a manual page design program, so performing complex visual layouts incorporating multiple images is difficult. Another barrier to usage for many is the asynchronous interface used in most free versions, where editing is done in a different window from the typeset display. Inverse search can be used to bridge this problem partially. Several commercial implementations, however, use a synchronous typographic display like other desktop publishing (DTP) systems (as does the non-commercial and open source [[LyX]]). Alternatively, GNU [[TeXmacs]] is a free WYSIWYG editor which offers features similar to LaTeX, but is based on
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a different typesetting engine.
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==Licensing issues==
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LaTeX is [[free software]]. It has a peculiar license called [[LaTeX Project Public License|LPPL]], not compatible with the [[GNU General Public License]], that allows redistribution and modification, but requires that modified files carry a modified filename.
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This ensures that files that depend on other files will produce the expected behavior and avoids problems similar to [[DLL hell]]. A new version of the LPPL that will be compatible with the GPL is in the works.
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==Frontends==
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Because LaTeX markup code can be hard to remember and/or time consuming to learn, there are a few front ends to help:
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*[[Kile]]: IDE designed mainly for [[KDE]] ([http://kile.sourceforge.net/ homepage]).
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*[[LEd]]: A free environment for rapid TeX/LaTeX document development under MS Windows ([http://www.latexeditor.org homepage]).
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*[[LyX]]: [[WYSIWYM]] (What you see is what you mean) IDE ([http://www.lyx.org/ homepage]).
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*[[AUCTeX]]: an extensible package for writing and formatting TeX/LaTeX files in [[GNU Emacs]] and [[XEmacs]] ([http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/ homepage])
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*[[Scientific Letter]]: Commerce mail software with export to TeX/LaTeX ([http://www.sciletter.com/ homepage]).
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*[[Texmaker]]: Free cross-platform LaTeX editor. Runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Unix (GNU/Linux binary). Is released under the GPL license ([http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/index.html homepage]).
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*[[TeXnicCenter]]: IDE designed for MS Windows users under GPL ([http://www.toolscenter.org/ homepage]).
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*[[TeXShop]]: A free front end for [[Mac OS X]], with editor and output window ([http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/texshop.html homepage]).
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*[[WebTex]]: A free [[MiKTeX]]/[[Common Gateway Interface|CGI]] driven web front end ([http://dev.baywifi.com/latex/ homepage]).
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*[[WinEdt]]: Shareware IDE for Windows 9x/NT4.0/2000/XP ([http://www.winedt.com/ homepage]).
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*[[WinShell]]: Freeware IDE for Windows 9x/NT4.0/2000/XP ([http://www.winshell.de/ homepage]).
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==See also==
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* [[TeXmacs]] A GPL, WYSIWYG, structured editor with similar features as LaTeX, but a different typesetting engine (with TeX/LaTeX import/export).
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* [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Formula on MetaWiki] &mdash; Contains a long list of ''mathematics'' related LaTeX tags.
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==External links==
 
==External links==
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* [http://www.latex-project.org/ Official LaTeX project site] web site for open development of LaTeX (you can also obtain a CVS snapshot of LaTeX3, the next version of LaTeX which is not yet released)
 
* [http://www.latex-project.org/ Official LaTeX project site] web site for open development of LaTeX (you can also obtain a CVS snapshot of LaTeX3, the next version of LaTeX which is not yet released)
 
* [http://www.tug.org/ The TeX Users Group]
 
* [http://www.tug.org/ The TeX Users Group]
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* [news:comp.text.tex comp.text.tex]. A [[Usenet]] newsgroup for (La)TeX related questions, comp.text.tex is an invaluable resource for (La)TeX. Search the archives with [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex Google Groups] before posting.
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* [news:comp.text.tex comp.text.tex]. A Usenet newsgroup for (La)TeX related questions, comp.text.tex is an invaluable resource for (La)TeX. Search the archives with [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex Google Groups] before posting.
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* [irc://irc.freenode.net/#latex #latex] [[Internet relay chat|IRC]] chat room on [[Freenode]]
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* [irc://irc.freenode.net/#latex #latex] IRC chat room on Freenode
  
 
===Periodicals===
 
===Periodicals===
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===Tutorials/FAQs===
 
===Tutorials/FAQs===
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* [[wikipedia:LaTeX]]
 
* [http://www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/latexforbeginners.html LaTeX for Beginners]
 
* [http://www.lecb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/latexforbeginners.html LaTeX for Beginners]
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* [http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/lshort/lshort.pdf The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e], or LaTeX2e in 133 minutes (2.21 [[Mebibyte|MiB]] [[Portable_Document_Format|PDF]] file).
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* [[Image:icon_pdf.gif|PDF]][http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/lshort/lshort.pdf The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e], or LaTeX2e in 133 minutes (2.21 MiB).
 
* [http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?introduction=yes The UK TeX FAQ] List of questions and answers that are frequently posted at comp.text.tex.
 
* [http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?introduction=yes The UK TeX FAQ] List of questions and answers that are frequently posted at comp.text.tex.
 
* [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/ Formatting Information] Online book for beginners available in [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/html/index.html HTML] and [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/beginlatex-3.6.pdf PDF]
 
* [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/ Formatting Information] Online book for beginners available in [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/html/index.html HTML] and [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/beginlatex/beginlatex-3.6.pdf PDF]
 
* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/ LaTeX Primer] A basic guide to LaTeX.
 
* [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/ LaTeX Primer] A basic guide to LaTeX.
 
* [http://www.tug.org.in/tutorials.html Tutorials in LaTeX] Free manual distributed by the India TeX Users Group (TUG).
 
* [http://www.tug.org.in/tutorials.html Tutorials in LaTeX] Free manual distributed by the India TeX Users Group (TUG).
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* [ftp://ftp.ams.org/pub/tex/doc/amsmath/short-math-guide.pdf The AMS Short Math Guide for LaTeX] A concise summary of math formula typesetting features (PDF file).
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* [[Image:icon_pdf.gif|PDF]][ftp://ftp.ams.org/pub/tex/doc/amsmath/short-math-guide.pdf The AMS Short Math Guide for LaTeX] A concise summary of math formula typesetting features.
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* [http://www.rna.nl/tex.html TeX on Mac OS X] Guide to using TeX and LaTeX on a Mac.
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* [http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/ Text Processing using LaTeX]
 
* [http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/ Text Processing using LaTeX]
 
* [http://tex.loria.fr/index.html The (La)TeX encyclopaedia]
 
* [http://tex.loria.fr/index.html The (La)TeX encyclopaedia]
 
* [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/latex/ Hypertext Help with LaTeX]
 
* [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/latex/ Hypertext Help with LaTeX]
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* [http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/ltxprimer-1.0.pdf LaTeX Tutorials: a Primer] (PDF file)
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* [[Image:icon_pdf.gif|PDF]][http://www-h.eng.cam.ac.uk/help/tpl/textprocessing/ltxprimer-1.0.pdf LaTeX Tutorials: a Primer]
 
* [http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/index.html Getting to Grips with LaTeX] Latex tutorials taking you from the very basics towards more advanced topics.
 
* [http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/index.html Getting to Grips with LaTeX] Latex tutorials taking you from the very basics towards more advanced topics.
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* [http://www.math.auc.dk/~dethlef/Tips/preparation.html LaTeX, Emacs etc. for your PC] A useful and step-by-step guide to getting Miktex and Emacs working together on a Windows PC.
 
  
 
===Add-on Packages===
 
===Add-on Packages===
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* [http://www.tug.org/tds/ TeX Directory Structure], used by many (La)TeX distributions
 
* [http://www.tug.org/tds/ TeX Directory Structure], used by many (La)TeX distributions
 
* [http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen/naturalmath/ Natural Math] converts natural language math formulas to LaTeX representation
 
* [http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen/naturalmath/ Natural Math] converts natural language math formulas to LaTeX representation
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* [http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/l2tabu/english/l2tabuen.pdf Obsolete packages and commands]
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* [[Image:icon_pdf.gif|PDF]][http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/l2tabu/english/l2tabuen.pdf Obsolete packages and commands]
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* [http://www.miktex.org/ MiKTeX] A popular and up-to-date TeX (including LaTeX) implementation for Windows.
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*{{Book reference |Author=Mittelbach, Frank, and Goossens, Michel | Title=The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition | Publisher=Addison-Wesley | Year=2004 | ID=ISBN 0201362996| URL=http://www.latex-project.org/guides/books.html}}. The ''Companion'' is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced LaTeX users. For those already somewhat familiar with LaTeX, this is probably the single most useful available book on the subject. The book website has the complete Table of Contents and a sample chapter available for download.
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== Source ==
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* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX Wikipedia article on '''LaTeX''']
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[[Category:Technical and Specialized Skills]]
 
[[Category:Technical and Specialized Skills]]
 
[[Category:TeX]]
 
[[Category:TeX]]

Revision as of 23:06, 27 October 2006

LATEX, written as LaTeX in plain text, is a document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program.

Examples

Basic document

\documentclass[amsmath,amssymb]{revtex4}
\usepackage{graphicx}% Include figure files
\usepackage{dcolumn}% Align table columns on decimal point
\usepackage{bm}% bold math
\usepackage{epsfig}% include .eps files for figures
\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}% SmallCaps font

\begin{document}
...
\end{document}

Tables

\begin{table}
\caption{\label{tab:table1}Table Title}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\begin{tabular}{rrrrrrrrrr}
\multicolumn{5}{c}{Heading 1}&\multicolumn{5}{c}{Heading 2}\\
Seg & Res & Atom & $<B>$ & $<$A$>$ & RMSD & {$T^rB$} & eval & $<B>$ & $<$A$>$\\
\hline
1-9 & 9 & 63 & 22.2 & 1.00 & 10.34 & 8.6 & 146.39 & 22.2 & 0.30\\
10-15 & 6 & 41 & 14.7 & 1.00 & 6.99 & 1.3 & 0.00 & 14.7 & 0.17\\
16-29 & 14 & 119 & 12.7 & 1.00 & 6.12 & 2.0 & 73.85 & 12.7 & 0.32\\
30-47 & 18 & 130 & 7.4 & 1.00 & 2.79 & 2.9 & 11.28 & 7.4 & 0.69\\
48-56 & 9 & 66 & 14.4 & 1.00 & 4.77 & -0.5 & 58.11 & 14.4 & 0.32\\
\end{tabular}
\end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}

Figures

Adding figures is easy in LaTeX: 

ps2epsi input.ps output.eps

\usepackage{epsfig} % place at top of .tex file
...
\begin{figure}[hbt]
\begin{center}
\psfig{file=output.eps,width=3.25in}
\end{center}
\caption[short TOC caption]{\em Testing 1FIN.}
\label{ReferenceLabelHere}
\end{figure}

tex2ps

Convert your TeX file to a PostScript file ready for printing: 

latex input.tex && dvips -f input.dvi > output.ps

Or, as a shell script: 

latex $1.tex && dvips -f $1.dvi > $1.ps

External links

Community

  • Official LaTeX project site web site for open development of LaTeX (you can also obtain a CVS snapshot of LaTeX3, the next version of LaTeX which is not yet released)
  • The TeX Users Group
  • comp.text.tex. A Usenet newsgroup for (La)TeX related questions, comp.text.tex is an invaluable resource for (La)TeX. Search the archives with Google Groups before posting.
  • #latex IRC chat room on Freenode

Periodicals

Tutorials/FAQs

Add-on Packages

Reference

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