learnxinyminutes-docs/latex.html.markdown

language	contributors	filename
latex	Chaitanya Krishna Ande http://icymist.github.io Colton Kohnke http://github.com/voltnor Sricharan Chiruvolu http://sricharan.xyz	learn-latex.tex

LaTeX is known to create aesthetically pleasing documents without you worrying about the formatting. It is also great if one wants to create documents containing a lot of mathematics. Getting a good document is very easy, but getting it to behave exactly the way you want can be a bit hairy.

% All comment lines start with %
% There are no multi-line comments

% LaTeX is NOT a ``What You See Is What You Get'' word processing software like
% MS Word, or OpenOffice Writer

% LaTeX documents start with a defining the type of document it's compiling
% Other document types include book, report, presentations, etc. 
\documentclass[12pt]{article}

% Next we define the packages the document uses.
% If you want to include graphics, colored text or
% source code from a file into your document, 
% you need to enhance the capabilities of LaTeX. This is done by adding packages. 
% I'm going to include the float and caption packages for figures.
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{float}

% We can define some other document properties too!
\author{Chaitanya Krishna Ande, Colton Kohnke \& Sricharan Chiruvolu}
\date{\today}
\title{Learn LaTeX in Y Minutes!}

% Now we're ready to begin the document
% Everything before this line is called "The Preamble"
\begin{document} 
% if we set the author, date, title fields, we can have LaTeX 
% create a title page fo us.
\maketitle

% Most research papers have abstract, you can use the predefined commands for this.
% This should appear in its logical order, therefore, after the top matter,
% but before the main sections of the body. 
% This command is available in document classes article and report.
\begin{abstract}
 LaTex documentation written as LaTex! How novel and totally not my idea!
\end{abstract}

% Section commands are intuitive. 
% All the titles of the sections are added automatically to the table of contents.
\section{Introduction}
Hello, my name is Colton and together we're going to explore LaTeX !

\section{Another section}
This is the text for another section. I think it needs a subsection.

\subsection{This is a subsection}
I think we need another one

\subsubsection{Pythagoras}
Much better now.
\label{subsec:pythagoras}

\section*{This is an unnumbered section}
However not all sections have to be numbered!

\section{Some Text notes}
LaTeX is generally pretty good about placing text where it should go. If 
a line \\ needs \\ to \\ break \\ you add \textbackslash\textbackslash to 
the text. In case you haven't noticed the \textbackslash is the character
the tells the LaTeX compiler it should pay attention to what's next.

\section{Math}

One of the primary uses for LaTeX is to produce academic article or 
technical papers. Usually in the realm of math and science. As such, 
we need to be able to add special symbols to our paper! \\

Math has many symbols, far beyond what you can find on a keyboard.
Set and relation symbols, arrows, operators, Greek letters to name a few. \\


Sets and relations play a vital role in many mathematical research papers.
Here's how you state all y that belong to X, $\forall$ x $\in$ X.
Notice how I needed to add \$ signs before and after the symbols. This is 
because when writing, we are in text-mode. However, the math symbols only exist
in math-mode. We can enter math-mode from text mode with the \$ signs. 
The opposite also holds true. Variable can also be rendered in math-mode. \\

My favorite Greek letter is $\xi$. I also like $\beta$, $\gamma$ and $\sigma$.

Operators are essential parts of a mathematical document: trigonometric functions 
(sin, cos, tan), logarithms and exponentials (log, exp), limits (lim) e.t.c. have
pre-defined LaTeX commands. Let's write an equation to see how it's done: \\

$\cos$ (2$\theta$) = $\cos$^2 $\theta$ - $\sin$^2 $\theta$

Fractions(Numerator-denominators) can be written in these forms:

% 10 / 7
^10/_7

% Relatively complex fractions can be written as
% \frac{numerator}{denominator}
$\frac{n!}{k!(n - k)!}$

% Display math with the equation 'environment'
\begin{equation} % enters math-mode
    c^2 = a^2 + b^2.
    % for cross-reference
    \label{eq:pythagoras}
\end{equation} % all \begin statments must have an end statement

Eqn.~\ref{eq:pythagoras} is also known as the Pythagoras Theorem which is also
the subject of Sec.~\ref{subsec:pythagoras}.

Summations and Integrals are written with sum and int commands:
\begin{equation} % enters math-mode
\sum_{i=0}^{5} f_i

\int_0^\infty \mathrm{e}^{-x}\,\mathrm{d}x
\end{equation} 

\section{Figures}

Let's insert a Figure. Figure placement can get a little tricky. 
I definitely have to lookup the placement options each time.

\begin{figure}[H]
    \centering
    %\includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{right-triangle.png}
    % Commented out for compilation purposes. Use your imagination.
    \caption{Right triangle with sides $a$, $b$, $c$}
    \label{fig:right-triangle}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Table}
Let's insert a Table.

\begin{table}[H]
  \caption{Caption for the Table.}
  \begin{tabular}{ccc}
    Number &  Last Name & First Name \\
    \hline
    1 & Biggus & Dickus \\
    2 & Monty & Python
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}

% \section{Hyperlinks}


\section{Compiling} 

By now you're probably wondering how to compile this fabulous document 
(yes, it actually compiles). \\
Getting to the final document using LaTeX consists of the following steps:
  \begin{enumerate} % we can also created numbered lists!
    \item Write the document in plain text
    \item Compile plain text document to produce a pdf. 
     The compilation step looks something like this: \\
     % Verbatim tells the compiler to not interpret.
     \begin{verbatim} 
        $pdflatex learn-latex.tex learn-latex.pdf 
     \end{verbatim}
  \end{enumerate}

A number of LaTeX editors combine both Step 1 and Step 2 in the same piece of
software. So, you get to see Step 1, but not Step 2 completely.
Step 2 is still happening behind the scenes.

You write all your formatting information in plain text in Step 1.
The compilation part in Step 2 takes care of producing the document in the
format you defined in Step 1.

\section{End}

That's all for now!

% end the document
\end{document}

More on LaTeX

• The amazing LaTeX wikibook: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX
• An actual tutorial: http://www.latex-tutorial.com/