The LaTeX Essentials

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Morgan Turner
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1 The LaTeX Essentials Every LaTeX document must have the following in it at minimum: \documentclass{article} \begin{document} Text goes here... \end{document} The document class that we will use is called article. It will have some special characteristics compared to other document classes such as report, book, etc... These classes define a certain way that commands are interpreted by the LaTeX compiler. This is one of the things that makes LaTeX such a powerful editing tool. For example, a science journal could have a particular class and associated class files that you would download so that when you compile your LaTeX file it is formatted in a particular way. We will now highlight some of the most common features that you will use when writing in LaTeX... {\bf Text here...} Bold {\em Text here...} Emphasis {\tiny Text here...} Typing Text tiny {\scriptsize Text here...} scriptsize {\footnotesize Text here...} footnotesize {\small Text here...} small {\normalsize Text here...} normalsize 1

2 {\large Text here...} large {\Large Text here...} Large {\LARGE Text here...} LARGE {\huge Text here...} huge {\Huge Text here...} Huge For quotation marks one has to use for the left quotes, and " for the right quotes. Sections To make section titles in LaTeX we use the following commands... \section{text...\label{sectionname}} \subsection{text...\label{subsectionname}} \subsubsection{text...\label{subsubsectionname}} 1 This is a section This is the section text. 1.1 This is a subsection This is the subsection text. 2

3 1.1.1 This is a subsubsection This is the subsubsection text. We can refer to a section using the section labels that we defined above. For example Section 1 comes from the command... Section \ref{sectionname} So, labeling in LaTeX keeps track of which sections or equations you are referring to, and renumbers them if there are any changes when you compile your LaTeX file. Math Environments There are several ways to enter the math environment. Typing things like \alpha or \beta do nothing if you are not in some type of math environment. One way to enter the equation environment is to type \begin{equation} Equation stuff here \end{equation} This will produce an equation on its own line with a number = 4 (1) Another way to enter the equation environment within the text is to type $ equation stuff here $. That will produce something like α + β = γ within the typed text. If you want to make an array of equations then you can use the equation array environment, which looks like \begin{eqnarray} equation #1 \\ equation #2 \\ etc... \end{eqnarray} This produces something like this = 5 (2) 4 2 = 2 (3) 4 2 = 8 (4) 3

4 Tables Alphabet Character Vowel Number A Yes 1 B No 2 C No 3 Is produced by \begin{tabular}{lll} Alphabet Character & Vowel & Number \\ A & Yes & 1 \\ B & No & 2 \\ C & No & 3 \\ \end{tabular} n n! is produced by \begin{tabular}{ r r } $n$&$n!$\\ 1&1\\ 2&2\\ 3&6\\ 4&24\\ 5&120\\ 6&720\\ 7&5040\\ 8&40320\\ 9&362880\\ 10& \\ \end{tabular} 4

5 So, produces a horizontal line for example. We start the table environment using \begin{tabular}{stuff} The stuff outlines the format of the table, so {lll} means three columns with text left aligned, while { r r } means a horizontal line, then right aligned text, then horizontal line, then right aligned text, then horizontal line for example. The & denotes the point at which you move to the next column in a row and \\ moves to the next row. Including a Figure If we want to include a graphic, the most straightforward way to include a simple postscript graphic is \begin{figure}[h!] \includegraphics{p1.eps} \caption{this is my figure} \label{myfigure} \end{figure} where p1.eps is the filename of the figure, and h! means that the figure should go HERE, there is also t! and b! which mean TOP and BOTTOM of the respective page. Usually, to place figures in LaTeX, it takes a lot of ingenuity and patience if you care about exactly where they go on the page, otherwise, you can always use h! for here, or just put figures at the end of the file. The \caption{text here...} command adds a figure caption, and \label{figurename} again allows us to label the figure and refer to it, for example, the figure above is Figure 1. 5

6 Figure 1: This is my figure 6

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