What is LaTeX?
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LaTeX is a document preparation and typesetting system
It uses markup language
Separates style from contents
(Usually) Does a good job of typesetting
Outputs to a PDF or Postscript file
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Running LaTeX
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LaTeX is compiled by running the pdflatex command
There are lots of editors which include a button to run pdflatex
Some editors like Overleaf include a preview of your document
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LaTeX Commands
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LaTeX uses a series of commands all beginning with a \ character
Some commands take additional arguments between a { and } character
Some commands, known as environments lots of additional content between begin and end commands
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Structuring LaTeX Documents
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LaTeX lets us split up documents into sections, subsections, subsubsections etc.
Some document classes allow extra commands like chapters, tables of contents etc.
We can label parts of the document with the label command and reference them with the \ref{} command
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Styling Documents and Lists
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We can style text with bold, underline, italic, superscript etc
Some characters such as accented characters, £ signs, percent signs need special LaTeX commands to appear.
Extra spaces don’t get shown by LaTeX, use the space command if you want extra spaces or newline to get a newline
Some extra characters can be added by using some extra packages. The Siunitx is one such package, it provides SI units.
We can make numbered lists with the enumerate environment.
We can make un-numbered lists with the itemize environment.
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Figues and Tables
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Images are inserted with the figure environment.
Tables are created with the tablular environment.
Locations can be specified with the [h] option meaning here, of [ht] meaning here, top.
Tables and images can have labels to make their referencing easier.
Tables and images can have captions.
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Mathematical Equations and Computer Code
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Equations can be entered inline by starting and ending with a $
Equations can be placed on their own with the \begin{equation} command
There are lots of specialist symbols like greek letters available as their own commands
Computer code can be included with the verbatim or listings environments
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Bibliographies
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LaTeX needs bibliography information to be stored in a separate BibTeX database.
Each bibtex entry needs a unique key
We cite bibtex entries with the \cite{} command
We make LaTeX display the bibliography with the \bibliography{} command, this also specifies the name of the bibtex database
We can choose the style of the bibliography with the \bibliographystyle{} command. Common ones are unsrt, plain or named
Many journals will offer you the option to download the BibTeX for a paper
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Common Problems and useful tips
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Use the hyperref package and url command to handle URLs. Some characters might need escaping.
LaTeX has lots of commands for common special characters you might type in on the keyboard.
Images often appear in the wrong place, use [ht!], resize the image or move the reference to the image to a different place in the LaTeX code.
LaTeX can be hassle especially on smaller documents but really comes into its own on big documents.
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