Engineering Librarian LaTeX for Beginners Sarah Over, PhD Engineering Librarian November 7 2018 Intro me + bkgd w/EN
LaTeX Workshop: Introduction to LaTeX Article Class Q&A + Practice Today I’ll be giving you the basics to get started using this open source software, discuss where to get packages and tips online, go over the most common class – articles, and then we’ll have time for you to try using it yourself and I’ll be available to answer questions/troubleshoot
LaTeX Basics Document preparation system Different classes: Coding + word processing Different classes: Article Report Book Presentation (could have used LaTeX) Input: text files Output: PDF documents Open source, different software/web options
Why use LaTeX? More control over: Sections Cross-references Tables, figures, & equations Advanced typesetting of complex formulas Auto generation of bibliographies, indexes, and more Transport equation in nonmultiplying medium
Disadvantages to LaTeX Learning takes time Can be more work than MS Word Tracking changes/sharing issues User errors…
LaTeX Concepts: Document Layout Preamble: Document class, packages, commands, bibliography style (begin document) Front matter: title, author, abstract, … Sections, subsections, subsubsections Figures, equations, tables, references, … Bibliography (end document)
LaTeX Concepts: Environments Tell LaTeX to start math, figure, and more – called environments Example - Figure: \begin{figure} \includegraphics{folder/figurename.ext} \caption{text for figure…} \label{reffortext} \end{figure}
LaTeX Concepts: Math Environment In line math: The $\sqrt{4}$ is two. Displayed formulas: \begin{equation} \int_{0}^{\pi} \sin x \, dx = 2 \end{equation} Matrix: \begin{matrix} a & b\\ c & d \end{matrix}
Common LaTeX Errors Not ending an environment for a figure, equation, matrix, etc. “Overfull \hbox (xx.xxxxpt too wide) in paragraph… Forgetting to load a package And don’t forget to comment with the % symbol!
Where to find more information? www.latex-project.org ctan.org/pkg tex.stackexchange.com Plus lots of books! Ctan is a collection of TeX packages Stackexchage is especially good for troubleshooting and finding what others have done
Additional LaTeX Help Contact: Sarah Over, PhD STEM Library 2403N www.lib.umd.edu/directory/staff/sover Go to my staff page and make an appointment
Now to the article class – a couple of examples of what to expect if you go directly to a journal. Then onto example article – equation & reference example.