$\LaTeX$ Tutorial

Sheng Long

Sep 2021

1. What
2. Why
3. How

What is $\LaTeX$?

It is a tool used to create professional looking documents
WYSIWYM
- What You See Is What You Mean
- Focus on content and let computer take care of the formatting

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Why should I learn $\LaTeX$?

Because this course ~~requires~~ suggests it
- The homework is written in $\LaTeX$
Because you can use it to create beautiful things
Because $\LaTeX$ separates content from style $\implies$ change styling at ease once you have the contents ready
Additional reading on why $\LaTeX$ for the curious

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

More motivation

https://villeklar.com/post/Scientifc_writing_with_Latex/learningcurve.png

How to write in $\LaTeX$?

Basic Syntax

Bold, Italic, Underline
Math
~~Tables and~~ Lists
~~Pictures~~

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Advanced Syntax

Commands
Environments
Packages

Basic syntax

Go to Overleaf.com, create an account
New Project $\to$ Blank Project $\to$ "My First Project"

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
First document. This is a simple example, with no extra parameters or packages included.
\end{document}

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepacakge[utf8]{inputenc}

\begin{document}
First document. This is a simple example, now with one package included. 
\end{document}

Adding title, author, date

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepacakge[utf8]{inputenc}

\title{My First \LaTeX{} Project}
\author{Sheng Long}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
First document. This is a simple example, now with one package included. 
\end{document}

Basic Font Formatting

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepacakge[utf8]{inputenc}

\title{My First \LaTeX Project}
\author{Sheng Long}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\textbf{bold}
\textit{italicised}
\underline{underlined}
\end{document}

Exercise (1)

Produce something that looks like the following:
- This is some important text.

This is some \textbf{\underline{important}} text.

Lists (ordered)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

... 

\begin{document}

An example of an ordered list: 
\begin{enumerate}
    \item Uno 
    \item Dos 
    \item Tres 
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

Lists (un-ordered)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

The above haiku was written by Matuso Basho.

...
\begin{document}

An example of an un-ordered list: 
\begin{itemize}
    \item The old pond 
    \item ... A frog leaps in 
    \item ... Sound of the water. 
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Exercise (2)

Produce a nested list, as shown in the following:

Shopping list:
1. Eggs
2. Milk
3. Apples

\begin{itemize}
	\item Shopping list: 
    \begin{enumerate}
    	\item Eggs 
        \item Milk 
        \item Apples 
    \end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}

Math

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Use $ ... $ (or $ ... $) for inline math
Use $\texttt{\$\$}$ ... $\texttt{\$\$}$ for displaying math
- To index equations, use the $\texttt{equation}$ environment
To write equations with multiple lines, use the $\texttt{align}$ environment (requires the $\tt amsmath$ package to work)

Exercise 3(a)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Produce the following inline equations:

$y = kx + b$
$\frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{2} = 1$
$a_1^2 + a_2^2 = a_3^2$
$\sqrt{9} \leq 3$

Hints:
2. use \$\texttt{frac}\{n\}\{d\}$ to express fractions
3. use $\texttt{\_}$ for subscripts and ^ for superscripts

$y= kx+b$ 

$\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{2} = 1$

$a_1^2 + a_2^2 = a_3^2$

$\sqrt{9} \leq 3$

Exercise 3(b)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Produce the following display-style equations:

Hints:
- ```
\begin{align*} ... \end{align*}
```
- superscripts use ^

(a+b)^2 = a(a+b) + b(a+b) \\ = a^2 + 2ab + b^2

Math (special characters)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Greek letters: \Pi $\to \Pi$; \pi $\to \pi$
- Requires the package $\texttt{amsmath}$ -- good to always include in the preamble
\$\texttt{mathbb}$: turns letters from $R$ to $\mathbb{R}$
- "bb" stands for "blackboard bold"
\$\texttt{mathcal}$: turns letter from $G$ to $\mathcal{G}$
Refer to Overleaf for more details
I also find cheat-sheets to be helpful

Advanced Syntax

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Environments

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Commands

Commands
Environments
Packages

Commands

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Commands

Usually start with a backslash \
- For example, $\texttt{\textbackslash textbf}$ and $\texttt{\textbackslash pi} $
May take in required parameters or optional parameters
For example,

$\texttt{\textbackslash documentclass [12pt] \{article\}}$

optional

required

Define new command

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Commands

Define new command with $\texttt{\textbackslash newcommand\{...\}\{...\} } $
For example,

$\implies$ this will allow you to type $\texttt{\textbackslash R}$ instead of the full $\texttt{\textbackslash mathbb\{R\}}$

See the Overleaf tutorial page for more detailed examples on what else you can do with commands
Also checkout the preamble in homework

\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}}

Environments

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Environments

https://ctan.math.illinois.edu/macros/latex/contrib/enumitem/enumitem.pdf

Environments format blocks of text
Environments are delimited by an open tag $\texttt{\textbackslash begin}$ and a close tag $\texttt{\textbackslash end}$
For example,

\begin{itemize}[nosep] 
  \item Apples 
  \item Bananas 
\end{itemize}

$\texttt{nosep}$ is an optional parameter that one can use when using the $\texttt{enumitem}$ package

Define new environment

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Environments

https://www.dickimaw-books.com/latex/novices/html/newenv.html

Environment $\approx$ command "sandwich"
- Define two new commands for a "new" environment
Can also use the \$\texttt{newenvironment}$ command

\newenvironment{exercise} 
{\textbf{Exercise}\begin{itshape}}
{\end{itshape}}

Theorems and Proofs

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Theorems_and_proofs

Use command \$\texttt{newtheorem}$ to define new environments for math theorems, lemmas, corollaries
For example,

Use the $\texttt{amsthm}$ package to use the $\texttt{proof}$ environment

\$\texttt{newtheorem}$$\texttt{\{thm\}}$$\texttt{\{Theorem\}}$

name of new environment

printed text

Packages

\$\texttt{documentclass}$ tells the compiler the basic formatting of the document
- Common document classes include $\texttt{article}$, $\texttt{beamer}$, and $\texttt{book}$
Example of $\texttt{beamer}$:

Useful Packages

$\texttt{amsmath}$ -- for math formatting
$\texttt{TikZ}$ -- for creating graphical elements
- $\texttt{pgfplots}$ -- for creating scientific plots
$\texttt{booktabs}$ -- creates beautiful tables
$\texttt{enumitem}$ -- allows advanced list formatting
Refer to the Comprehensive $\TeX$ Archive Network (CTAN) for more information on packages and classes

For the bold

So far, we've covered how to write in $\LaTeX$ online
But what if you don't have access to the internet?
- Tutorial on how to compile $\LaTeX$ offline (Mac)
- Tutorial on how to compiles $\LaTeX$ offline (Windows)
Tufte-latex
NotesTeX

sample_homework.tex

Last but not least

Adding images (in Overleaf)

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepacakge{graphicx}
\graphicspath{...}

\begin{document}
The following is a picture of my cat, Tora. 

\includegraphics{Tora.jpg}

\end{document}

Captions, labels, refs

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepacakge{graphicx}
\graphicspath{...}

\begin{document}
The following is a picture of my cat, Tora. 

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics{Tora}
\caption{Tora -- the sweetest cat in the world}
\label{fig:tora-1}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Math

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

For example, try

-- the double backslash means new line

-- $\&$ aligns the equations together

-- to avoid line indexing, use the $\texttt{align*}$ environment instead

\begin{align}
(a+b)^2 &= a(a+b)+ b(a+b) \\ 
&= a^2 + 2ab + b^2 
\end{align}

\usepackage{amsmath}

Math

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes

Fractions use \$\texttt{frac}$: $\frac{1}{2}$ is \$\texttt{frac\{1\}\{2\}}$
Superscripts use ^: $\texttt{a\^ 2} \implies a^2$
Subscripts use _: $\texttt{a\_1} \implies a_1$
Checkout the math section on Overleaf!

\(\LaTeX\) Tutorial

1. What
2. Why
3. How

What is \(\LaTeX\)?

Why should I learn \(\LaTeX\)?

More motivation

How to write in \(\LaTeX\)?

Basic Syntax

Advanced Syntax

Basic syntax

Adding title, author, date

Basic Font Formatting

Exercise (1)

Lists (ordered)

Lists (un-ordered)

Exercise (2)

Math

Exercise 3(a)

Exercise 3(b)

Math (special characters)

Advanced Syntax

Commands

Define new command

Environments

Define new environment

Theorems and Proofs

Packages

Useful Packages

For the bold

Last but not least

Adding images (in Overleaf)

Captions, labels, refs

Math

Math

\(\LaTeX\) Tutorial

1. What 2. Why 3. How

What is \(\LaTeX\)?

Why should I learn \(\LaTeX\)?

More motivation

How to write in \(\LaTeX\)?

Basic Syntax

Advanced Syntax

Basic syntax

Adding title, author, date

Basic Font Formatting

Exercise (1)

Lists (ordered)

Lists (un-ordered)

Exercise (2)

Math

Exercise 3(a)

Exercise 3(b)

Math (special characters)

Advanced Syntax

Commands

Define new command

Environments

Define new environment

Theorems and Proofs

Packages

Useful Packages

For the bold

Last but not least

Adding images (in Overleaf)

Captions, labels, refs

Math

Math

1. What
2. Why
3. How