Hi Esther and Ryan, I just wanted to chime in here with some of my own experiences regarding LaTeX - hope that's okay. When I first began using Mac OS X, there was no accessible way for me to insert footnotes and other information into my assignments. After doing some research on the net I discovered LaTeX. Not only was this fantastic typesetting system cross-platform, but it offered exactly what I needed - with the added bonus that despite being totally blind, I could be confident that my assignments would be exactly what I instructed LaTeX they should be. This didn't mean that I didn't get a trusted friend to take a look and tell me if things were wonky, but 99 per cent of the time this was not necessary. After having used LaTeX for over two years (and I am still learning), I always use LaTeX for long documents and official printed material such as my Resumé and letters.
As Esther has pointed out, the initial learning curve is a steep one and for most people is overkill, but the other advantage of LaTeX (and there are others) for me is that because LaTeX handles the formatting of the document - and by the document, I mean you can pretty much customize it any which way you want to. This allows me to concentrate on the content of my documents, especially at University. Before I found out about LaTeX, I was spending so much time ensuring that the documents looked exactly as my Professors wanted them to that the content quality was suffering. Finally, once I got a handle on LaTeX, I was able to create my own LaTeX commands which greatly increased my productivity. In fact, as I am typing this reply, I have just thought of some footnote commands I should have created, which would have saved me hours of re-checking and ensuring that books and journal articles were identified correctly, as each was cited in a different way. Anyway... that's enough of my experiences. HTH TC James On 4 Dec 2009, at 18:33, Esther wrote: > Hi Ryan, > > Ryan Mann wrote: > >> I don't understand. Why can't you just type something like 4x=20 >> into a word document? That is, unless this isn't what you mean by >> an equation. >> > > The answer is that most professional mathematicians, physicists, or > (in some disciplines) engineers have to use equations that have > special symbols for integral signs, limits, series expansions, Greek > letters, etc. and that these can be embedded several levels deep in > both numerator and denominator. These expressions are a nightmare to > enter properly into a word document with correct placement. > > The original TeX programming language was developed by the computer > scientist, Donald Knuth, as a way of getting around the extremely high > price of publishing mathematical textbooks due to its special type- > setting needs and also to get around the often poor final production > results. In developing TeX Knuth studied typeface design and devised > algorithms for optimal placement, spacing, and justification of text > for any given font type. > > In most word-processing packages (including Word documents), not only > is it nearly impossible to correctly generate some complex equations, > but once you have managed to do so the results are even harder to > correctly insert within the document. Usually, sighted users have to > try, look at the incorrect results, and then figure out some way to > fudge up the correct placement and spacing. TeX will correctly > compute, place, and even break up multi-line equations automatically. > It will also, incidentally, handle optimal spacing, alignment, etc. > for all regular (i.e., not technical) documents, so you can publish > entire books originally produced in TeX. In the physical sciences, > many professional journals use TeX as the default submission format, > since it is freely available and works cross-platform. > > At what was originally the Los Alamos preprint site (and what has now > become ArXiv, with several sites across the world) for the electronic > distribution of scientific work by physicists, mathematicians, > computer scientists, and others, well over 99 per cent of the > submissions are in TeX format -- even for papers without equations. > The fact that TeX does an excellent job in outputting all > international languages including those that do not use alphabetic > characters also adds to its popularity. > > The main drawback is that it has a steep initial learning curve, and > is probably overkill for what most people need to do in word > processing. However, it is extremely convenient to be able to change > the entire layout of your paper simply by changing a one-word argument > for the style file you are using. (And by change, I mean formatting > far beyond what Word supports --- not just line spacing and fonts, but > how sections and sub-sections are numbered and formatted, their > indentations conventions, etc. Or in bibliography mode, whether the > entries are listed in the order they are cited or alphabetically, and > with which citation style.) > > HTH. Dónal or Nicolai might want to add comments. > > Cheers, > > Esther > > > >> On Dec 4, 2009, at 7:31 AM, Donal Fitzpatrick wrote: >> >>> No bother Nick. Have to say that I wholeheartedly approve of that >>> requirement... If you've never tried to insert equations into a >>> word doc, be very grateful. That kind of experience should be >>> reserved for the truly masochistic. *smile* >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> Donal >>> On 4 Dec 2009, at 12:11, Nicolai Svendsen wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Donal, >>>> >>>> I definitely will. Thanks a lot for the tips, and great someone >>>> knows about this. It's a requirement in my country for >>>> mathematical studies. I'll definitely throw some questions your way. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Nic >>>> Skype: Kvalme >>>> MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk >>>> AIM: cincinster >>>> yahoo Messenger: cin368 >>>> Facebook Profile >>>> My Twitter >>>> >>>> On Dec 4, 2009, at 1:09 PM, Nicolai Svendsen wrote: >>>> >>>>> Yep I find TeXshop fine. I use it to prepare academic papers >>>>> and lectures. Another useful utility by the way is the BibDesc >>>>> one. It's a very very useful tool for organising bibliographies. >>>>> >>>>> As you're learning LaTeX, feel free to contact me off list if any >>>>> questions arise. >>>>> >>>>> Cheers >>>>> >>>>> Donal >>>>> On 4 Dec 2009, at 12:02, Nicolai Svendsen wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>> >>>>>> Hmm. Yeah, I heard of TeXShop. I've always spelt it LaTEX, with >>>>>> L capitalized, including TEX but not the a. It didn't seem to >>>>>> matter much how I w typed it, though. But thanks for the >>>>>> recommendation. I assume TeXShop is accessible, then. >>>>>> >>>>>> Regards, >>>>>> Nic >>>>>> Skype: Kvalme >>>>>> MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk >>>>>> AIM: cincinster >>>>>> yahoo Messenger: cin368 >>>>>> Facebook Profile >>>>>> My Twitter >>>>>> >>>>>> On Dec 4, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Donal Fitzpatrick wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Hi Nick, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I use TeXShop. By the way, know what you mean about the >>>>>>> dangers of googling this... To improve your hits, spell it "L >>>>>>> Aa T e X" (that is, the L, T and X capitalised). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Cheers, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Donal >>>>>>> On 4 Dec 2009, at 11:54, Nicolai Svendsen wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi guys, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I'm currently learning LaTEX, and I've been looking for a >>>>>>>> Macintosh interpreter. Can anyone help with this? Google >>>>>>>> interestingly leads me to Latex rubber and fetish sites. It's >>>>>>>> kind of creepy. I figured I'd just stop Googling. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Regards, >>>>>>>> Nic >>>>>>>> Skype: Kvalme >>>>>>>> MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk >>>>>>>> AIM: cincinster >>>>>>>> yahoo Messenger: cin368 >>>>>>>> Facebook Profile >>>>>>>> My Twitter >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the >>>>>>>> Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>>>>> . >>>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>>>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>>>>> . >>>>>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>>>>>>> . >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> >>>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the >>>>>>> Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>>>> . >>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>>>> . >>>>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>>>>>> . >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the >>>>>> Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>>> . >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>>> . >>>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>>>>> . >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the >>>>> Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>> . >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>> . >>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>>>> . >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To post to this group, send email to >>>> macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>> . >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>>> . >>> >>> -- >>> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>> . >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >>> . >>> >>> >> >> -- >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >> . >> >> > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
