Hi Ester,
Nope. I think you explained it really well. I'm not sure if you covered using
it for anything, but you definitely can. It's not just limited to mathematical
equations, however. I think that is important to note, though I'm sure Ester
did cover it. People have been seen using it to write essays and so-forth. I
personally hate sometimes having to hunt for something through menus to find it
and end up with a headache, so I do find it easier to just enter a few
arguments and I'm all set. I'm definitely still learning, and some of the
background Ester provided was a great explanation of what LaTEX is. LaTEX also
provides something referred to as "UsePackage", which are small packages
containing the signs you need. They work like an ad-on, to an extent, which
makes them extremely flexible. As long as you remember to write the code for
the package you want to use, the signs will be available to you. One thing to
keep in mind while using TEX, however, is that some people, incidentally, use
different ways to tell the interpreter signs or expression. Some will write
"*" as the times sign, whereas others will write cdot. Example follows below of
what TEX looks like. I know this probably isn't the place for this, but since
we're taking this further... For those who are curious. This is a really tiny
example, and I'm sure someone could make up something more complex but that
would defeat the purpose, so this is simple.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{t1enc}
\usepackage[danish]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{enumerate}
\begin{document}
$\frac{2}{3}\cdot\frac{5}{7}=\frac{10}{21}$.
$\frac{2}{5}+\frac{3}{4}=\frac{8}{20}+\frac{15}{20}=\frac{8+15}{20}=\frac{23}{20}$.
$\frac{4}{9}+\frac{2}{3}$
$x^{2}+2x-2=0$
\end{document}
LaTEX does not actually require any line breaks, either. Technically, you can
write it on one line and the interpreter, depending if there are two
backslashes or one, will determine the line breaks when it is properly
compiled. Of course, if you make a few mistakes, it will tell you on which line
and where. These are only simple fractions, and they make sense when you look
at them. Of course, you could probably grab an interpreter and put it in PDF
format to see what it actually means. One of The most important arguments to
note would be documentclass. This tells LaTex which class to use whether it's a
book, article, etc. And, of course, you have to begin and end the document or
formula when you're done, or the interpreter will either tell you that there is
an error in your document or it will simply go ahead and make it look like a
mess.
Well, I'm gonna play more with it. I think it's a lot of fun. :). Thanks for
the help with the explanation, Ester. That was great. I definitely got to learn
more about its background as well.
Regards,
Nic
Skype: Kvalme
MSN Messenger: nico...@home3.gvdnet.dk
AIM: cincinster
yahoo Messenger: cin368
Facebook Profile
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On Dec 4, 2009, at 7:33 PM, 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
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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