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LaTeX Beginner's Guide

You're reading from   LaTeX Beginner's Guide When there’s a scientific or technical paper to write, the versatility of LaTeX is very attractive. But where can you learn about the software? The answer is this superb beginner’s guide, packed with examples and explanations.

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Product type Paperback
Published in Mar 2011
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781847199867
Length 336 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Tools
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Toc

Table of Contents (21) Chapters Close

LaTeX
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
1. Getting Started with LaTeX FREE CHAPTER 2. Formatting Words, Lines, and Paragraphs 3. Designing Pages 4. Creating Lists 5. Creating Tables and Inserting Pictures 6. Cross-Referencing 7. Listing Content and References 8. Typing Math Formulas 9. Using Fonts 10. Developing Large Documents 11. Enhancing Your Documents Further 12. Troubleshooting 13. Using Online Resources Pop Quiz Answers Index

Writing basic formulas


LaTeX knows three general modes:

  • The paragraph mode: The text is typeset as a sequence of words in lines, paragraphs, and pages. That's what we used until now.

  • The left-to-right mode: The text is also considered to be a sequence of words, but LaTeX typesets it from left to right without breaking the line. For instance, the argument of \mbox will be typeset in this mode; that's why \mbox prevents hyphenation.

  • The math mode: Letters are treated as math symbols. That's why they're typeset in italic shape, which is common for variables. A lot of symbols can be used, most of them exclusively in this mode. Such symbols are roots, sum signs, relation signs, math accents, arrows, and various delimiters like brackets and braces. Space characters between letters and symbols are ignored. Instead, the spacing depends on the type of symbols—distances to relation signs are different from distances to opening or closing delimiters. This mode is required for all math expressions...

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