Introduction to

LaTeX
Evangeline Lawrence
23PHD 0087
 LaTeX

• Pronounced as Lay-tech.
• Typesetting software - the process of arranging text and symbols for
printing or digital display
• Prepare Technical and Scientific documents
• Publication quality documents
• Supported on Windows, Macs, Linux and Online services
• Free software
 INTRODUCTION

• Written by Donald Knuth in 1970’s as TeX.

• LaTeX is an extension of TeX
-Macro packages to make TeX easy to use.
• Markup language (like HTML, XML, etc): Document is compiled from a
code.
• Case sensitive.
• Output is a PDF (Portable Document Format).
 ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Professional layouts. • Steep Learning curve.
• Consistent formatting for • Maths is slow and difficult.
complex documents that include
equation editing, tables, figures,
and referencing.
• Portable across platforms and
systems.
• Free and open-source software.
 LaTeX

Code Editor: Compiler

Tex studio, Tex .tex file → PDF file
maker, Kile, Winedit
 CONTENTS

• Margins alignment
• Alignment of Text
• Inserting Tables
• Inserting Figures
• Cross References
• Bibiliography
 LATEX STRUCTURES

• COMMANDS
• Basic unit of creating any document in LaTeX.
• Determine LaTeX behaviour.
• Made up of arguments: function to be performed.
• Format: Always starts with a \ - backslash.
- Starts with the \document - Environment
class command. /begin{document}
- Packages and tile goes in /end{document}
here - Main Text is entered
 SYNTAX

COMMANDS ENVIRONMENTS
• Made up of arguments. • Applies specific effects to a
• Arguments are written: section of the document.
• After \ • Made up of a pair of arguments.
• Within { } – Mandatory • Has a \begin { }
arguments \end { }
• Within [ ] – Optional
arguments
• \command [ ] { }
 PACKAGES

• Collection of Additional commands.

• Imported into the LaTeX document.
• Supports pictures, links and bibliography.
• Included in the preamble only.
• Non-inclusion throws an error.
• Any no. of packages can be used.
 COMMON PACKAGES

• \usepackage{geometry} – configures paper size, margins, footnote, header,

orientation, etc.
• \usepackage{amsmath} Incorporates mathematical fonts and
• \usepackage{amssymb} symbols
• \usepackage{amsfont}
• \usepackage{graphicx} – integrates pictures and images
• \usepackage{multicol,multirow} – enables merging table rows and columns
• \usepackage{hyperref} – allows hyperlinks in the document
• \usepackage{biblatex} – alters bibliography style
 TEXT
• Included inside the Body of the text.
• Bold \textbf { }
• Italics \textit { }
• Spaces: n number of spaces are treated as a single space only.
• Line breaks: n number of line breaks are treated as one line break only.
• \\ or \newline - start in a new line
• \quad – introduces indent of line.
• \noindent – removes indent of line.
• \par or a line break– starts new paragraph.
• \hspace – horizontal space between words.
• \vspace – vertical space between lines.
 ALIGNMENT OF TEXT
• \begin{flushleft}
\end{flushleft} – left-aligned text
• \begin{flushright}
\end{flushright} – right-aligned text
• \begin{centre}
\end{centre} – centre-aligned text
• Text is justified by default
 COMMENT

• % - codes for commenting a command.

• Precedes a command.
• LaTeX ignores the whole line following the % symbol.
• Used to write inputs that need not be printed in the output.
• %\maketitle – ignores the command
• \maketitle % uses the title, author, date mentioned in the preamble
to generate the title of the document.
 PREAMBLE COMMANDS
1. \documentclass{class}
• First command.
• Specifies the type of the document.
2. \usepackages{ }
3. \title{ }
- Intended title of the document.

4. \author{ }
- Author of the document

5. \date{ }
- \today – mentions that day’s date
- Leaving the brackets empty will produce no date.
- Not mentioning the date command will mention the date the
document was prepared.
 BODY COMMANDS

1. \maketitle
2. \begin{document}
\end{document}
- main environment that hold the entire text of the document.
1. \section, \tableofcontents, etc.
2. All Environments.
 RESERVED CHARACTERS
• Have a specific function in LaTex.
• Entering them directly will not get printed in the output.
• The word ‘Latex’
• Symbols like : %, ^, _, &, { }, [ ], $ Preceded by a backslash
• Greek characters
• \backslash
• Symbols are considered to be Mathematical hence Use of Math Mode
is also needed : $ \% $
 THROW AN ERROR
• Error Messages: Description of the error along with line number.
• Too many }’s, spaces, line breaks, unnecessary codes.
• Undefined control sequence: Mistyping spellings.
• Not in Math mode
• Runaway argument: Missing closing brackets.
• Missing packages.
CODE CHECKERS
• nag (www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/nag): obsolete
commands.
• lacheck (www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/lacheck): to spot mistakes
in code. It is compiled for Windows and OS/2
 FLOAT
• Content of a document that cannot be broken over a page.
• ‘Tables’ and ‘Figures’ are recognized as floats.
• Given captions (\caption), labels (\labels) and \ref for cross
referencing.
• Packages used: graphicx, float, multicol,multirow, subfigure,
subcaption, hyperref
 SPECIFICATIONS FOR POSITIONING
Specifier Permission
Place the float here, i.e., approximately at the same point it occurs in the source text
h
(however, not exactly at the spot)
t Position at the top of the page.
b Position at the bottom of the page.
p Put on a special page for floats only.
! Override internal parameters LaTeX uses for determining "good" float positions.
Places the float at precisely the location in the LaTeX code. Requires
H
the float package,[1] i.e., \usepackage{float}.
 INSERTING TABLES
• Tabular Environment
\begin{table}[h]
\centering Output
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|} st column nd
\hline 1 2 column
1st column & 2nd column \\ a b
\hline
a & b \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Example} Package : \usepackage{subcaption}
\label{T1}
\end{table}
 Breakdown of the code
• {|c|} : denotes alignment of entries
- right (r), center (c), and left (l).
• More columns: Type more alignment commands {|c|c|c|c|}
• Vertical bar |: indicates that a vertical line should be drawn
between those columns.
• Amberstand &: separates the column entries
• \\ double backslash: signifies the end of each line of the
table.
• \hline: indicates a horizontal line should be inserted.
 COMPLEX TABLES

• Generate online Latex Codes for tables:

https://www.tablesgenerator.com/
 UPLOAD FIGURES
• Upload the desired pictures into Overleaf before insertion.
• Upload option: Top left corner.
 INSERT FIGURES
• ENVIRONMENT: \begin{figure}[H]
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{Image name.extension}
\caption{ABC} \label{F1}
\end{figure}
• More figures: \usepackage{subfigure}
\begin{figure}[H]
\subfigure[caption]{
\includegraphics [width=\linewidth]{Image name.extension}
}
\caption{ABC} \label{F2}
\end{figure}
 NOTE FOR INSERTING FIGURES
• Package: \usepackage{graphicx} for figures
\usepackage{subfigures} for sub figures.
• Extensions supported are :
JPEG, JPG, PNP, PNG, EPS.
• Alignments can be altered: \flushleft
\centering
\flushright
 CROSS REFERENCES
• \usepackage {hyperref}
• Include [hidelinks] in the document class command to remove
coloured boxes.
• \label {X1}
• \ref {X1}
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Create a new file with .bib extension.
• Copy the bibTeX reference for articles from Google Scholar.
• Commands: \cite is used where a reference needs to be inserted in the line.
- Choose the {unique code of the paper}from the dropdown box.
\citep{ } - paranthesis
\bibliographystyle{plain} – numbered references.
{plainnat} – Author Year style.
\bibliography{name of the reference file}
 REFERENCES
• https://guides.nyu.edu/LaTeX/home
• Beginners Guide to LaTeX:
https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr10/cos433/Latex/latex-
guide.pdf
• The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX:https://tobi.oetiker.ch/lshort/lshort.pdf
• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX
• https://www.tablesgenerator.com/
THANK YOU