Latex in three steps

From NA-Wiki

This is short introduction to writing reports using LaTeX, a typesetting system.

First things first

On the Solaris machines, add the tex module

> module add tex

We mainly give examples, and not much explanation. <bf>It is highly recommended </bf> (almost compulsory) to use this guide to make sense of what is going on, and to see more examples. It also contains a comprehensive list of mathematical symbols.

How to build the examples

• Download the tex file into a suitable folder.
• "Compile" it using the latex command

> latex <filename>.tex

• If there were no errors in the file, the results are genereated in a dvi-file. Open it with xdvi

> xdvi <filename>.dvi

• To make a PS file use the dvips command:

> dvips <filename>.dvi -o <filename>.ps

• To print the PS use lpr directly. E.g. to print to the printer in RED, do

> lpr -Pred <filename>.ps

Three steps

This introduction is structured into three steps:

• Creating a basic document with only text: just_text.tex
• Adding math: math.tex
• Adding figures and tables: figures_and_tables.tex, sinus.eps

For each of these, download the file(s), compile it, and then inspect the source code until you understand it. Then play around with it for a bit until you feel comfortable.