LaTeX

LaTeX

LaTeX is a typesetting system used for creating documents. It is widely used for scientific and technical documents. LaTeX is based on the TeX typesetting system developed by Donald Knuth.

1. Document Structure

\documentclass{article}  % Defines the document class
\usepackage{package}     % Loads packages
\title{Title}            % Document title
\author{Author}          % Document author
\date{\today}            % Date (use \today for current date)
\begin{document}
\maketitle              % Creates the title
\tableofcontents        % Generates table of contents
\section{Section Title} % Section heading
\subsection{Subsection Title} % Subsection heading
\subsubsection{Subsubsection Title} % Subsubsection heading
\end{document}

2. Text Formatting

\textbf{Bold text}        % Bold text
\textit{Italic text}      % Italic text
\underline{Underlined text} % Underlined text
\texttt{Typewriter text}  % Typewriter font
\emph{Emphasized text}    % Emphasized text (usually italic)

3. Font Sizes

\tiny{Tiny text}          % Tiny text
\scriptsize{Script size text} % Script size text
\footnotesize{Footnote size text} % Footnote size text
\small{Small text}        % Small text
\normalsize{Normal size text} % Normal size text (default)
\large{Large text}        % Large text
\Large{Larger text}       % Larger text
\LARGE{Even larger text}  % Even larger text
\huge{Huge text}          % Huge text
\Huge{Huger text}         % Huger text

4. Lists

  • Unordered List 
    \begin{itemize}
\item First item
\item Second item
\end{itemize}
  • Ordered List 
    \begin{enumerate}
\item First item
\item Second item
\end{enumerate}
  • Description List 
    \begin{description}
\item[Term] Description
\end{description}

5. Mathematical Typesetting

  • Inline Math 
    This is inline math: \( a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \).
  • Display Math 
    \[ a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \]
  • Equations 
    \begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
  • Fractions, Exponents, and Indices 
    \frac{a}{b}        % Fraction a/b
a^2                % a squared
a_i                % a subscript i

6. Including Graphics

\usepackage{graphicx}       % Include this in the preamble
\begin{figure}[h]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{filename}
  \caption{Caption text}
  \label{fig:label}
\end{figure}

7. Tables

\begin{table}[h]
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
    \hline
    Header1 & Header2 \\
    \hline
    Row1Col1 & Row1Col2 \\
    Row2Col1 & Row2Col2 \\
    \hline
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{Table caption}
  \label{tab:label}
\end{table}

8. Cross-Referencing

\label{sec:label}      % Set a label for a section, figure, table, etc.
\ref{sec:label}        % Reference a label
\pageref{sec:label}    % Reference a page number of a label

9. Citations and Bibliographies

  • Using BibTeX 
    \bibliographystyle{plain}   % Bibliography style
\bibliography{bibliography} % Bibliography file
  • Inline Citation 
    \cite{citationkey}          % Cite a reference

10. Customizing Page Layout

  • Margins 
    \usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}  % Set margins
  • Headers and Footers 
    \usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[L]{Left Header}    % Left header
\fancyhead[C]{Center Header}  % Center header
\fancyhead[R]{Right Header}   % Right header
\fancyfoot[L]{Left Footer}    % Left footer
\fancyfoot[C]{Center Footer}  % Center footer
\fancyfoot[R]{Right Footer}   % Right footer

11. Including Code

\usepackage{listings}       % Include this in the preamble
\begin{lstlisting}
  % Your code here
\end{lstlisting}

12. Creating Presentations (Beamer)

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Frame Title}
  Content goes here.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

13. Common Commands and Environments

  • Comments 
    % This is a comment
  • Newline and Paragraph 
    \\ % Newline
\newline % Newline
\par % Start a new paragraph
  • Horizontal Line 
    \hrulefill

Example Document

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\geometry{margin=1in}
\title{Sample Document}
\author{Author Name}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents
\newpage

\section{Introduction}
This is an introduction.

\section{Math Example}
Here is an inline math example: \( a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \). And a display math:
\[ E = mc^2 \]

\section{Figures}
\begin{figure}[h]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{example-image}
  \caption{Example Image}
  \label{fig:example}
\end{figure}

\section{Tables}
\begin{table}[h]
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
    \hline
    Column1 & Column2 \\
    \hline
    Data1 & Data2 \\
    Data3 & Data4 \\
    \hline
  \end{tabular}
  \caption{Example Table}
  \label{tab:example}
\end{table}

\end{document}