Learn LaTeX in 30 Minutes!

Ahmad Lotfi∗
School of Science and Technology
Nottingham Trent University,
Nottingham, NG11 8NS, United Kingdom

January 6, 2011

Abstract
This report should help you to understand and learn LATEXin less
that 30 minutes. If you follow the instruction in this paper, you should
be able to install and create a sample LATEXfile with all important
features. Please feel free to use this document and simply steal from
this document! More information available from [1], [2].

1 Introduction
LATEX(pronounced La-Tech) is a document mark-up language and document
preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. LATEXis a flexible
typesetting package. Various fonts and sizes of font are available. For
example typewriter, italic, emphasised, san serif, bold as well as the default
roman. Combinations of some are possible emphasised san serif, for example.
LATEXis an excellent package to deal with equations and graphics.

2 What Do I Need?
To start working with LATEX, you will need LATEXcompiler and a text editor!

2.1 LATEXCompiler
To convert your LATEXsource file, you will need a compiler to make real
documents out of your LATEXsource file. MiKTeX is a free LATEXcompiler for
windows and its installation is extremely simple. LaTeX compiler produces
so called DVI file or PDF which can be then inspected and printed by YAP
viewer or Adobe Reader.
Download the package from: http://miktex.org/2.9/setup
∗
[email protected]

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2.2 LATEXEditor
You will also need a LATEXEditor to write your text in, because you cannot
just write it in MS Word or OpenOffice Writer and compile it from there.
Just to set the record straight, LATEXis a markup language, which uses com-
mands to make your text look bold, coloured or any other text alignments
you want to put it in. Assuming that you are using Windows, you might
want to TeXnicCenter available from:
http://www.texniccenter.org/resources/downloads

3 Producing a LaTeX LATEXDocument

The first line of the input file should normally consist of an appropriate
\documentclass command. If an article (or similar document) is to be
produced on A4 paper, and if the main body of the text is to be set with a
font whose natural size is ‘12 point’, then the appropriate \documentclass
command is: \documentclass[a4,12pt]{article}
Other forms of the \documentclass command can be used for letters,
reports or books. If 12pt is omitted from the \documentclass command
(with the preceding comma), then the document will be set in a ‘10 point’
size. One may also replace 12pt with 11pt.
After the \documentclass command and these other optional com-
mands, we place the command \begin{document}. This command is then
followed by the main body of the text, in the format prescribed by the rules
of LaTeX. Finally, we end the input file with a line containing the command
\end{document}.
Your first LATEXfile could be something like this:

\documentclass[a4,12pt]{article}
\begin{document}
Hello World.
\end{document}

3.1 Document Classes

The way your document will look and be structured depends on the \documentclass
command at the top of the file. Useful classes are: letter, article, for
reports and journal articles and book for theses and books. For a specific
publication, if you are given a document class, then replace the document-
class name to your class file.

3.2 Sections
Articles are usually structured into sections, and books into chapters and
chapter sections. To create a new section use \section{Section Title}.

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Subsection or Sub-sub-section can also be used. Sections can be cross ref-
erenced, if you \label them. For example the Introduction is section 1 in
this document.
If you prefer a section without a number, then you should use * after
the section i.e. \section*{Title}.

\documentclass[a4,12pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\section{Introduction}
Hello World.\\
\section{More Text}
More Text here.
\end{document}

3.3 Spaces, Gaps, Breaks, etc.

Sometimes you want to over-ride the default formatting in various ways.
Here are a few common examples. If you leave a blank line between two
lines of text LATEXassumes that you want a new paragraph and indents
accordingly.
Sometimes you don’t want this indentation and the \noindent command is
useful. Sometimes you may want to
break a line in a different place to the default in which case use \\ to insert
a line break.
\pagebreak will start a new page.

4 Equations
The real beauty of LATEXis equations. For inline equations like, µ(x1 , x2 ) =
2x1 +2x2 , simply insert the instructions defining the equation between single
$ signs. If you want a display equation without a number put the instructions
between $$’s like this:

µ(x1 , x2 ) = α2x1 + 2x2

If you want an equation to have a number then you need to use begin{equation}
and \end{equation} for example
Z
θ = M x dx (1)

Numbered equations like equation (1) can be referenced using \ref.

Multi-line equations (without numbering) are produced like this:

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 Figure 1: Figure Caption.

(afθ1 + bfθ2 ) (x) := afθ1 (x) + bfθ2 (x)

= xt (aθ1 + bθ2 ).

or with numbering like this:

Θ(n, T ) = B(n, T ) × Σ(n, T ) (2)

nT
= {µ | µ = Xβ, β } × {Σǫ | i 6= j}

Often you may want something like this:

(β + 1)xβi 0 < xi < 1


f (xi ) =
0 otherwise
the large { is achieved using the bracketing commands \left and \right
along with the null bracket symbol ‘.’.

5 Figures
You will need to include figures. It is best to use .jpg, .eps or .pdf files.
Save images in a folder and include them into your document.

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=8cm]{images/image1}
\caption{Figure Caption.}
\label{fig:image1}
\end{figure}

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 (a) Rectangle (b) Circle

Figure 2: Image caption. a) Rectangle, b) Circle.

You can control size of figure and by adding a label, they can be referenced
any any point. Figure 1 is saved in folder images.
Before using \includegraphics you should add graphics package. To add
a package, add the following line after \documentclass.

\documentclass[a4,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx,epsfig,subfig}
\begin{document}
Hello World.
\end{document}

To add sub-figures use the following format which and the results are shown
in Figure 2.

\begin {figure}
\centering
\subfloat[Rectangle]{\includegraphics [height=3cm]{images/image1}}
\hspace{2cm}
\subfloat[Circle]{\includegraphics [height=3cm]{images/image2}}
\caption{Image caption. a) Rectangle, b) Circle.}
\label {fig:image2}
\end {figure}

6 Tables
Nicely placed tables with captions, numbers and labels like table 1, can be
produced with \begin{table} and \end{table}.

7 Lists
Devotees of the bullet point:
• Should use the \begin{itemize} command to start a bulleted list.

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 • Should use the \item command to add items to the list.

• Should use the \end{itemize} command to end a bulleted list.

Numbered lists can be useful and use \begin{enumerate} and \end{enumerate}

to generate the list.

1. the first item.

2. the second item.

3. the third item and possibly some sub-items.

(a) examination questions.

(b) algorithms.
(c) er.

8 Including Computer Code

Computer code represents a special problem, because it often uses characters
that have a special meaning in LATEXand is often carefully laid out in a way
that the author does not want messed around by automatic text processing.

• Little snippets can be included with the \verb command. The first
character after \verb is taken as a marker for the beginning of the
characters to be reproduced verbatim, the second occurance of this
character is taken as the end of the verbatim text. For example
\verb+q1<-1:4+ will yield q1<-1:4.
• Bigger sections of code require the use of \begin{verbatim} and
\end{verbatim} like this:

Table 1: Orbits of Sn in Ω3 (with n > 3) and in Ω4 (with n > 4)

Orbits in Ω3 Orbits in Ω4
Orbit type multiplicity Orbit type multiplicity
{(i)} 1 {(i, i)} 1
{(i)} 3 {(i, j)} 4
{(i)} 1 {(i, j)} 3
{(i, i)} 6
{(i, l)} 1
Total 5 Total 15

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 gam<-function (formula, family = gaussian(), data = list(),
min.sp = NULL, H = NULL, gamma = 1, ...)
{
gp <- gam.parser(formula)
mf <- match.call(expand.dots = FALSE)
ff1 <- paste(gp$v.names[2:n], collapse = "+")
ff <- paste(ff, "+", ff1)
}
.
}

9 Bibliography and references

Quite nice bibliography creating facilities are available using the BibTex pro-
gram. Basically you create a separate file (‘mybib.bib’) containing all your
references, cite them using \cite{ref1} in the document using standard
commands and then place a command at the end of you document to create
the reference list - only references that you actually cited will appear on this
list. For example a few references added here [3], [4].
If you want to list all your references in the ‘bib’ file, use \nocite{*}
just before \end{document}.

\bibliographystyle{plain}
%You can aslo use alpha, unstr, abbrv, IEEE, ...
%You can aslo use IEEEE.bst or Springer.bst or any other publisher.
\bibliography{mybib}
%mybib.bib is your bibliography file.
%Use mybib.bib as your

To create a ‘bib’ file, use your RefWorks and export references in BibTex
format. You can format your references using different publishers style. You
need a ‘bst’ file and you have to replace the default plain style with the
publisher bibliography style file.

9.1 Harvard Citation Style

If you want to use citation styles other than numerical, then you need an
extra package. The first job is to add the following to your preamble in
order to get Latex to use the Natbib package:

\usepackage{natbib}

Also, you need to change the bibliography style file to be used, so edit the ap-
propriate line at the bottom of the file so that it reads: \bibliographystyle{plainnat}.
Once done, it is basically a matter of altering the existing \cite commands
to display the type of citation you want.

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\citet{lotfi09} for Lotfi et al. (2009)
\citep{lotfi09} for (Lotfi et al., 2009)
\citet*{lotfi09} for Lotfi and Langensiepen (2009)

The main commands simply add a t for ‘textual’ or p for ‘parenthesised’,

to the basic \cite command. You will also notice how Natbib by default
will compress references with three or more authors to the more concise
1st surname et al version. By adding an asterisk (*), you can override
this default and list all authors associated with that citation. There is a
command called \bibpunct that can be used to override the defaults and
change certain settings.

\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}

In summary, you need to add the following:

1. Add the following to your preamble of your tex file.

\usepackage{natbib}
\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}

2. Replace \cite with \citep or \citet.

3. Add the following to the end of your document.

\bibliographystyle{plainnat} % or abbrvnat or unsrtnat

\bibliography{myBib}

10 Misc.
A table of contents can be inserted anywhere with the command \tableofcontents.
You can also use \listoffigures or \listoftables.

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Contents
1 Introduction 1

2 What Do I Need? 1
2.1 LATEXCompiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.2 LATEXEditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Producing a LaTeX LATEXDocument 2

3.1 Document Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.2 Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3.3 Spaces, Gaps, Breaks, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4 Equations 3

5 Figures 4

6 Tables 5

7 Lists 5

8 Including Computer Code 6

9 Bibliography and references 7

9.1 Harvard Citation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

10 Misc. 8

References
[1] Wikipedia, “Latex — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”, 2010, [Online;
accessed 15-Dec-2010].
[2] Wikibooks http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/LaTeX.pdf,
“Latex”, 2010, [Online; accessed 15-Dec-2010].
[3] M. J. Akhlaghinia, A. Lotfi, C. Langensiepen, and N. Sherkat, “A fuzzy
predictor model for the occupancy prediction of an intelligent inhabited
environment”, in 2008 IEEE 16th International Conference on Fuzzy
Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), Piscataway, NJ, USA, 1-6 June 2008 2008, pp.
939–46, IEEE.
[4] M. J. Akhlaghinia, A. Lotfi, C. Langensiepen, and N. Sherkat, “Occu-
pancy monitoring in intelligent environment through integrated wireless
localizing agents”, in 2009 IEEE Symposium on Intelligent Agents, Pis-
cataway, NJ, USA, 30 March-2 April 2009 2009, p. 7, IEEE.