TeX Tips and Resources

[NEW 6/19/2015] Getting Started with LaTeX

A collection of resources and links to get started with LaTeX.

Introduction to TeX/LaTeX (pdf file)

A short overview of TeX and LaTeX, based on a presentation given in Fall 2007 to new graduate students at the UIUC Mathematics Department.

Introduction to LaTeX

A three hour introduction to the (very) basics of Latex. Self-guided, but it would be useful to have a reference, such as Gratzer's "Math into Latex", handy.

This is a home grown collection of tips for using Latex more efficiently and avoiding common mistakes. The tips are specifically geared towards typesetting mathematical articles. They also include some tips on good mathematical writing practices.
Top Ten List

Thesis style files (from Physics Department)

LaTeX style files for theses that conform to the requirements of the UIUC Graduate College. The files have been copied over to the departmental Unix network, so no additional installation is needed if you use one of the computers on the departmental Unix network.

To install the files on a personal computer, click on the latest version (2009) in the "Download templates" section of the above page, unzip the file, and follow the instructions on the above page for installation.

General TeX Resources

Online books, tutorials, and reference works

Text Processing using LaTeX. From the Cambridge University Engineering Department. An extensive listing of resources, including links to many free online guides.
Amsmath User's Guide. The official documentation for the amsmath LaTeX package, from the CTAN archive. Additional documentation for AMS TeX tools and packages can be found at the AMS TeX Resources website.
Scott Pakin's Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List. A monster collection of LaTeX symbols and special characters, covering 3300 symbols in 225 tables over 111 pages. For a userfriendly interface to these symbols try the LaTeX symbol classifier.
Math into LaTeX, Chapter 1. A free online version of part of Gratzer's "Math into LaTeX", including Chapter 1, the index, and the appendices at the end of the book.
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e. The classic free online text on LaTeX. An excellent and fairly complete introduction to TeX at the beginner to intermediate level. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover AMS-LaTeX; for that, use one of the guides listed above.
Online Tutorials by the Indian TeX Users Group. An absolutely first-rate, beautifully produced, set of tutorials.

Books

While one could certainly learn TeX/LaTeX entirely from online materials, anyone serious about learning TeX should buy a book. It is a worthwhile investment that will likely be useful for a long time. Unlike books about commercial software which become obsolete as soon as a new version comes out (who would want to buy a book on Windows 95 today?), TeX is a stable system, and books on TeX have a long half-life. There are dozens of books on TeX, but here is a short selection:

A must-have: George Gratzer, "Math into LaTeX". This is the standard reference on LaTeX with the AMS flavor, and a must (IMHO) for anyone planning to write mathematical papers in LaTeX. There are dozens of books on LaTeX, but none covers the AMS packages (amsmath, amsthm, amsfonts, etc.) in any detail, if at all. For most people interested in using LaTeX for mathematical typing, the Gratzer book is all they need. The first chapter serves as a good stand-alone introduction to LaTeX; this chapter is also available online at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/mil/mil.pdf, but instead of trying to download and print this fairly large file, you may be better off just buying the book.
H. Kopka, P. Daly, "A guide to LaTeX": Probably the best and most comprehensive reference on LaTeX proper (as opposed to add-on packages which are discussed in the next item).
M. Goossens, F. Mittelbach, A. Samarin, "The LaTeX Companion": As the name suggest, this book (a heavyweight, comprising over 1000 pages) complements, rather than replaces, standard introductions and reference works such as Kopka/Daly, by covering many of the "packages" and add-ons available for LaTeX.
M. Goossens, S. Rahtz, F. Mittelbach, "The LaTeX Graphics Companion": Similar in spirit to the "LaTeX Companion", but focusing on packages and tools for typesetting graphical material.

Miscellany

Last modified: Fri 19 Jun 2015 11:10:12 AM CDT A.J. Hildebrand