TeX Tips and Resources
A collection of resources and links to get started with LaTeX.
A short overview of TeX and LaTeX, based on a presentation given in
Fall 2007 to new graduate students at the UIUC Mathematics
Department.
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
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