The Beginner LaTeX Files pt.2 The Importance of Editing

Along with learning you will also need to get comfortable with an editor. This can be anything from the simplest text editor, such as TextEdit, to a WYSWYG style word processor, such as Scientific Workplace. Both styles work well, there are an ocean of solutions that bridge these two extremes.

The Beginner LaTeX Files pt.1

If you missed the intro post for this series, I’m fairly new to using LaTeX and I’m in the process of my first big project that uses it extensively.  I’m posting about the learning curve into LaTeX in the hopes that it will show both myself and others how useful and accessible professional typesetting for scientific documents can be.

 

In the last few days there was one stumbling block, one ongoing problem.  The great thing about stumbling blocks is that their solution tend to knock out several problems at once.  Today the realization showed me how different environments help organize one’s document. 

 

The Beginner LaTeX Files …Begin

For those who don’t know, is an amazing thing.  It allows a writer amazing control of typesetting and printing mathematical formulae quickly and beautifully.  Anyone who has edited a wikipedia entry in mathematics or any technical field has at least seen commands.  Even WordPress lets users take advantage of .  It is the gold standard in typesetting tools for scientists and mathematicians. 

 

I’ve been using in very basic ways for nearly a year; adding equations to OpenOffice documents and Keynote presentations.  Recently I’ve started a much larger project in and it’s proving to be a great learning experience.

  

Most folks in the sciences and mathematics know of and it’s advantages, but many are afraid of the learning curve required to go from familiar word processors, such as MS Word, to .  I have no plans to make this series a primmer on using or installing , the internet is littered with such things published by more experienced authors.  Here I will discuss the learning curve from the prospective of a person currently navigating it for the first time.  

 

While I’m not totally new to , I’m currently working on my first real project in , more than just adding a single equation into a document.  The next few weeks of posts will show just how easy or hard the learning curve can be.