Introduction to LaTeX

• LaTex basics
• Math
• Figure
• Table & List
• Appendix & Bibliography
• Presentation
• Poster
• Journals
• LaTeX packages
• Examples
• References

LaTeX basics

• LaTeX commands: \command[option,...]{argument}
• 10 special characters: # $ % & ~ _ ^ \ { }
• \documentclass[OPTIONS]{CLASS}: layout of the document
  • CLASS
    • Basic: article, book, report, letter, slides, beamer
    • American Mathematical Society (AMS): amsbook, amsarticle
    • KOMA-Script: scrartcl, scrbook, scrreprt, scrlttr2
    • Book: tufte-book
    • Journals: revtex4-2, elsarticle
  • OPTIONS
    • letterpaper, a4paper
    • 10pt, 11pt, 12pt
    • fleqn, leqno
    • titlepage, notitlepage
    • oneside, twoside
    • onecolumn, twocolumn
    • landscape
    • openright, openany
    • draft, final
• \begin{}, \end{}: define an environment

  \begin{document}
    \begin{environment1}
      \begin{environment2}
    \end{environment1}
      \end{environment2}
  \end{document}

• \title{}
• \date{}
  • \today
• \author{}
• \newpage
• \pagestyle{STYLE}, \thispagestyle{STYLE}
  • empty, plain, headings, myheadings, fancy
• \pagenumbering{}
  • gobble, arabic, roman
• Texts
  • \text{}: normal text
  • \textbf{}: bold
  • ~: a non-breaking space between texts (e.g. 3.5~mm)
  • \\: line break
  • \verb|LaTeX-COMMAND| (| can be replaced with other characters), \begin{verbatim}LaTeX-COMMAND\end{verbatim}: display LaTeX commands
• Table of contents
  • \tableofcontents
    • In preamble: \setcounter{tocdepth}{n}, where n = 1, 2, 3(default), 4, 5
    • Specify individually before each section: \addtocontents{toc}{\setcounter{tocdepth}{3}}
  • \listoffigures, \listoftables
• \part{}
• \chapter{} (only books and reports)
• Sections: \section{}, \subsection{}, \subsubsection{}, \section*{WITHOUT NUMBERING}
• Paragraphs: \paragraph{}, \subparagraph{}

Math

• Math environments: $INLINE_FORMULA$, \(INLINE_FORMULA\), equation, align, subequations
  • use asterisk (e.g. equation*, align*) to turn-off auto numbering
  • math symbols
    • https://latex-tutorial.com/symbols/math-symbols/
    • https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Mathematics
    • most math symbols have to be used in the math environments
  • \left, \right: scale up the bracket symbol after it
  • \intertext{TEXT}: text within equations
  • Partitioned statements (with amsmath package):

    \[
    LHS =
      \begin{cases}
        RHS1, & \text{CONDITION1}\\
        RHS2, & \text{CONDITION2}
      \end{cases}
    \]

Figure

• Figure environments
  • \begin{figure}[placement specifier]
    • h (here, if possible), t (top), b (bottom), p (page of floats), ! (override)
    • H (here, definitely) if \usepackage{float}
  • \begin{subfigure}[pos][height][inner-pos]{width}
    • pos: c (center, default), t (top), b (bottom)
    • height: strech the height of the subfigure (e.g. 10pt, 1cm)
    • inner-pos: t (top), c (center), b (bottom), s (stretch)
    • width: width of the subfigure
  • \begin{wrapfigure}[nline]{pos}[overhang]{width} (if \usepackage{wrapfig})
    • nline: number of narrow lines (e.g. 12)
    • pos: R/r (right), L/l (left), I/i (inside), O/o (outside) [float/no]
    • overhang: overhang of the figure (0pt, default)
    • width: width of the figure
  • \includegraphics[width=SIZE\textwidth]{FIGURE_PATH}
    • SIZE: 0~1 (use 0.1 less than you expect)
  • \caption{}
  • \label{MARKER}: this MARKER can be used for later referencing
  • \centering
  • \hfill: make one figure left-align and the other right-align, then fill spaces to produce a rubber length (same as \hspace\fill)
  • \hspace{L cm}: L can be a positive or negative value.
  • \ContinuedFloat: preserve the numbering from the previous subfigures
• Set path to figure folder: \graphicspath{{FOLDER_PATH1}{FOLDER_PATH2}...}

Table & List

• Table environment
  • begin{table}
  • begin{tabular}{| l | c | r |}
    • l: left-alignment, c: center-alignment, r: right-alignment, S: aligned decimal point (if \usepackage{siunitx})
    • |: vertical line, \hline: horizontal line
    • in each row: column1 & column2 & column3 \\
    • for \usepackage{multirow}
      • multiple rows: \multirow{NROWS}{WIDTH}{CONTENT}
      • multiple columns: \multicolumn{NCOLUMNS}{ALIGNMENT}{CONTENT}
    • for long table, \usepackage{longtable}
      • \begin{longtable}[placement specifier]{ALIGNMENT}
      • Put the header between \endfirsthead and \endhead so that it will be shown on every page.
    • usepackage{rotating} to rotate the table
      • \begin{sidewaystable}
• List environment
  • \begin{itemize}, \begin{enumerate}
    • \item ITEM 1
    • \item ITEM 2
    • \item ITEM n
  • To change the bullet point symbol
    • \item[?]
    • usepackage{enumitem}, usepackage{pifont}
• LaTeX tables generator

Appendix & Bibliography

• Appendix environment
  • \begin{appendix}
• Referencing
  • \label{KEY}
  • \ref{KEY}, \subref{KEY}, \pageref{KEY}, \eqref{KEY}
  • \footnote{\label{FOOTNOTE_LABEL} CONTENT}, this footnote can be referred by using \ref{FOOTNOTE_LABEL}
  • \index{KEY} (if \usepackage{makeidx})
    • \makeindex, \printindex
  • usepackage{hyperref}
    • \hyperref[KEY]{TEXT} & \hypertarget{KEY}{TEXT}
    • \url{URL}, \href{URL}{TEXT}, href{mailto:EMAIL}{TEXT}, \href{run:PATH/FILE}{TEXT}
    • \hypersetup{OPTION1=VALUE1,OPTION2=VALUE2,...} (more information can be found in LaTeX/Hyperlinks)
  • usepackage{varioref}
    • \vref{KEY}
  • usepackage{cleveref}
    • \cref{KEY}, \Cref{KEY}
• Bibliography
  • BibTeX

    \bibliographystyle{unsrt} % abbrv, alpha, acm, apalike, ieeetr, plain, unsrt
    \bibliography{bib_file1.bib, bib_file2.bib, ...}

    • \cite{ReferenceKey}, \nocite{ReferenceKey}, \nocite{*}
  • biblatex
    • in the preamble

      \usepackage[backend=bibtex, % biber, bibtex
      style=numeric, % numeric, alphabetic, authoryear, authortitle, verbose, reading, draft
      sorting=nyt % nty, nyt, nyvt, anyt, anyvt, ydnt, none
      ]{biblatex} 
      \addbibresource{bib_file1.bib}
      \addbibresource{bib_file2.bib}

    • in text
      • \autocite[PAGE_NUM]{ReferenceKey}, \textcite[PAGE_NUM]{ReferenceKey}
    • print the bibliography
      • \printbibliography
  • For more informations, please refer to these webpages
    • https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Bibliography_management_in_LaTeX
    • https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Bibtex_bibliography_styles
    • https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Bibliography_management_with_biblatex
    • https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Biblatex_bibliography_styles
  • Exporting references from reference managers
    • Mendeley
    • Zotero
      • You may have to modify the title field manually with rich text formatting.

Presentation

• LaTeX presentation environment
  • begin{beamer}
• Themes
  • \usetheme{default}
    • Boadilla, Madrid, Montpellier, Warsaw, ,Copenhagen, Goettingen, Hannover, Berkeley
• Title page
  • \title{}, \subtitle{}, \author{}, \date{},
  • \titlegraphic{}
  • \titlepage
• Logo
  • \logo{}
• Section
  • \section{}
• Frame
  • \begin{frame}[label={LABEL}]{TITLE}{Subtitle}
• Hyperlink
  • \hyperlink{LABEL}{\beamerbutton{TEXT}}

Poster

• TikZ poster
  • \documentclass[FONT_SIZE, PAPER_SIZE, ORIENT]{tikzposter}
    • FONT_SIZE: 12pt, 14pt, 25pt, ...
    • PAPER_SIZE: a0paper, a1paper, a2paper, a3paper, a4paper
    • ORIENT: landscape, portrait
  • \usetheme{}
    • Default, Rays, Basic, Simple, Envelope, Wave, Board, Autumn, Desert
  • Title
    • \maketitle
  • Block

    \block{TITLE}
    {
      TEXT
    }

  • Columns

    \begin{columns}
      \column{WIDTH}
      \block{TITLE}{}
      \column{WIDTH}
      \block{TITLE}{}
    \end{columns}

• Beamer poster
  • \documentclass{beamer} + \usepackage[orientation=portrait,size=a0,scale=1.4]{beamerposter}
    • orientation: landscape, portrait
    • size: a0, a1, a2, a3, a4
    • scale
  • Themes
    • \usetheme{}
      • AnnArbor, Antibes, Bergen, Berkeley, Berlin, Boadilla, boxes, CambridgeUS, Copenhagen, Darmstadt, default, Dresden, Frankfurt, Goettingen, Hannover, Ilmenau, JuanLesPins, Luebeck, Madrid, Malmoe, Marburg, Montpellier, PaloAlto, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Singapore, Szeged, Warsaw
    • \usecolortheme{}
      • albatross, beaver, beetle, crane, default, dolphin, dove, fly, lily, orchid, rose, seagull, seahorse, sidebartab, structure, whale, wolverine
    • https://deic.uab.cat/~iblanes/beamer_gallery/index.html
  • Block

    \begin{frame}{}
      \begin{block}{TITLE}
        TEXT
      \end{block}
    \end{frame}

  • Columns

    \begin{frame}{}
    \begin{columns}[t]
      \begin{column}{WIDTH}
        \begin{block}{TITLE}
        \end{block}
      \end{column}
      \begin{column}{WIDTH}
        \begin{block}{TITLE}
        \end{block}
      \end{column}
    \end{columns}
    \end{frame}

Journals

• REVTeX
  • Package: https://www.ctan.org/pkg/revtex
  • Usage: \documentclass[OPTIONS]{revtex4-2}
  • Documentation:
    • [PDF]APS Author Guide for REVTEX 4.2
    • [PDF]Author's Guide to AIP Substyles for REVTEX 4.2
    • [PDF]REVTEX 4.2 Command and Options Summary
• Elsvier article
  • Package: https://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/elsarticle
  • Usage: \documentclass[OPTIONS]{elsarticle}
  • Documentation:
    • [PDF]elsarticle.cls documentation
    • Elsarticle.cls template

Miscellaneous

• Fonts
  • https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Fonts
  • https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Font_sizes%2C_families%2C_and_styles
• LaTeX symbols
  • https://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html

LaTeX packages

• LaTeX packages: \usepackage{PACKAGENAME}
  • all packages must be imported at the beginning
  • inputenc: input encodings
  • fontenc: font encodings
  • geometry: for page formatting, please refer to geometry document for more details.
  • parskip: change the spacing between paragraphs
  • setspace: change the spacing for table of contents by using \singlespacing, \doublespacing
  • babel: multilingual support
  • amsmath:
    • equation numbering can be removed when using begin{equation*} x=y end{equation*} or \nonumber at the end of the equation
    • adding text in the equation with \text{TEXT}, \mbox{TEXT}
  • graphicx: for figure environment
  • subcaption: for subfigure environment
  • wrapfig: for figures which text can flow around
  • booktabs: for tabular environment, \hline can be replaced by \toprule, \midrule and \bottomrule
  • tikz: for drawing, please visit TIKZ Blog for more examples
  • circuitikz: for drawing circuit diagram
  • siunitx: for aligning the decimal point
    • \sisetup{round-mode= places, round-precision= 3} (round-mode: places, figures)
  • multirow: for multiple rows in one cell
  • longtable: for long table
  • rotating: rotate the table
  • pgfplotstable: for autogenerated .csv tables
  • pgfplots: (part of tikz) for autogenerated plots
  • listings: for source code listings, another alternative is minted
  • hyperref: for hyperlinks
  • varioref: for cross-referencing on a different page
  • cleveref: for cross-referencing with automatic formatting
  • makeidx: for creating indexes, i.e. \makeindex
  • enumitem: for changing the bullet point symbol
  • pifont: for more bullet point styles, more symbols can be found in the manual
  • blindtext, lipsum: generate dummy text
  • beamer & beamerposter: for presentations & posters
  • xcolor: using named colors, please refer to manual for more details
  • overpic: picture environment for overlaying figures and annotations, please refer to manual for more details
  • fancyhdr: page headers and footers, more details in manual
  • datatool, databar: for data processing, management, and visualization

Examples

• first_latex (tex, pdf)
• paragraph_section (tex, pdf)
• packages (tex, pdf)
• math (tex, pdf)
• figures (tex, pdf)
• table_of_contents (tex, pdf)
• bibliography (tex, pdf)
• csv_tables/plots (tex, pdf)
• presentation (tex, pdf)
• poster (tex-tikz, pdf-tikz; tex-beamer, pdf-beamer)
• revtex (tex, pdf)
• elsarticle (tex, pdf)

References

• https://latex-tutorial.com/tutorials/
• https://latex-beamer.com/
• https://vknight.org/tex/
• https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Free_online_introduction_to_LaTeX_(part_1)
• https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Posters
• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX
• https://ctan.org/
• https://texdoc.org/index.html
• [PDF]LaTeX: A Document Preparation System by Leslie Lamport