AN INTRODUCTION TO LATEX

WORKSHOP 1: BASIC PRINCIPLES

AN INTRODUCTION TO LATEX
CONTACT INFORMATION

Patrick Zieverink
p.m.zieverink@student.utwente.nl
Merit Fernhout
m.m.fernhout@student.utwente.nl
Ashutosh Dilip
ashutoshdilip@student.utwente.nl
Toma Yamashita
t.yamashita@student.utwente.nl
Ilse van der Veen
i.t.vanderveen@student.utwente.nl

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WHAT IS LATEX?

• LaTeX is a typesetting language, not a program

• Professional, universal programming language

for creating reports, presentations etc..

• Compare with the Office package:

Word/Powerpoint

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ADVANTAGES OF LATEX
LATEX VS. WORD

• LaTeX is open source

• Well established in academia

• Very useful for creating equations and

maintaining references

• LaTeX automatically creates page layouts

based on predefined styles to generate a
good-looking document

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Overleaf

• Overleaf is an online Latex editor

• No installation is needed

• Multiple people can work on one document

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
COMMANDS AND TEXT

• The \ sign is used for passing commands to the

compiling program

• Commands are used for executing actions, like

placing figures. Text can be input in the code
without commands.

• All input between { } has to be supplied when

inserting commands. Everything between [ ] is
optional.

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
DOCUMENT STRUCTURE

← Content of the document gets here

← Every beginning has an end

Output:

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
TEXT LAYOUT

• Sections and subsections are defined by commands

\section{…} ← First heading (hoofdstuk)

\subsection{…} ← Sub heading (paragraaf)
\subsubsection{…} ← Sub sub heading (subparagraaf)

• All headings will be automatically numbered

• Numbering can be turned of using an *, for example:

\section*{…}

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
TEXT LAYOUT

Output:

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
TEXT LAYOUT

• Also for defining font styles, commands are required

\textbf{…} ← bold
\textit{…} ← italic
\underline{…} ← underlined

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GETTING TO WORK WITH LATEX
TEXT LAYOUT

Output:

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ASSIGNMENT 1
TEXT LAYOUT AND FONT STYLES

Download the file “Assignment 1.pdf” from Canvas. Recreate this text
in LaTeX (copy-paste the sentences) and add the correct formatting.

Challenge How can you create spacing between lines?

What happens to indentation?

Try using:
- Normal white lines in the code (press enter)
- \newline
- \\

If you are done with Assignment 1, continue to Assignment 2 or 3.

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 FLOATING OBJECTS
FIGURES

• Figures (and tables) can be somewhat less intuitive

• Various commands are required, as there are many options

• Advantage: figures will not jump throughout your document randomly,

as sometimes may happen in Word.

• Advantage: LaTeX finds the best fitting location in your document.

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FLOATING OBJECTS
FIGURES: PACKAGE “GRAPHICX”

• Packages contain specific code required for executing more complex

tasks, such as inserting figures.

\usepackage{graphicx} ← This command loads the package “graphicx” which is

required for inserting figures

← Packages are loaded before\begin{document}

and after \documentclass
← Figures can now be inserted in the
document environment using code

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FLOATING OBJECTS
FIGURES

• Figures also use a begin-end structure

\begin{figure}[placement specifier]
\includegraphics[dimension]{picture name}
Additional data (to be discussed later)
\end{figure}

Placement specifiers: Dimension specifiers:

[h] here [scale = …] scales the original image
[t] top size by a factor
[b] bottom
[p] new page [width = …\textwidth] scales the image width to
[H] HERE a fraction of the page width
[*!] override
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FLOATING OBJECTS
FIGURES: EXAMPLE

← Start and END a figure environment

← Load a figure from the folder containing the .tex
file

Output:

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FLOATING OBJECTS
TABLES

• Tables are placed similarly to figures

\begin{table} [placement specifier]
\begin{tabular}{table formatting}
Table content
\end{tabular}
Additional data (to be discussed later)
\end{table}
Table formatting:
c centered column
l left aligned column
r right aligned column
| vertical line between columns
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FLOATING OBJECTS
TABLES: EXAMPLE

Output:

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FLOATING OBJECT
REFERENCES TO FLOATING OBJECTS

• One of LaTeX’ biggest advantages is automatic numbering of figures/

tables and adding consistent references
• Adding them requires two commands:
\caption{This is the caption of the object}
\label{this is the label name required to refer to the object}

• Within the document, you can refer to the object number by using the
label name:

\ref{put the label name here}

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FLOATING OBJECTS
REFERENCES TO FLOATING OBJECTS

Output:

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ITEMIZATIONS
ITEMIZE

• Itemizations are simply implemented using the itemize

command

\begin{itemize}
\item Text for first item here
\item Text for second item here
\end{itemize}

• Overleaf uses a black dot (●) as the itemization symbol

of preference. This is customizable using:

\item[Preferred text or symbol]

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ITEMIZATIONS
ITEMIZE

Output:

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ITEMIZATIONS
ENUMERATE

• Enumerate numbers your itemization, instead of using

symbols

• The structure is equal to the one used for an itemize

code

• Subitems can be added to your itemization. This can be

achieved by including a new itemize/enumerate within
the current itemization.
• note the similarities with a nested for-loop as used in MATLAB

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ITEMIZATIONS
ENUMERATE

Output:

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EQUATIONS
GENERAL

• For an equation it is required to create an equation-environment,

similar to Microsoft Word.

• Multiple environments can be chosen from, but the two most

common ones are:

$ Your equation $ ← for in-rule equations

\begin{equation}
Your equation ← for numbered equations
\end{equation} in between paragraphs

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EQUATIONS
MATHEMATHICAL OPERATIONS

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EQUATIONS
MATHEMATICAL AND GREEK SYMBOLS

• This is just a small selection of all possibilities

• Remember: Google is your friend!

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EQUATIONS
EXAMPLE CARNOT EFFICIENCY

↖ Label to refer to your equation (not mandatory)

Output:

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ASSIGNMENT 2&3

From Canvas: download the files for assignment 2&3.

Follow the instructions and good luck!

These assignments should be finished before the next session,

otherwise it will be impossible to completely recreate the given report.

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NEXT TIME…

Next lecture

Themes that will be discussed::

- Bibliographies
- The next level: compiling a complete report
- Working together with group mates on parts of bigger files

If there are any suggestions for topics to discuss or elaborate on,

please let us know by sending an e-mail prior to the lecture!

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