LaTeX Resources
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Grinnell College
LaTeX is a typesetting system which has become the standard in many scientific disciplines, including mathematics. While good mathematical writing begins with good mathematics, organized writing and typesetting goes a long way in helping you and your reader appreciate the mathematics you are reading.
Classroom policy
I generally do will not require you to typeset your homework solutions. That being said, you are encouraged to do so. LaTeX is one way to do this, but other typesetting systems exist and you are welcome to explore these if you prefer.
You can find a homework solutions template here. This template has some minimal instructions/explanations, and you will naturally pick some things up as you use it. Below you will find more resources.
Online editing: Overleaf
Overleaf is an online LaTeX editor which is a great starting point.
Pros
- Low-effort set up: setting up an account is fairly easy and free. No installation necessary
- Offers many templates for free
- Documents are immediately accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
Cons
- Requires internet connection to access your documents
- Compilation time can be long for large documents
- Can be unavailable for maintainence or be down for other reasons
Overleaf also has a nice getting started page and many other helpful tutorials.
Local editing
If you are interested in compiling documents locally on your computer, this requires more set up but can be a worthy investment if you intend to typeset mathematics regularly in the near future.
Pros
- Can be done without access to the internet
- Faster compilation time (generally)
- Can be paired with cloud storage services to allow document access from anywhere
Cons
- Set up requires some time and effort
- New package installation can take time and require some troubleshooting at times
The official LaTeX Project is itself a great resource with explanations, instructions, and links to various distributions and editors. Another is this Wiki. Tex StackExchange is a forum where you will find questions and answers on many LaTeX-related topics and is a valuable resource when troubleshooting.
