LaTeX is the document preparation software used by most mathematicians (and many other scientists) to write journal articles and textbooks. It creates accurate and elegant renderings of any mathematical expression you might wish to type. To create a document, you write a source file using a markup language similar to html, and then compile it into a PDF. While learning LaTeX may seem daunting at first, there are many resources available to help you, and it is well worth the time to learn!

LaTeX is freely available on the web. If you would like to install it on your own computer, you will need to install both a TeX distribution and a text editor. The LaTeX Project(opens in new window) site contains information about how to download and install LaTeX for various operating systems. Texmaker is a free text editor.

Getting Started with LaTeX by Branko Ćurgus

_{The following introductory documents were created by Brian Schiller, one of our former Math Fellows:}

• Introduction to LaTeX
• LaTeX Worksheet