The Not So Short

Introduction to LATEX
Or LATEX in 280 minutes

Tobias Oetiker • Marcin Serwin

Hubert Partl • Irene Hyna • Elisabeth Schlegl

Nightly version 7.0@357b1a686cf242f03b80a4720c8fcde03876adf3, May

12, 2025
Copyright © 1995–2022 Tobias Oetiker, Marcin Serwin, Hubert Partl, Irene Hyna,
Elisabeth Schlegl and Contributors.
This document is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without
any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this document. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

The illustration on the first page was created for this booklet by Roman Schmid
(@bummzack on GitHub). It is dedicated to the public domain via CC0 1.0
Universal Public Domain Dedication. This means that you can use it freely in
your own work without any licensing issues. See https://creativecommons.
org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ for more details.

Additionally, the code examples (text written using monospace font in this
document) are dedicated to the public domain via CC0 1.0 Universal Pub-
lic Domain Dedication. This means that you can use them freely in your
own work without any licensing issues. See https://creativecommons.org/
publicdomain/zero/1.0/ for more details.

The full text of the GNU General Public License can be found in Appendix C
on page 237.
Thank you!

Much of the material used in this introduction comes from an Austrian

introduction to LATEX 2.09 written in German by:
Hubert Partl <partl@mail.boku.ac.at>
Zentraler Informatikdienst der Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
Irene Hyna <Irene.Hyna@bmwf.ac.at>
Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung Wien
Elisabeth Schlegl <noemail>
in Graz
If you are interested in the German document, you can find a version
updated for LATEX 2𝜀 by Jörg Knappen at CTAN://info/lshort/german
ii Thank you!

The following individuals helped with corrections, suggestions, and ma-

terial to improve this paper. They put in a big effort to help me get this
document into its present shape. I would like to sincerely thank all of
them. Naturally, all the mistakes you’ll find in this book are mine. If
you ever find a word that is spelled correctly, it must have been one of
the people below dropping me a line.
If you want to contribute to this booklet, you can find all the source
code on https://github.com/oetiker/lshort. Your pull-requests will
be appreciated.

Eric Abrahamsen, Lenimar Nunes de Andrade, Eilinger August,

Rosemary Bailey, Barbara Beeton, Marc Bevand, Connor Blakey,
Salvatore Bonaccorso, Pietro Braione, Friedemann Brauer, Markus Brühwiler,
Jan Busa, David Carlisle, Neil Carter, Carl Cerecke, Mike Chapman,
Pierre Chardaire, Xingyou Chen, Christopher Chin, Diego Clavadetscher,
Wim van Dam, Benjamin Deschwanden Jan Dittberner, Michael John Downes,
Matthias Dreier, David Dureisseix, Hans Ehrbar, Elliot, Rockrush Engch,
William Faulk, Robin Fairbairns, Johan Falk, Jörg Fischer, Frank Fischli,
Daniel Flipo, Frank, Mic Milic Frederickx, David Frey, Erik Frisk, Hans Fugal,
Robert Funnell, Greg Gamble, Andy Goth, Cyril Goutte, Kasper B. Graversen,
Arlo Griffiths, Alexandre Guimond, Neil Hammond, Christoph Hamburger,
Rasmus Borup Hansen, Joseph Hilferty, Daniel Hirsbrunner, Martien Hulsen,
Björn Hvittfeldt, Morten Høgholm, Werner Icking, Eric Jacoboni, Jakob,
Alan Jeffrey, Martin Jenkins, Byron Jones, David Jones,
Johannes-Maria Kaltenbach, Nils Kanning, Andrzej Kawalec, Christian Kern,
Alain Kessi, Axel Kielhorn, Sander de Kievit, Kjetil Kjernsmo, Tobias Klauser,
Jörg Knappen, Michael Koundouros, Matt Kraai, Tobias Krewer,
Flori Lambrechts, Mike Lee, Maik Lehradt, Rémi Letot, Axel Liljencrantz,
Jasper Loy, Johan Lundberg, Martin Maechler, Alexander Mai, Claus Malten,
Kevin Van Maren, Pablo Markin, I. J. Vera Marún, Hendrik Maryns,
Chris McCormack, Aleksandar S. Milosevic, Henrik Mitsch, Stefan M. Moser,
Armin Müller, Philipp Nagele, Richard Nagy, Manuel Oetiker, Urs Oswald,
Hubert Partl, Marcelo Pasin, Martin Pfister, Lan Thuy Pham, Breno Pietracci,
Demerson Andre Polli, Maksym Polyakov, Nikos Pothitos, John Refling,
Mike Ressler, Brian Ripley, Kurt Rosenfeld, Bernd Rosenlecher, Chris Rowley,
Young U. Ryu, Risto Saarelma, András Salamon, José Carlos Santos,
Christopher Sawtell, Gilles Schintgen, Craig Schlenter, Hanspeter Schmid,
Baron Schwartz, John Scott, Jordi Serra i Solanich, Miles Spielberg,
Susan Stewart, Matthieu Stigler, Geoffrey Swindale, Laszlo Szathmary,
Boris Tobotras, Josef Tkadlec, Scott Veirs, Didier Verna, Carl-Gustav Werner,
Fabian Wernli, Matthew Widmann, David Woodhouse, Chris York,
Rick Zaccone, Fritz Zaucker, and Mikhail Zotov.
Preface

LATEX [42] is a typesetting system that is very suitable for producing

scientific and mathematical documents of high typographical quality. It
is also suitable for producing all sorts of other documents, from simple
letters to complete books. LATEX uses TEX [39] as its formatting engine.
This short introduction will teach you all you need to get going with
LATEX. Refer to [42, 48] for a complete description of the LATEX system.

This introduction is split into 7 chapters:

Chapter 1 tells you about the basic structure of LATEX documents. You
will also learn a bit about the history of LATEX. After reading
this chapter, you should have a rough understanding of how LATEX
works.
Chapter 2 goes into the details of typesetting your documents. It
explains most of the essential LATEX commands and environments.
After reading this chapter, you will be able to write your first
documents, with itemized lists, tables, graphics and floating bodies.
Chapter 3 explains how to typeset formulae with LATEX. Many exam-
ples demonstrate how to use one of LATEX’s main strengths.
Chapter 4 shows how to create bibliographies for your publications.
Chapter 5 explains the secrets of indexes and some finer points about
creating PDFs.
Chapter 6 shows how to use LATEX for creating graphics. Instead of
drawing a picture with some graphics program, saving it to a file
and then including it into LATEX, you describe the picture you want
and have LATEX draw it for you.
Chapter 7 contains some potentially dangerous information about how
to alter the standard document layout produced by LATEX. You
will learn how to change things around in such a way that the
beautiful output of LATEX turns ugly or stunning, depending on
your abilities.
iv Preface

It is important to read the chapters in order—the book is not that big,

after all. Be sure to carefully read the examples, because a lot of the
information is in the examples placed throughout the book.

LATEX is available for most computers, from the PC and Mac, to large
UNIX and VMS systems. On many university computer clusters, you
will find that a LATEX installation is available, ready to use. Information
on how to access the local LATEX installation should be provided in the
Local Guide [1]. If you have problems getting started, ask the person
who gave you this booklet. The scope of this document is not to tell you
how to install and set up a LATEX system, but to teach you how to write
your documents so that they can be processed by LATEX.

If you need to get hold of any LATEX related material, have a look at
one of the Comprehensive TEX Archive Network (CTAN) sites. The
homepage is at http://www.ctan.org.
You will find other references to CTAN throughout the book, espe-
cially pointers to software and documents you might want to download.
Instead of writing down complete URLs, I just wrote CTAN: followed by
whatever location within the CTAN tree you should go to.
If you want to run LATEX on your own computer, take a look at what
is available from CTAN://systems.

If you have ideas for something to be added, removed or altered in this

document, please let me know. I am especially interested in feedback
from LATEX novices about which bits of this intro are easy to understand
and which could be explained better.

Tobias Oetiker <tobi@oetiker.ch>

OETIKER+PARTNER AG
Aarweg 15
4600 Olten
Switzerland

The current version of this document is available on

CTAN://info/lshort
Contents

Thank you! i

Preface iii

1 LATEX Basics 1
1.1 A Bit of History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 TEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Other TEX engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 LATEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Author, Book Designer, and Typesetter . . . . . . 3
1.2.2 Layout Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 LATEX Input Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.1 Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.2 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.3 Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.4 LATEX Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.5 Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3.6 Optional parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Input File Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 A Typical Command Line Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6 Logical Structure of Your Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.1 A Neverending Story of Problems with WYSIWYG
Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.2 Your First Text Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6.3 Your First Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.7 Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8 The Structure of Text and Language . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.9 Files You Might Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
vi CONTENTS

2 Real World LATEX 19

2.1 Line Breaking and Page Breaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.1 Justified Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.2 Hyphenation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Ready-Made Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 Dashes and Hyphens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 Slash (/) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 Ellipsis (…) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6 Ligatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.7 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.8 International Language Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.8.1 Entering Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.8.2 Polyglossia Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.8.3 Right to Left (RTL) languages . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.8.4 Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) . . . . . . . 30
2.9 Simple Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.10 The Space Between Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.11 Titles, Chapters, and Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.12 Cross References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.13 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.14 Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.15 Non-Justified Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.16 Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.16.1 Formal Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.16.2 Foreign Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.16.3 Long Quotations and Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.17 Code Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.17.1 Verbatim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.17.2 The listings Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.17.3 The minted Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.18 Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.18.1 Basic Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.18.2 Long Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.18.3 Advanced Tables and Non-Tables . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.19 Including Graphics and Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.20 Floating Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.20.1 Createing your own Float-Types . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.20.2 The longtable Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.21 Big Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CONTENTS vii

3 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae 75

3.1 Modern Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.2 Single Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.2.1 Math Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae . . . . . . . . 78
3.3.1 Basic Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.3.2 Logic and Set Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.3.3 Greek Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.3.4 Mathematical Fonts and How To Use Them . . . . 82
3.3.5 Big Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.3.6 Math Accents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.3.7 Delimiters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.4 Multiline Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.4.1 Long Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4.2 Multiple Unaligned Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.4.3 Multiple Aligned Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.4.4 Equations as Building Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.4.5 IEEEeqnarray Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.5 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.5.1 Pitfalls of Naïvely Entered Units . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.5.2 Basic Commands of the siunitx Package . . . . . . 98
3.5.3 Other siunitx Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.5.4 Table Columns with Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.6 Matrices and the like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.7 Spacing in Math Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.7.1 Mathematical Object Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.7.2 Manual Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.7.3 Phantoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.8 Theorems and Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3.9 Fiddling with Math Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
3.10 Dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
3.11 More About Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

4 Bibliographies 125
4.1 thebibliography environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.2 biblatex with biber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.2.1 Database files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.2.2 Using biblatex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.2.3 Controlling the bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.2.4 Citing commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.2.5 More about entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
viii CONTENTS

5 Specialities 137
5.1 Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.2 Installing Extra Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.3 LATEX and PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.3.1 Hypertext Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.3.2 Document Metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.3.3 Problems with Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.4 Creating Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.4.1 Basic Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.4.2 Overlay Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.4.3 Customisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.4.4 Handouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

6 Graphics in Your Document 157

6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.2 Basic Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.3 Curves and Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.4 Customizing Paths and Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.5 Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.6 Reusing Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.7 Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

7 Customising LATEX 175

7.1 New Commands, Environments and Packages . . . . . . . 175
7.1.1 New Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.1.2 New Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.1.3 Copying commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
7.1.4 Command-line LATEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.1.5 Your Own Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.2 Fonts and Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.2.1 Font Changing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.2.2 Danger, Will Robinson, Danger . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.2.3 Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.3 Custom Fonts with fontspec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.3.1 Main Document Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.3.2 Specifying Fonts via Filenames . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7.3.3 Defining New Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7.3.4 Math Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
7.4 Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
7.4.1 Coloured Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
7.4.2 Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
7.4.3 Defining Your Own Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
7.4.4 Colourful Pages and Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
7.5 Lengths and Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
CONTENTS ix

7.5.1 LATEX Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

7.5.2 Horizontal Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
7.5.3 Vertical Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
7.5.4 Length Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
7.6 The Layout of the Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7.6.1 Document Class Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7.6.2 Page Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
7.6.3 Line Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
7.6.4 Paragraph Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
7.6.5 Page Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
7.7 Fancy Headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
7.7.1 Basic commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
7.7.2 Contents of the headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.7.3 Advanced commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
7.8 Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.9 Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

A Installing LATEX 225

A.1 What to Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
A.2 Cross Platform Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
A.3 TEX on macOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.3.1 TEX Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.3.2 macOS TEX Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.3.3 Treat yourself to PDFView . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.4 TEX on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.4.1 Getting TEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
A.4.2 A LATEX editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
A.4.3 Document Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
A.4.4 Working with graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
A.5 TEX on Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

B Things You Shouldn’t Use 229

B.1 … for Display Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
B.2 … for Inline Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
B.3 … for Typesetting Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
B.4 … for Defining New Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
B.5 … for Copying Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
B.6 … for Aligning Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
B.7 … for Changing Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
B.8 … for Changing Text Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
B.9 … for Typesetting Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
B.10 … for Printing Verbatim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
B.11 … for Adding a Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
B.12 … for Creating Relations and Operators . . . . . . . . . . 233
x CONTENTS

B.13 … for Changing Math Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

B.14 … for Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

C GNU General Public License, Version 3 237

Bibliography 253

Index 259
List of Figures
List of Tables

1.1 Document Classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.2 Examples of LATEX packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.1 Accents and Special Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.2 Float Placing Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

3.1 Available variants of Greek letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

3.2 Commands that change the font of mathematical symbols.
An empty example field indicates that the Unicode does
not define glyphs in the given set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.3 All functions predefined by LATEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.4 Commands to influence mathematical object classes . . . 113
3.5 Commands for manual math spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.6 Math style commands available in LATEX . . . . . . . . . . 119

5.1 Index Key Syntax Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

7.1 Default font changing commands of LATEX. . . . . . . . . . 186

7.2 Commands changing font size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.3 Absolute point sizes in standard classes. . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.4 Basic colours predefined by the xcolor package. . . . . . . 196
7.5 LATEX Units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.6 Document Class Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.7 The Predefined Page Styles of LATEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
7.8 Possible argument of the \pagenumbering command. . . . 210
Chapter 1

LATEX Basics

The first part of this chapter presents a short overview of the philosophy and
history of LATEX. The second part focuses on the basic structures of a LATEX
document. After reading this chapter, you should have a rough knowledge
of how LATEX works, which you will need to understand the rest of this book.

1.1 A Bit of History

1.1.1 TEX
TEX is a computer program created by Donald E. Knuth [39]. The original
program was aimed at typesetting text and mathematical formulae.
Knuth started writing the TEX typesetting engine in 1977 to explore
the potential of digital printing equipment. These new devices were
beginning to infiltrate the publishing industry at that time. His goal was
to reverse the trend of deteriorating typographical quality that he saw
affecting his own books and articles. The first stable version of TEX was
released in 1982. Version 3.0 was released in 1989 to better support 8-bit
characters and multiple languages. Knuth considered the TEX-design to
be complete with the release of Version 3. TEX is renowned for being
extremely stable, for running on many kinds of computers, and for being
virtually bug free. The version number of TEX is converging to the 𝜋
constant and is now at 3.141592653.
TEX is pronounced “Tech”, with a “ch” as in the German word “Ach”1
or in the Scottish “Loch”’ The “ch” originates from the Greek alphabet
1
In German there are actually two pronunciations for “ch” and one might assume
that the soft “ch” sound from “Pech” would be a more appropriate. When asked
about this by one of the German Wikipedia contributors, Knuth wrote: “I do not get
angry when people pronounce TEX in their favorite way…and in Germany many use a
soft ch because the χ follows the vowel e, not the harder ch that follows the vowel a.
In Russia, ‘tex’ is a very common word, pronounced ‘tyekh’. But I believe the most
2 LATEX Basics

where X is the letter “ch” or “chi”. TEX is also the first syllable of the
Greek word technique. In an ASCII environment, TEX becomes TeX.

1.1.2 Other TEX engines

While the original TEX engine is still fully functional, and can be used
to typeset documents, some of the technical solutions it uses are now
dated. Over the years, the TEX engine has been extended, introducing
many new features. Due to the way TEX is licensed, anyone is free to
produce enhanced versions of TEX, but they must not call the program
TEX anymore. The first widely popular enhanced version of TEX was
𝜀-TEX [79].
The original program produced .dvi files which were meant only to
be sent to a printer. With the proliferation of high resolution displays,
it became more common to read documents directly on-screen without
printing them. This prompted creation of another extension, called
pdfTEX, which could produce standard PDF files. Yet another problem
was the original font format, which was not compatible with modern font
formats. This was in turn solved in XƎTEX.
Today, four TEX engines are actively maintained: the original TEX,
pdfTEX, XƎTEX and LuaTEX. This book recommends using either XƎTEX
or LuaTEX. The examples presented should produce the same results on
both engines (except where otherwise noted). The basic examples will
work with pdfTEX2 too, but we suggest to switch to XƎTEX or LuaTEX
from the start, to avoid complications down the road as you explore more
advanced concepts.

1.1.3 LATEX
LATEX is a set of macros3 for the TEX engine. LATEX was originally
developed by Leslie Lamport for his own use. After some consideration,
he decided to make them more general so that others could use them for
their own projects. Thus, in 1985, the first version of LATEX — named
LATEX 2.09 — was released [42].
The original LATEX became quite popular and promoted the creation
of many extension packages. Unfortunately, some of the more popular
extensions were not compatible with each other. LATEX 2𝜀 managed to
unify many of the extensions, and also provided an extension packaging
system, dealing with third party extensions in a standardised way.
proper pronunciation is heard in Greece, where you have the harsher ch of ach and
Loch.” ([38])
2
The original TEX will not work at all, because LATEX requires an 𝜀-TEX-enabled
engine since 2017 [56].
3
Macros are short names for long lists of instructions, which are created to avoid
retyping the instructions each time they are needed.
1.2 Basics 3

The same year LATEX 2𝜀 was released, the LATEX3 project was started.
Its aim was to create improved standards for writing LATEX documents,
fixing some of the mistakes that were made when defining the initial
LATEX macros. While at the beginning, it was planned to release LATEX3
as a standalone system that was not backward compatible with LATEX 2𝜀 ,
in the end, the consensus was that abandoning the huge collection of
third party packages written for LATEX 2𝜀 , would be a mistake. Thus, the
development team decided that LATEX3 would be slowly backported into
LATEX 2𝜀 format, while avoiding breaking changes as much as reasonably
possible [47].
LATEX is pronounced “Lay-tech” or “Lah-tech.” If you refer to LATEX
in an ASCII environment, you type LaTeX. LATEX 2𝜀 is pronounced “Lay-
tech two e” and typed LaTeX2e. LATEX3 is pronounced “Lay-tech three”
and typed LaTeX3.

1.2 Basics
1.2.1 Author, Book Designer, and Typesetter
To publish something, authors give their typed manuscript to a publishing
company. One of their book designers then decides the layout of the
document (column width, fonts, space before and after headings, …). The
book designer writes his instructions into the manuscript and then gives
it to a typesetter, who typesets the book according to these instructions.
A human book designer tries to find out what the author had in mind
while writing the manuscript. He decides on chapter headings, citations,
examples, formulae, etc., based on his professional knowledge and from
the contents of the manuscript.
In a LATEX environment, LATEX takes the role of the book designer and
uses TEX as its typesetter. But LATEX is “only” a program and therefore
needs more guidance. The author has to provide additional information
to describe the logical structure of his work. This information is written
into the text as “LATEX commands.”
This is quite different from the WYSIWYG4 approach that most
modern word processors, such as MS Word or LibreOffice, take. With
these applications, authors specify the document layout interactively
while typing text into the computer. They can see on the screen how the
final work will look when it is printed.
When using LATEX, it is not normally possible to see the final output
while typing the text, but the final output can be previewed on the screen
after processing the file with LATEX. Corrections can then be made before
actually sending the document to the printer.
4
What You See Is What You Get.
4 LATEX Basics

1.2.2 Layout Design

Typographical design is a craft. Unskilled authors often commit serious
formatting errors by assuming that book design is mostly a question of
aesthetics—“If a document looks good artistically, it is well-designed.”
But as a document has to be read and not hung up in a picture gallery,
the readability and comprehensibility is much more important than the
beautiful look of it. Examples:
• The font size and the numbering of headings have to be chosen to
make the structure of chapters and sections clear to the reader.
• The line length has to be short enough to not strain the eyes of the
reader, while long enough to fill the page beautifully.
With WYSIWYG systems, authors tend to generate aesthetically
pleasing documents with very little, or inconsistent, structure. LATEX
prevents such problems by forcing the author to declare the logical
structure of his document. LATEX then chooses the most suitable layout.

1.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages

When people from the WYSIWYG world meet people who use LATEX, they
often discuss “the advantages of LATEX over a normal word processor”,
or the opposite. The best thing to do when such a discussion starts, is
to keep a low profile, since such discussions like to get out of hand. But
sometimes there is no escaping …
So here is some ammunition. The main advantages of LATEX over normal
word processors are the following:
• Professionally crafted layouts are available, which make a document
really look as if “printed”.
• The typesetting of mathematical formulae is supported out of the
box.
• Users only need to learn a few easy-to-understand commands that
specify the logical structure of a document. They almost never
need to tinker with the actual layout of the document.
• Even complex structures, such as footnotes, references, table of
contents, and bibliographies, can be generated easily.
• Free add-on packages exist for many typographical tasks not directly
supported by basic LATEX. For example, packages are available
to include PostScript graphics or to typeset bibliographies con-
forming to exact standards. Many of these add-on packages are
described in The LATEX Companion [48].
1.3 LATEX Input Files 5

• LATEX encourages authors to write well-structured texts, because

this is how LATEX works—by specifying structure.

• TEX, the formatting engine of LATEX, is highly portable and free.

Therefore, the system runs on almost any hardware platform avail-
able.

LATEX also has some disadvantages, and I guess it’s a bit difficult for me
to find any sensible ones, though I am sure other people can tell you
hundreds ;-).

• LATEX does not work well for people who have sold their souls …

• Although some parameters can be adjusted within a predefined

document layout, the design of a whole new layout is difficult and
takes a lot of time.

• It is very hard to write unstructured and disorganised documents.

• Your hamster might, despite some encouraging first steps, never

be able to fully grasp the concept of Logical Markup.

1.3 LATEX Input Files

The input for LATEX is a plain text file. On Unix-like systems text files
are pretty common. On Windows, one could use Notepad to create a
text file. It contains the text of the document, as well as the commands
that tell LATEX how to typeset the text. For beginners, it is recommended
to use a LATEX IDE.5

1.3.1 Spaces
“Whitespace” characters, such as blank or tab, are treated uniformly as
“space” by LATEX. Several consecutive whitespace characters are treated
as one “space”. Whitespace at the start of a line is generally ignored,
and a single line break has the same effect as “whitespace”.
An empty line between two lines of text defines the end of a paragraph.
Multiple empty lines are treated the same as one empty line. The text
below is an example. On the left-hand side is the text from the input
5
Some examples of these are listed in Appendix A.
6 LATEX Basics

file, and on the right-hand side is the formatted output.

It does not matter whether you It does not matter whether you
enter one or many spaces enter one or many spaces after a
after a word.
word.
An empty line starts a new An empty line starts a new para-
paragraph. graph.

1.3.2 Comments
When LATEX encounters a % character while processing an input file, it
ignores the rest of the present line, the line break, and all whitespace at
the beginning of the next line.
This can be used to write notes into the input file, which will not
show up in the printed version.

This is an % stupid
% Better: instructive <----
This is an example: Supercalifrag-
example: Supercal%
ifragilist% ilisticexpialidocious
icexpialidocious

The % character can also be used to split long input lines where no
whitespace or line breaks are allowed.

1.3.3 Special Characters

The following symbols are reserved characters that have a special meaning
under LATEX. If you enter them directly in your text, they will normally
not print, but rather coerce LATEX to do things you did not intend.

# $ % ^ & _ { } ~ \

As you will see, these characters can be used in your documents all
the same by using a prefix backslash:

\# \$ \% \^{} \& \_ \{ \} \~{}

#$%^&_{}~\
\textbackslash{}

Many more other symbols and many more can be printed with special
commands in mathematical formulae or as accents. The backslash
character \ can not be entered by adding another backslash in front of it
(\\); this sequence is used for line breaking. Use the \textbackslash
command instead.
1.3 LATEX Input Files 7

1.3.4 LATEX Commands

LATEX commands are case-sensitive, and take one of the following two
formats:

• They start with a backslash \ and then have a name consisting of

letters only. Command names are terminated by a space, a number
or any other ‘non-letter’, for example: \emph, \begin, \LaTeX.

• They consist of a backslash and exactly one non-letter, for example:

\\, \{, \".

Many commands also exist in a ‘starred variant’ where a star is appended

to the command name.

1.3.5 Groups
Many commands act on parameters. Parameters are the first things
the command encounters after its name ends in the source file. If the
command name consists of letters, then it ignores following spaces. For
example, if command ‘foo’ accepts two arguments, then

\foo bar

will be read as command ‘foo’ with first argument ‘b’ and second argument
‘a’ followed by the letter ‘r’. In order to pass more than one letter as a
parameter, groups are used.
Groups are delimited by { and }. They tell LATEX to treat the content
between them as a single unit. For example,

\foo{bar}{baz}qux

will be interpreted as command ‘foo’ with first argument ‘bar’ and second
argument ‘baz’ followed by text ‘qux’. Always using groups when passing
parameters makes the source code easier to read.
Commands that do not take any parameters still ignore any spaces
after them. The easiest way to stop this behaviour, is to follow them by
an empty group.

New \TeX users may miss New TEXusers may miss the
the whitespace whitespace after a command.
after a command. % renders wrong
Experienced \TeX{} users are
Experienced TEX users are
\TeX nicians, and know how to use TEXnicians, and know how to
whitespace. % renders correct use whitespace.
8 LATEX Basics

1.3.6 Optional parameters

Many LATEX commands also accept optional parameters. The optional
parameters are normally enclosed within square brackets [ ], and usually
come right after the command name. The following notation will often be
used within this book to denote a command with one optional parameter
and one required parameter:
\command[〈optional parameter〉]{〈parameter〉}

1.4 Input File Structure

When LATEX processes an input file, it expects it to follow a certain
structure. Input files must start with the command
\documentclass{〈class〉}
The 〈class〉 argument specifies what sort of document you intend to
write. Available classes are listed in Table 1.1. Usually the article class is
sufficient.
Now begins an area of the input file that is called the preamble. Inside
it, you add commands to influence the style of the whole document, or
load packages that add new features to the LATEX system. To load such
a package, you use the command
\usepackage{〈package〉}
When the preamble is finished, you start the body of the text with
the command
\begin{document}
Inside the body, you enter the text mixed with some useful LATEX
commands. Mark the end of the document with the

Table 1.1: Document Classes.

Class Description
article for articles in scientific journals, short reports,
and any other short document.
proc a class for proceedings based on the article class.
report for longer reports. containing several chapters,
small books, PhD theses, …
book for real books.
beamer for presentations.
letter for letters.
1.5 A Typical Command Line Session 9

\end{document}

command, which tells LATEX to call it a day. Anything that follows this
command will be ignored by LATEX.
Listing 1.1 shows the contents of a minimal LATEX file. A slightly
more complicated input file is given in Listing 1.2.

1.5 A Typical Command Line Session

I bet you must be dying to try out the neat small LATEX input file shown
on page 10. Here is some help: LATEX itself comes without a GUI or
fancy buttons to press. It is just a program that crunches away at your
input file. Some LATEX installations feature a graphical front-end where
there is a LATEX button to start compiling your input file. On other
systems, there might be some typing involved, so here is how to coax
LATEX into compiling your input file on a text based system. Please
note: this description assumes that a working LATEX installation already
sits on your computer. If this is not the case, you may want to look at
Appendix A on page 225 first.

1. Edit/Create your LATEX input file. This file must be plain text.
On Unix-like systems, most of the editors will create just that. On
Windows, you might want to make sure that you save the file in
Plain Text format. When picking a name for your file, make sure
it bears the extension .tex.

2. Open a shell or cmd window, cd to the directory where your input

file is located and run LATEX on your input file using either

xelatex foo.tex

or

lualatex foo.tex

If successful, you will end up with a .pdf file. It may be necessary

to run LATEX several times to get the table of contents and all internal
references right. When your input file has a bug, LATEX will tell you
about it and stop processing your input file. Type ctrl-D to get back
to the command line.
10 LATEX Basics

Small is beauti-
ful.

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
Small is beautiful.
\end{document}

Listing 1.1: A Minimal LATEX File.

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}

\author{H.~Partl}
Minimalism
\title{Minimalism}
H. Partl

\begin{document} May 12, 2025

\maketitle
\tableofcontents Contents
1 Some Interesting Words 1

\section{Some Interesting Words} 2 Goodbye World 1

Well, and here begins my lovely 1 Some Interesting Words

article. Well, and here begins my lovely article.

\section{Goodbye World} 2 Goodbye World

\ldots{} and here it ends. … and here it ends.

1
\end{document}

Listing 1.2: Example of a realistic journal article. Note that all the
commands you see in this example will be explained later.
1.6 Logical Structure of Your Document 11

1.6 Logical Structure of Your Document

In subsection 1.2.2, we mentioned that one of the differences between
LATEX and WYSIWYG editors is that in LATEX you write the document
by specifying its logical structure. This section will explore this idea
in more detail by presenting a problem and demonstrating how it can
be solved with logical markup. If you are familiar with the idea (for
example, you have worked with HTML and CSS), you can safely skip
this section.

1.6.1 A Neverending Story of Problems with WYSIWYG

Editors
Let us imagine that you are writing a novel in your favourite WYSIWYG
editor. In this book, there are two parallel storylines happening in
different dimensions. In order to communicate to the reader which of
the dimensions is currently described, you have decided to use different
colours for them. Thus, your book may look like this:
“No, thou canst leave me!” shouted Peredur to the
Launcelot.
“I have to” he replied. “Destiny calls upon me. But we
shall meet again. I promise.”
Shao felt inexplicable sadness, as if they had just lost
something or someone important to them.
“Are you okay?” asked Ashby while eating her slurry.
“You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine, just tired.”
After you finish your first draft, you decided to email it over to your
friend so they can share their opinion about it. However, it turns out
that your friend’s printer can only print black and white, so they cannot
print the file you sent them.
After some consideration, you decided to simply use cursive font for
one dimension, while keeping upright font for the other. After some
time of manually changing each paragraph of your book to match the
correct font, you remembered that you have already used cursive font for
emphasis in some cases, such as “Are you gonna eat that?”. Continuing
with your current approach you, would also have to check each paragraph
for emphasis and change it to something else before changing the font to
cursive.
The above problems with changing the style of paragraphs are caused
by the fact that your WYSIWYG editor doesn’t know that all green
paragraphs somehow represent common concept (events in one dimen-
sion). It just remembers that you want these words in green, those in
12 LATEX Basics

red and that one in cursive. Thus, changing it to a different style means
going over everything again, and manually changing the style of each
and every paragraph and word.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could somehow communicate to your editor
“these paragraphs are happening in dimension A”, and then simply decide
that all such paragraphs are green or use a different font? This is exactly
what logical markup does.

1.6.2 Your First Text Command

To see how this example would play out differently in LATEX, let’s intro-
duce our first text command:

\emph{〈text〉}

It stands for “emphasise” and does just that: it emphasises the 〈text〉 it
received as a parameter.

Are you gonna eat \emph{that}? Are you gonna eat that?

If you write the code on the left in the body of your document (you can
use Listing 1.1 as a template), you will get the output on the right in
the PDF file you produce.
As you can see, LATEX typesets the emphasised text in cursive font
by default. It is important to understand that the \emph command does
not mean “write this text in cursive”. It is much smarter than that. To
illustrate this, let’s see how \emph behaves when used inside text that is
already in cursive

Are you gonna eat \emph{that}? Are you gonna eat that?

As you can see, in this case it changed the font back to upright.
Remember that you should only use the \emph command to emphasise
text and nothing else, even if the resulting output would be the same
(for example cursive font). If you stick to this rule, then if you later
decide to use a different form of emphasis, you can simply change the
definition of the \emph command and other things that just happened to
be in cursive will be unaffected.

Are you gonna eat \emph{that}? Are you gonna eat that?
1.7 Packages 13

1.6.3 Your First Environment

If you have played with the \emph command a bit, you may have noticed
that trying to write several paragraphs inside it results in an error. This
is the case for most LATEX commands. The reason is that putting a lot
of text inside their parameters could result in poor performance and
excessive memory consumption. In order to overcome that, LATEX uses a
concept of environments.
Environments are started using the \begin command and ended
using the \end command. You have already seen one environment — the
document environment that holds the body of the document. This one
is present exactly once in every LATEX document. To explore the concept
a bit, let’s introduce another one that is not very useful in practice, but
is easy to understand: the em environment, short for “emphasise”.6

\begin{em}
This paragraph is emphasised.
This paragraph is emphasised.
This one is \emph{too}. This one is too.
\end{em}

1.6.4 Summary
Using logical markup, we can embed the logical structure of our document
inside the document itself. Instead of saying “write this in green and
write this word in cursive”, we say “this text happens in dimension A
and this word is emphasised”. The style of all text in ‘dimension A’, or
of emphasised words, can be decided later and easily changed.
If you started writing your hypothetical novel using LATEX instead
of a WYSIWYG editor, and used custom environments for typesetting
events in different dimensions, and \emph for emphasis, then changing it
to a black and white version would come down to simply changing the
definition of the custom environments.
Before learning how to define your own commands and environments,
this book will introduce you to many of the standard ones that are
provided either by LATEX itself or third-party packages.

1.7 Packages
While writing your document, you will probably find that there are
some areas where basic LATEX cannot solve your problem. If you want
6
It is not useful because there is very little reason to emphasise more than one
paragraph. In order to make the emphasis effective, it should be used with restraint.
After all, if everything is emphasised then nothing is.
14 LATEX Basics

to include graphics, coloured text or source code from a file in your

document, then you need to enhance the capabilities of LATEX. Such
enhancements are called packages. Packages are activated with the

\usepackage[〈options〉]{〈package〉}

command, where 〈package〉 is the name of the package and 〈options〉

is a list of keywords that trigger special features in the package. The
\usepackage command goes into the preamble of the document. See
Section 1.4 for details.
This book will describe some packages that the authors thought
were especially useful and should be installed along with your LATEX
distribution. See Table 1.2 for some examples. The versions installed
on your system may be different than the ones described in this book,
which in turn may lead to differences in the produced output. Along
with each package’s description we will also point to its entry in our
bibliography. In the bibliography entry, you will find information about
the package version that was used when writing this booklet. You can
check the versions of all packages used in a document by looking at the
.log file that is produced when compiling it. If the package versions
aren’t very different (usually the first number is the most important)
then you should be fine.
Modern LATEX distributions come with many packages preinstalled.
If you are working on a Unix-like system, try using the command texdoc
for accessing package documentation. Alternatively you can search for
the package on https://www.ctan.org/, and its documentation should
be present under the ‘Documentation’ field.

1.8 The Structure of Text and Language

By Hanspeter Schmid <hanspi@schmid-werren.ch>

The main point of writing a text, is to convey ideas, information, or

knowledge to the reader. The reader will understand the text better
if these ideas are well-structured, and will see and feel this structure
much better if the typographical form reflects the logical and semantic
structure of the content.
As we have seen, LATEX is different from other typesetting systems
in that you just have to tell it the logical and semantic structure of a
text. It then derives the typographical form of the text according to the
“rules” given in the document class file and in various style files.
The most important text unit in LATEX (and in typography) is the
paragraph. We call it “text unit” because a paragraph is the typographical
form that should reflect one coherent thought, or one idea. Therefore, if a
new thought begins, a new paragraph should begin, and if not, only line
1.8 The Structure of Text and Language 15

Table 1.2: Examples of LATEX packages.

Package Description
amsmath [55] Provides additional commands for typesetting mathe-
matical symbols, and environments for aligning equa-
tions. Described in Chapter 3.
polyglossia [15] Makes it easy to write LATEX documents in languages
other than English, or even in multiple languages. De-
scribed in Section 2.8.
booktabs [17] Provides commands for producing beautifully format-
ted tables for your document. Described in Sec-
tion 2.18.
biblatex [44] Provides commands for automatically specifying and
producing a bibliography for your document. De-
scribed in Chapter 4.
makeidx [76] Provides commands for producing indexes. Described
in Section 5.1.
fancyhdr [50] Lets you easily customise page headers and footers.
Described in Section 7.7.
beamer [74] Provides a document class that changes output to pro-
duce presentations and provides command to typeset
slides. Described in Section 5.4.
16 LATEX Basics

breaks should be used. If in doubt about paragraph breaks, think about

your text as a conveyor of ideas and thoughts. If you have a paragraph
break, but the old thought continues, it should be removed. If some
totally new line of thought occurs in the same paragraph, then it should
be broken.
Most people completely underestimate the importance of well-placed
paragraph breaks. Many people do not even know what the meaning
of a paragraph break is, or, especially in LATEX, introduce paragraph
breaks without knowing it. The latter mistake is especially easy to
make if equations are used in the text. You have already learned in
subsection 1.3.1 that paragraph breaks are introduced by leaving an
empty line in the source code. Look at the following examples, and
figure out why sometimes empty lines (paragraph breaks) are used before
and after the equation, and sometimes not. (Ignore the contents of the
equations themselves as they are not important.)

% Example 1
…when Einstein intro-
\ldots when Einstein introduced
duced his formula
his formula
\begin{equation} e = m · c2 , (1)
e = m \cdot c^2 \; ,
\end{equation} which is at the same time the
which is at the same time the most widely known and the
most widely known and the least least well understood physi-
well understood physical formula. cal formula.

1
% Example 2
…from which follows
\ldots from which follows
Kirchhoff’s current law:
Kirchhoff's current law:
\begin{equation} n
(1)
X
\sum_{k=1}^{n} I_k = 0 \; . Ik = 0 .
\end{equation} k=1

Kirchhoff’s voltage law

Kirchhoff's voltage law can
can be derived …
be derived \ldots

1
% Example 3
…which has several ad-
\ldots which has several
vantages.
advantages.

\begin{equation} ID = IF − IR (1)
I_D = I_F - I_R
\end{equation} is the core of a very different
is the core of a very different transistor model. …
transistor model. \ldots

1
1.9 Files You Might Encounter 17

The next smaller text unit is the sentence. In English texts, there
is a larger space after a period that ends a sentence than after one that
ends an abbreviation. LATEX tries to figure out which one you wanted to
have. If LATEX gets it wrong, you must tell it what you want. This is
explained later in the next chapter.
The structuring of text even extends to parts of sentences. Most lan-
guages have very complicated punctuation rules, but in many languages
(including German and English), you will get almost every comma right
if you remember what it represents: a short stop in the flow of language.
If you are not sure about where to put a comma, read the sentence aloud
and take a short breath at every comma. If this feels awkward at some
place, delete that comma; if you feel the urge to breathe (or make a short
stop) at some other place, insert a comma.
Finally, the paragraphs of a text should also be structured logically
at a higher level, by putting them into chapters, sections, subsections,
and so on.

1.9 Files You Might Encounter

When you work with LATEX, you will soon find yourself in a maze of
files with various extensions and probably no clue. The following list
explains the various file types you might encounter when working with
TEX. Please note that this table does not claim to be a complete list
of extensions, but if you find one missing that you think is important,
please drop me a line.

.tex LATEX or TEX input file. Can be compiled with latex.

.sty LATEX Macro package. Load this into your LATEX document using
the \usepackage command.

.dtx Documented TEX. This is the main distribution format for LATEX
style files. If you process a .dtx file you get documented macro
code of the LATEX package contained in the .dtx file.

.ins The installer for the files contained in the matching .dtx file. If
you download a LATEX package from the net, you will normally get
a .dtx and a .ins file. Run LATEX on the .ins file to unpack the
.dtx file.

.cls Class files define what your document looks like. They are selected
with the \documentclass command.

.fd Font description file, telling LATEX about new fonts.

18 LATEX Basics

The following files are generated when you run LATEX on your input
file:

.log Gives a detailed account of what happened during the last compiler
run.

.toc Stores all your section headers. It gets read in for the next compiler
run and is used to produce the table of contents.

.lof This is like .toc, but for the list of figures.

.lot Same again, for the list of tables.

.aux Another file that transports information from one compiler run
to the next. Among other things, the .aux file is used to store
information associated with cross-references.

.idx If your document contains an index, LATEX stores all the words
that go into the index in this file. Process this file with makeindex.
Refer to Section 5.1 on page 137 for more information on indexing.

.ind The processed .idx file, ready for inclusion into your document on
the next compile cycle.

.ilg Log file, telling what makeindex did.

Chapter 2

Real World LATEX

After reading the previous chapter, you should have some general idea about
LATEX. This chapter will fill in the remaining structure you will need to know
in order to produce real world documents.

2.1 Line Breaking and Page Breaking

2.1.1 Justified Paragraphs

Books are often typeset with each line having the same length. LATEX
inserts the necessary line breaks and spaces between words by optimising
the contents of a whole paragraph. If necessary, it also hyphenates words
that would not fit comfortably on a line. How the paragraphs are typeset
depends on the document class. Normally the first line of a paragraph
is indented, and there is no additional space between two paragraphs.
Refer to subsection 7.6.4 for more information.
In special cases it might be necessary to order LATEX to break a line.

\\[〈length〉] or \newline

starts a new line without starting a new paragraph. The optional 〈length〉
20 Real World LATEX

argument adds additional space after the line.

\\*[〈length〉]
additionally prohibits a page break after the forced line break.

\newpage
starts a new page.

\linebreak[〈n〉]
\nolinebreak[〈n〉]
\pagebreak[〈n〉]
\nopagebreak[〈n〉]

suggest places where a break may (or may not) happen. They enable the
author to influence their actions with the optional argument n, which
can be set to a number between zero and four. By setting n to a value
below 4, you leave LATEX the option of ignoring your command if the
result would look very bad. Do not confuse these “break” commands
with the “new” commands. Even when you give a “break” command,
LATEX still tries to even out the right border of the line and the total
length of the page. As described in the next paragraph, this can lead to
unpleasant gaps in your text. If you really want to start a “new line” or
a “new page”, then use the corresponding command. Guess their names!

Start a new line here,

Start a new line here,\\ and also here but make it
and also here but make bigger.
it bigger.\\[1cm]
Do a linebreak here\linebreak
and maybe here, \linebreak[1]
but no pressure. Do a linebreak here
Linebreak here\linebreak[3] and maybe here, but no
would be \emph{really} cool. pressure. Linebreak here
would be really cool.

LATEX always tries to produce the best line breaks possible. If it

cannot find a way to break the lines in a manner that meets its high
standards, it lets one line stick out on the right of the paragraph. LATEX
then complains (“overfull hbox”) while processing the input file. This
happens most often when LATEX cannot find a suitable place to hyphenate
a word.1 Instruct LATEX to lower its standards a little by giving the
1
Although LATEX gives you a warning when that happens (Overfull \hbox) and
displays the offending line, such lines are not always easy to find. If you use the option
draft in the \documentclass command, these lines will be marked with a thick black
line on the right margin.
2.1 Line Breaking and Page Breaking 21

\sloppy command. It prevents such over-long lines by increasing the

inter-word spacing—even if the final output is not optimal. In this case
a warning (“underfull hbox”) is given to the user. In most such cases
the result doesn’t look very good. The command \fussy brings LATEX
back to its default behaviour.

2.1.2 Hyphenation

LATEX hyphenates words whenever necessary. If the hyphenation algo-

rithm does not find the correct hyphenation points, remedy the situation
by using the following commands to tell TEX about the exception.
The command

\hyphenation{〈word list〉}

causes the words listed in the argument to be hyphenated only at the

points marked by ‘-’. The argument of the command should only contain
words built from normal letters, or rather glyphs that are considered to
be normal letters by LATEX. The hyphenation hints are stored for the
language that is active when the hyphenation command occurs. This
means that if you place a hyphenation command into the preamble
of your document, it will influence the English language hyphenation.
If you place the command after the \begin{document} and you are
using a package for national language support, like polyglossia, then
the hyphenation hints will be active in the language activated through
polyglossia.
The example below allows the word “locomotion” to be hyphenated,
as well as “Locomotion”, and it prevents “FORTRAN”, “Fortran” and
“fortran” from being hyphenated at all. No special characters or symbols
are allowed in the argument.

\hyphenation{FORTRAN Lo-co-mo-tion}

The command \- inserts a discretionary hyphen into a word. This

also becomes the only point hyphenation is allowed in this word. This
command is especially useful for words containing special characters,
because LATEX does not automatically hyphenate them.

I think this is: su\-per\-%

I think this is: supercalifragilistic-
cal\-i\-frag\-i\-lis\-tic\-%
ex\-pi\-al\-i\-do\-cious expialidocious
22 Real World LATEX

Several words can be kept together on one line with the command

\mbox{〈text〉}

It causes its argument to be kept together under all circumstances.

My phone number will

change soon. It will My phone number will change
be \mbox{0116 291 2319}.
soon. It will be 0116 291 2319.
The parameter The parameter [filename] should
\mbox{[filename]} should contain the name of the file.
contain the name of the file.

2.2 Ready-Made Strings

In some of the examples on the previous pages, you have seen some very
simple LATEX commands for typesetting special text strings:

Command Example Description

\today May 12, 2025 Current date
\TeX TEX Your favourite typesetter
\LaTeX LATEX The Name of the Game
\LaTeXe LATEX 2𝜀 The current incarnation

2.3 Dashes and Hyphens

LATEX knows four kinds of dashes. You access three of them with different
numbers of consecutive dashes. The fourth sign is actually not a dash at
all—it is the mathematical minus sign. It is typed automatically when
inside math mode, as described later in Chapter 3.

daughter-in-law, X-rated\\ daughter-in-law, X-rated

pages 13--67\\ pages 13–67
yes---or no? yes—or no?

The names for these dashes are: ‘-’ hyphen, ‘–’ en-dash and ‘—’
em-dash. Hyphens are used when writing compound words (and inserted
automatically by LATEX when splitting a single word), en-dashes are used
for writing a range of numbers, and em-dashes are used to mark an
interruption in speech or an abrupt change of thought.
2.4 Slash (/) 23

2.4 Slash (/)

In order to typeset a slash between two words, one can simply type, for
example, read/write, but this makes LATEX treat the two words as one.
Hyphenation is disabled by the slash character (see subsection 2.1.2),
so there may be ‘overfull’ errors. To overcome this, use \slash. For
example, type

read\slash write

which allows hyphenation. Normal ‘/’ characters may be still used for
inline fractions. The typesetting of units, such as MiB/s, will be described
in Section 3.5.

2.5 Ellipsis (…)

On a typewriter, a comma or a period takes the same amount of space
as any other letter. In book printing, these characters occupy only a
little space and are set very close to the preceding letter. Therefore,
entering ‘ellipsis’ by just typing three dots would produce the wrong
result. Instead, there is a special command for these dots. It is called

\ldots (low dots)

Not like this ...

but like this:\\ Not like this ... but like this:
New York, Tokyo, New York, Tokyo, Budapest, …
Budapest, \ldots

2.6 Ligatures
Some letter combinations are typeset not just by setting the different
letters one after the other, but by actually using special symbols.

ff fi fl ffi … instead of ff fi fl ffi …

These so-called ligatures can be prohibited by inserting an \mbox{}

between the two letters in question. This might be necessary with words
built from two words.

Not shelfful\\ Not shelfful

but shelf\mbox{}ful
but shelfful
24 Real World LATEX

2.7 Abstract
In scientific publications, it is customary to start with an abstract which
gives the reader a quick overview of what to expect. LATEX provides the
abstract environment for this purpose. Normally abstract is used in
documents typeset with the article document class.

\begin{abstract} Abstract
This paper will talk about This paper
abstracts. will talk about
\end{abstract} abstracts.

Abstracts are very impor-

Abstracts are very important \ldots
tant …

1
2.8 International Language Support
By Axel Kielhorn <A.Kielhorn@web.de>

When you write documents in languages other than English, there are
three areas where LATEX has to be configured appropriately:

1. All automatically generated text strings (“Table of Contents”, “List

of Figures”, …) have to be adapted to the new language.

2. LATEX needs to know the hyphenation rules for the current language.

3. Language-specific typographic rules. For example, in French there

is a mandatory space before each colon character (:).

The package polyglossia [15] is a replacement for the venerable babel

package. It takes care of the hyphenation patterns and automatically-
generated text strings in your documents. Polyglossia works only with
the XƎTEX and LuaTEX engines, so if you are using pdfTEX you’ll have
to stick with babel.

2.8.1 Entering Characters

Early versions of TEX were only intended to support the English language,
and thus assumed that source files were ASCII encoded; that is, in a
format that only supports the Latin alphabet plus few symbols common
on computers. With the popularization of LATEX outside the English-
speaking world, the situation has slowly improved. These days TEX
engines speak UTF-8 natively, which considerably eases the usage of
2.8 International Language Support 25

LATEX when typesetting non-English documents. Thus, inputting non-

English characters is as easy as:

Hôtel, naïve, élève, \\ Hôtel, naïve, élève,

smørrebrød, ¡Señorita!, \\ smørrebrød, ¡Señorita!,
Schönbrunner Schloß, Żółć Schönbrunner Schloß, Żółć

If your keyboard does not have all the special characters, you can
also enter accents and special characters via dedicated commands. The
commands for adding accents to characters are listed in Table 2.1. Keep
in mind that while older TEX engines worked by combining accents with
existing letters manually, nowadays they simply look up the correct glyph
in the font. This means that accents and characters can no longer be
freely combined, and output is produced only if the font supports the
combination. The example above would look like this if entered on an
english keyboard:

H\^otel, na\"{\i}ve, \'el\`eve, \\ Hôtel, naïve, élève,

sm{\o}rrebr{\o}d, !`Se\~norita!, \\ smørrebrød, ¡Señorita!,
Sch\"onbrunner Schlo\ss, \.Z\'o\l\'c Schönbrunner Schloß, Żółć

The Unicode standard defines over 100 000 glyphs for use across many
languages and specialized disciplines. Currently, no font implements the
whole set, so if you are working with a lot of non-Latin characters you will,
sooner or later, find one that is not supported by your currently selected
font. In such cases, LATEX will not typeset the requested character, and
prints a “Missing character” warning in its log. Because such warnings
are easy to overlook, we recommend you put

Table 2.1: Accents and Special Characters.

Code Result Code Result Code Result Code Result

\`o ò \'o ó \^o ô \~o õ
\=o ō \.o ȯ \"o ö \c c ç
\u o ŏ \v o ǒ \H o ő \k a ą
\d o ọ \b o o̲ \t oo o o \r o o̊
\oe œ \OE Œ \ae æ \AE Æ
\aa å \AA Å
\o ø \O Ø \l ł \L Ł
\i ı \j ȷ !` ¡ ?` ¿
26 Real World LATEX

\tracinglostchars=3
somewhere in the preamble of the document. This command will elevate
the warnings to error status, so they will be much harder to miss.

2.8.2 Polyglossia Usage

Writing in different languages is easy. Just load the polyglossia package
and specify the languages in the preamble using
\setdefaultlanguage[〈options〉]{〈language〉}
\setotherlanguage[〈options〉]{〈language〉}
where 〈language〉 is either the name of the language to use, such as
gaelic or japanese, or its BCP-47 tag such as de-CH or ru-luna1918.
When specifying language via its name you may pass additional 〈op-
tions〉 to decide between its variants, for example variant=british or
script=Arabic. Note that when loading a language, either via tag or
with options, all variants are loaded and the tag/options specified are
just the defaults. For a full list of supported languages and variants, see
the polyglossia package documentation.
To write a paragraph in German, you can use the german environment:

% In the preamble
\setdefaultlanguage{english}
\setotherlanguage{german}
% ...
Today is not \today.
Today is not January 19, 3022.
Heute ist nicht 19. Januar 3022.
\begin{german}
Heute ist nicht \today.
\end{german}

You can also use lang environment, which accepts the 〈language〉 as
its first argument. This is especially useful if you prefer to specify the
language via a BCP-47 tag, since environment names cannot contain the
‘-’ symbol.

\begin{lang}{de-DE}
Heute ist nicht \today. Heute ist nicht 19. Januar 3022.
\end{lang}

You can also pass 〈options〉 to the environment.

\begin{german}[
script=blackletter
] Heute ist nicht 17. Auguſt 3023.
Heute ist nicht \today.
\end{german}
2.8 International Language Support 27

If you just need a word or short phrase in a foreign language, you

can use either the

\textlanguage[〈options〉]{〈text〉}
or the

\textlang[〈options〉]{〈language〉}{〈text〉}
command:
In Austria they write
\textlang[variant=austrian]{de}{Jänner}
instead of \textgerman{Januar}. And in the olden
days \textlang{de}{August} was written
\textgerman[script=blackletter]{Auguſt}.

In Austria they write Jänner instead of Januar. And in

the olden days August was written Auguſt.

For languages that are not very different from English, the results
are not very impressive. We get correct hyphenation, and some context-
aware commands, such as \today, adjust their output. However, the
further we stray from English, the more useful these commands become.
Sometimes the font used in the main document does not contain
glyphs required by the second language. The default Latin Modern font,
for example, does not contain Cyrillic letters. The solution is to define a
custom font that will be used for that language.
To set the fonts, use the preamble command

\newfontfamily{\〈familyname〉}[〈options〉]{〈font〉}

from the fontspec package,2 which is described in much more detail in

Section 7.3. When changing the text language, polyglossia checks whether
a font family named languagefont exists, and switches to that if it’s
available.
If you are happy with the default Latin Modern font, you may want
to try the “CMU” font, which contains some additional Cyrillic or Greek
glyphs while looking nearly identical to Latin Modern.3 If you have
the CMU font installed in your system (unlikely), or if you are using
LuaLATEX, then you can simply write
\newfontfamily\greekfont{CMU Serif}
2
fontspec is loaded automatically by polyglossia, so you don’t need to add it to the
preamble of your document.
3
Both fonts are actually based on the Computer Modern font, designed by Donald
Knuth for the first TEX versions.
28 Real World LATEX

If you are using XƎLATEX and don’t have the font installed, then you
need to specify the font by its file name.
\newfontfamily\greekfont[
Extension=.otf, UprightFont=*rm, ItalicFont=*ti,
BoldFont=*bx, BoldItalicFont=*bi,
]{Cm}
With the appropriate fonts loaded, you can now write:

% In the preamble (LuaLaTeX)

\setotherlanguage{greek}
\newfontfamily\greekfont{CMU Serif}
\setotherlanguage{russian}
\newfontfamily\russianfont{CMU Serif}
% ...

\textrussian{Правда} is a Russian newspaper.

\textlang{greek}{ἀλήθεια} is truth or disclosure in
philosophy.

Правда is a Russian newspaper. ἀλήθεια is truth or

disclosure in philosophy.

LATEX actually uses three different fonts for typesetting documents.

The above commands only set the default serif font used for the body
text. The other fonts are sans serif (used in presentation slides) and
monospace (used when displaying code). In order to adjust the fonts
used for a particular language, define the languagefontsf family for
sans serif, and languagefonttt for monospace. For example, to define
CMU as the font for Greek in all three fonts when using LuaLATEX, you
would write
\newfontfamily\greekfont{CMU Serif}
\newfontfamily\greekfontsf{CMU Sans Serif}
\newfontfamily\greekfonttt{CMU Typewriter Text}
or in XƎLATEX
\newfontfamily\greekfont[
Extension=.otf, UprightFont=*rm, ItalicFont=*ti,
BoldFont=*bx, BoldItalicFont=*bi,
]{cmun}
\newfontfamily\greekfontsf[
Extension=.otf, UprightFont=*ss, ItalicFont=*si,
BoldFont=*sx, BoldItalicFont=*so,
]{cmun}
2.8 International Language Support 29

\newfontfamily\greekfonttt[
Extension=.otf, UprightFont=*btl, ItalicFont=*bto,
BoldFont=*tb, BoldItalicFont=*tx,
]{cmun}
The commands above redefine the fonts for languages used as ‘other’
in polyglossia. If you want to influence the font of the main document
language, use \setmainfont, \setsansfont and \setmonofont. These
work the same way, but without the 〈familyname〉 argument.
\setmainfont{CMU Serif}
\setsansfont{CMU Sans Serif}
\setmonofont{CMU Typewriter Text}
If you want to learn even more about fonts, have a look at Section 7.3.

2.8.3 Right to Left (RTL) languages

Some languages are written left to right, others are written right to
left (RTL). In order to support RTL languages, polyglossia needs the
bidi [33] package.4 The bidi package should be the last package you
load; even after hyperref, which is otherwise usually the last package.
(Since polyglossia loads bidi, this means that polyglossia should be the
last package loaded.)
To typeset Arabic, you can use the Iran Nastaliq font [72] developed
by the SCICT and updated by Mohammad Saleh Souzanchi.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{polyglossia} ‫هذا نص عربي‬

\setdefaultlanguage{arabic}
\newfontfamily\arabicfont{Iran Nastaliq}

\begin{document} ١
‫هذا نص عربي‬
\end{document}

The package xepersian [34]5 offers support for the Persian language.
It supplies Persian LATEX-commands that allows you to enter commands
like \section in Persian, which makes this really attractive to native
speakers. xepersian is the only package that supports kashida with
XƎLATEX. A package for Syriac, which uses a similar algorithm, is under
development.
4
bidi supports only the XƎTEX engine. If you use LuaTEX, polyglossia uses the
luabidi [35] package, but keep in mind that it is much more limited than bidi.
5
Works only with XƎLATEX.
30 Real World LATEX

The arabxetex [13] package supports several languages with an Arabic

script:

• arab (Arabic)

• persian

• urdu

• sindhi

• pashto

• ottoman (turk)

• kurdish

• kashmiri

• malay (jawi)

• uighur

It offers a font mapping that enables XƎLATEX to process input using the
ArabTEX ASCII transcription.
There is no package available for Hebrew, because none is needed.
The Hebrew support in polyglossia should be sufficient, but you do need
a suitable font with real Unicode Hebrew. An extension to the default
Latin Modern font, called New Computer Modern [82], adds, among
other things, a full Hebrew character set. It’s distributed with TEXLive,
so there is a good chance you already have it. Another Hebrew font,
available under the SIL Open Font License, is Ezra SIL [78].

2.8.4 Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK)

The package xeCJK [71]6 takes care of font selection and punctuation for
these languages.

2.9 Simple Commands

You may find yourself retyping the same name/logo/complicated text in
multiple places of your documents. This is tedious and bears the risk of
introducing typos. Brand logos also often have special casing rules, such
as all uppercase or starting with a lowercase letter even at the beginning
of the sentence.
6
Works only with XƎLATEX.
2.9 Simple Commands 31

We have already seen a solution for this problem—commands. For

example, to refer to LATEX, which uses a rather complicated logo within
text, you don’t need to insert pictures or manually space letters—just
use the \LaTeX command. In LATEX, you can define your own commands
to replace complicated sequences producing given text.
For example, let’s imagine that you are writing an article about Polish
notation. In doing so, you may have to refer to the the inventor of the
notation, Jan Łukasiewicz. His last name may not be easy to remember
or type for someone who does not speak Polish. It also starts with letter
‘Ł’, which may not be easily accessible on your keyboard, so you will
have to use \L, making the code less readable.
LATEX enables you to define your own commands using the

\NewDocumentCommand{\〈name〉}{}{〈definition〉}

command. The 〈name〉 is the name of the command that you will use in
the code, while the 〈definition〉 is the output it will produce. The second
argument is left empty for now, but will be explored in subsection 7.1.1.

\NewDocumentCommand{\lukas}{}{%
Łukasiewicz%
} Polish notation (also known as
Łukasiewicz notation, due to its
Polish notation (also known as inventor, Jan Łukasiewicz) is a
\lukas{} notation, due to its mathematical notation …
inventor, Jan \lukas) is a
mathematical notation \ldots{}

In the example above, we have used % comments to avoid introducing

spaces. If you need a refresher on this technique, refer to subsection 1.3.2.
While the ‘Ł’ character is available in LATEX from the \L command,
this is not the case for all unicode characters. For example, the default
font contains a glyph for the commercial minus sign (⁒), used in some
German speaking countries, but LATEX does not define a command to
enter it. If you want to avoid continuously copy-pasting it into your code,
you can set up a command to typeset it for you.

\NewDocumentCommand{%
\comminus}{}{⁒}
Now I can type ⁒ or ⁒.
Now I can type ⁒ or \comminus.

Yet another use is to define a command for a simple string you may
want to change later. For example, let’s imagine you are writing a novel,
but are not so sure about your protagonist’s name. You can define a
command for it, and in the event you change your mind, you need only
32 Real World LATEX

modify it in one place instead of hunting down every single instance

throughout the book.

\NewDocumentCommand{%
\hero}{}{Launcelot} Launcelot unsheathed his sword.
\hero{} unsheathed his sword.
He had a bad feeling about this
He had a bad feeling about place from the start.
this place from the start.

The \NewDocumentCommand checks if a command with the given name

is already defined, and raises an error if it is. This means you can freely
use it to define your own commands without worrying about breaking
internal commands used by LATEX or its packages. But sometimes,
redefining existing commands is actually what you want. For example,
many packages allow customisation in this way. In this, case you should
use \RenewDocumentCommand. It works the same way as the former
command, but raises an error if a command with the given name is not
already defined.

\RenewDocumentCommand{%
\ldots}{}{...}
I like my ellipsis looking uglier ...
I like my ellipsis looking
uglier \ldots

These commands can be used with nearly all features of LATEX.

Although we have only dealt with text here, the same commands may be
used to insert pictures or mathematical expressions. They are especially
useful in the latter case, since mathematical symbols are often repurposed
to mean different things, and consistency of their usage is very important.
Note that these commands are actually much more powerful than
described here. Their full capabilities are discussed in subsection 7.1.1.

2.10 The Space Between Words

To produce a straight right-margin in its output, LATEX inserts varying
amounts of space between words. It inserts slightly more space at the
end of a sentence, as this makes the text more readable. LATEX assumes
that sentences end with periods, question marks or exclamation marks.
If a period follows an uppercase letter, this is not taken as the end
of a sentence, since periods after uppercase letters normally occur in
abbreviations.
Any exception from these assumptions has to be specified by the
author. A backslash in front of a space generates a space that will not be
2.11 Titles, Chapters, and Sections 33

enlarged. A tilde ‘~’ character generates a non-breaking space (prohibits

a line break). The command \@ in front of a period specifies that this
period terminates a sentence even when it follows an uppercase letter.

Mr.~Smith was happy to see her\\ Mr. Smith was happy to see her
cf.~Fig.~5\\ cf. Fig. 5
I like BASIC\@. What about you? I like BASIC. What about you?

The additional space after periods can be disabled with the command

\frenchspacing
which tells LATEX not to insert more space after a period than after
an ordinary character. This is very common in non-English languages
(polyglossia sets it automatically, based on the main language).

2.11 Titles, Chapters, and Sections

To help the reader find his or her way through your work, you should
divide it into chapters, sections, and subsections. LATEX supports this
with special commands that take the section title as their argument. It
is up to you to use them in the correct order.
The following sectioning commands are available for the article
class:

\section{〈title〉}
\subsection{〈title〉}
\subsubsection{〈title〉}
\paragraph{〈title〉}
\subparagraph{〈title〉}

If you want to split your document into parts without influencing the
section or chapter numbering use

\part{〈title〉}
When you work with the report or book class, an additional top-level
sectioning command becomes available:

\chapter{〈title〉}
As the article class does not know about chapters, it is quite easy
to add articles as chapters to a book. The spacing between sections, the
numbering, and the font size of the titles will be set automatically by
LATEX.
34 Real World LATEX

LATEX creates a table of contents by taking the section headings

and page numbers from the last compile cycle of the document. The
command
\tableofcontents
expands to a table of contents at the place it is issued. A new document
has to be compiled twice to get a correct table of contents. Sometimes it
might be necessary to compile the document a third time. LATEX will
tell you when this is necessary.
All sectioning commands listed above also exist as starred versions.
This generates section headings that do not show up in the table of
contents and are not numbered. The command \section{Help}, for
example, would become \section*{Help}.
Normally, the section headings show up in the table of contents
exactly as they are entered in the text. Sometimes this is not possible,
because the heading is too long to fit into the table. The entry for the
table of contents can then be specified as an optional argument in front
of the actual heading.

Contents
\tableofcontents 1 Title for the table of con-
tents 1
\section[Title for the
table of contents]{A long
and especially boring title,
1 A long and espe-
shown in the text} cially boring title,
shown in the text

The title of the whole document is generated by issuing

1 a
\maketitle
command. The contents of the title have to be defined by the commands
\title{〈title〉}, \author{〈author〉} and optionally \date{〈date〉}
before calling \maketitle. In the argument to \author, you can supply
several names separated by \and commands.
An example of some of the commands mentioned above can be found
in Listing 1.2 on page 10.
Apart from the sectioning commands explained above, LATEX defines
four additional commands for use with the book class. They are useful
for dividing your publication. The commands alter chapter headings and
page numbering to work as you would expect in a book:
2.12 Cross References 35

\frontmatter should be the very first command after the start of the
document body (\begin{document}). It will switch page num-
bering to Roman numerals and sections will be non-enumerated as
if you were using the starred sectioning commands (for example
\chapter*{Preface}) but the sections will still show up in the
table of contents.

\mainmatter comes right before the first chapter of the book. It turns
on Arabic page numbering and restarts the page counter.

\appendix marks the start of additional material in your book. After

this command chapters will be numbered with letters. Unlike others
this method can also be used inside articles. In this case, it changes
the numbering of sections.

\backmatter should be inserted before the very last items in your book,
such as the bibliography and the index. In the standard document
classes, this has no visual effect.

2.12 Cross References

In books, reports and articles, there are often cross-references to fig-
ures, tables and special segments of text. LATEX provides the following
commands for cross referencing

\label{〈marker〉}, \ref{〈marker〉} and \pageref{〈marker〉}

where 〈marker〉 is an identifier chosen by the user. LATEX replaces \ref

by the number of the section, subsection, figure, table, or theorem after
which the corresponding \label command was issued. \pageref prints
the page number of the page where the \label command occurred.7
As with section titles and page numbers for the table of contents, the
numbers from the previous compile cycle are used.

A reference to this subsection% A reference to this subsec-

\label{my-marker} looks like:
see Section~\ref{my-marker}
tion looks like: see Sec-
on page~\pageref{my-marker}. tion 2.12 on page 35.

7
Note that these commands are not aware of what they refer to. \label just saves
the last automatically generated number.
36 Real World LATEX

2.13 Footnotes
With the command

\footnote{〈footnote text〉}

a footnote is printed at the foot of the current page. Footnotes should

always be put after the word or sentence they refer to. Footnotes referring
to a sentence or part of it should therefore be put after the comma or
period.

Footnotes\footnote{This is Footnotes1 are often used by peo-

a footnote.} are often used ple using LATEX.
by people using \LaTeX. 1
This is a footnote.

2.14 Lists
The itemize environment is suitable for simple lists, the enumerate
environment for enumerated lists, and the description environment for
descriptions.

\begin{enumerate}
\item You can nest the list 1. You can nest the list envi-
environments to your taste: ronments to your taste:
\begin{itemize}
\item But it might start to • But it might start to
look silly. look silly.
\item[-] With a dash. - With a dash.
\end{itemize}
\item Therefore remember: 2. Therefore remember:
\begin{description}
\item[Stupid] things will not Stupid things will not be-
become smart because they are come smart because
in a list.
they are in a list.
\item[Smart] things, though,
can be presented beautifully Smart things, though, can
in a list. be presented beauti-
\end{description} fully in a list.
\end{enumerate}

2.15 Non-Justified Text

By default, LATEX justifies text inside a document. While this is desirable
for the main text there may be occasions where you want the text to be
2.16 Quotations 37

left- or right-aligned. This is where the ragged2e [67] package is useful.

It defines environments

FlushLeft
FlushRight
Center

which allow you to achieve left-aligned, right-aligned and centred text.

\begin{FlushLeft} This text is

This text is\\ left-aligned. left-aligned. LATEX is not try-
\LaTeX{} is not trying to make
each line the same length.
ing to make each line the same
\end{FlushLeft} length.

\begin{FlushRight}
This text is right-\\aligned. This text is right-
\LaTeX{} is not trying to make aligned. LATEX is not trying to
each line the same length. make each line the same length.
\end{FlushRight}

\begin{Center}
At the centre
At the centre\\of the earth
\end{Center} of the earth

2.16 Quotations
You should not use the ‘"’ character for quotation marks as you would
in a WYSIWYG program. In publishing, there are special opening and
closing quotation marks. In LATEX, the csquotes [43] package provides the

\enquote{〈text〉}

command that automatically encloses the 〈text〉 within the right quotes.

\enquote{Please press
the \enquote{x} key.}
“Please press the ‘x’ key.”

If you want to skip directly to the inner form of quotation, use the
starred version of the command:

The \enquote*{x} key is here. The ‘x’ key is here.

38 Real World LATEX

2.16.1 Formal Quotes

The above commands are useful when you want to use, for example,
scare quotes. If you are actually quoting someone else, it is better to use
the \textquote command. It accepts an optional argument with the
source of the quote.

\textquote[A.~Einstein]{Why “Why is it nobody understands me

is it nobody understands and everybody likes me?” (A. Ein-
me and everybody likes me?} stein)

For longer quotations you may want to use the displayquote envi-
ronment.

As Einstein once said As Einstein once said

\begin{displayquote}[%
Albert Einstein]
Whoever undertakes
Whoever undertakes to to set himself up as
set himself up as a judge a judge of Truth and
of Truth and Knowledge is Knowledge is ship-
shipwrecked by the laughter wrecked by the laugh-
of the gods. ter of the gods. (Al-
\end{displayquote}
bert Einstein)

In academic writing, there may be strict rules present when quotes

should be typeset inline, and when they should be typeset in display
style, based on their length. This can be achieved automatically with
the \blockquote command. It will scan the text inside and typeset the
quote accordingly.

“A short quote” (Me)

\blockquote[Me]{A short quote}
A very long quote
\blockquote[Also Me]{A very long that spans over mul-
quote that spans over multiple tiple lines and should
lines and should be typeset in be typeset in display
display quote style quote style accord-
according to my publisher.}
ing to my publisher.
(Also Me)

By default, \blockquote will switch to display quote style if the quote

spans more than three lines or contains more than one paragraph. The
number of lines may be changed using the threshold package options.
2.16 Quotations 39

If you prefer to count words instead of lines, you may change the
thresholdtype from lines to words and set threshold accordingly. If
you want to ignore paragraphs, and rely only on automatic line/word
counting, set the parthreshold to false.
The quote attribution shown in the previous examples is especially
useful when combined with bibliography commands described in Chap-
ter 4.

2.16.2 Foreign Quotes

The csquotes package has excellent integration with polyglossia. Thus,
simply changing the document’s main language automatically adapts the
quotation marks used.
% In preamble
\setmainlanguage{french}
% ... «Toute nation est égoïste. Toute
nation considère son égoïsme
\textquote[Antoine de
Saint Exupéry]{Toute comme sacré.» (Antoine de Saint
nation est égoïste. Exupéry)
Toute nation considère
son égoïsme comme sacré.}

If you load the package with the autostyle option, it will also adapt
the quotation marks to the language of the surrounding text.
% In preamble
\usepackage[autostyle]{csquotes}
% ...
“English quote”
\enquote{English quote}
„Deutsches zitat“
\begin{german}
\enquote{Deutsches zitat}
\end{german}

If frequently quoting in foreign languages, you may get tired of first

switching to a given language with a polyglossia command, and then
using \textquote. In order to avoid this, csquotes defines an additional
\foreignquote command, which takes the language as its first language.

As Dostoevsky once wrote

As Dostoevsky once wrote «Мир
\foreignquote{russian}{%
Мир спасёт красота}. спасёт красота».

The commands \foreigntextquote and \foreignblockquote, and the

environment foreigndisplayquote, are also available, and work like
those described in the previous section.
40 Real World LATEX

Some languages use multiple variants of quotes. To change the

variant used by the given language, add option 〈language〉=〈variant〉
when loading the csquotes package.

% In preamble
\usepackage[
autostyle,
german=guillemets,
]{csquotes} »Deutsches zitat«
% ...

\foreignquote{german}{%
Deutsches zitat}

2.16.3 Long Quotations and Poetry

LATEX provides two additional environments: quotation and verse. The

quotation environment is useful for longer quotes running over several
paragraphs, because it indents the first line of each paragraph. The verse
environment is useful for poems where the line breaks are important.
The lines are separated by issuing a \\ at the end of a line, and an empty
line after each verse. Note that these environments are not defined by
csquotes, so they do not accept the optional attribution argument, and
are not context sensitive.

I wanted to quote my
favourite speech: I wanted to quote my favourite
\begin{quotation} speech:
This is a very
long speech. This is a very long
speech.
It spans over multiple It spans over mul-
paragraphs. tiple paragraphs.
\end{quotation}
2.17 Code Listings 41

I know only one English poem

I know only one English by heart. It is about Humpty
poem by heart. It is
about Humpty Dumpty. Dumpty.
\begin{verse}
Humpty Dumpty sat
Humpty Dumpty sat
on a wall:\\ on a wall:
Humpty Dumpty had Humpty Dumpty had
a great fall.\\ a great fall.
All the King's horses All the King’s horses
and all the King's men\\ and all the King’s
Couldn't put Humpty
men
together again.
\end{verse} Couldn’t put Humpty
together again.

2.17 Code Listings

When writing about LATEX, or other programming languages, you often
need to insert short code snippets like this \LaTeX{}. While you could
escape all the characters, this would quickly become rather tiresome,
especially for longer pieces of code where correct spacing is crucial for
readability (multiple spaces being collapsed by LATEX to singles). We
will present three solutions to this problem.

2.17.1 Verbatim
LATEX itself comes with the \verb command. It is unusual in that it
does not use groups for getting its first argument. Instead, you pass the
argument between a chosen delimiter that can be any character except a
letter, * or space. For example, to use | as the delimiter (as is typical),
you type

\verb|〈text〉|

Any text that is enclosed between these delimiters will be directly printed,
as if typed on an old typewriter (in a monospaced font), with all spaces,
and without any LATEX commands being executed.

Use \verb|\LaTeX{}| to
print \LaTeX. Use \LaTeX{} to print LATEX.
We normally use | but when it’s
We normally use \verb+|+ but
when it's not available we
not available we use + to delimit
use \verb|+| to delimit the the argument of the \verb com-
argument of the \verb|\verb| mand.
command.
42 Real World LATEX

The starred version of the \verb command replaces spaces with the
‘␣’ symbol.

\verb*|\TeX user| will

produce \TeX user.
\TeX user will produce TEXuser.
To get proper spacing use To get proper spacing use
\verb*|\TeX{} user|. \TeX{} user.
Several spaces are treated by
Several spaces are treated LATEX as one space, so a b
by \LaTeX{} as one space,
will produce a b.
so \verb*|a b| will
produce a b.

For longer text, you may want to use the verbatim environment from
the verbatim [66] package.

\begin{verbatim}
\documentclass{article} \documentclass{article}

\begin{document} \begin{document}
Small is beautiful. Small is beautiful.
\end{document} \end{document}
\end{verbatim}

Its starred version will draw the ‘␣’ symbol instead of spaces.
For code snippets, it may be useful to store them in separate files,
outside of the LATEX document. This allows you to edit them in your editor
of choice, and makes the LATEX code less cluttered. To accomplish this,
use the \verbatiminput{〈file〉} command from the verbatim package.8

\verbatiminput{hello.c}

// A simple program
#include "stdio.h"

int main() {
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}

\verbatiminput* also exists and works exactly as you would predict.

The verbatim environment, and the \verb and \verbatiminput
commands, may not be used within parameters of other commands, so
the below code will result in an error.
8
This and the following examples use code snippets that can be found at https:
//github.com/oetiker/lshort/tree/master/src/examples.
2.17 Code Listings 43

Text\footnote{\verb|abc| cannot be used here.}

If this is a problem for you, look at the fancyvrb [88] package.

2.17.2 The listings Package

While the verbatim environment is fine for small snippets, they are very
crude and look basic. In order to make them a bit more fancy, you can
use the listings [23] package. It defines the

\lstinline command that works like \verb

lstlisting environment that works like verbatim
\lstinputlisting command that works like \verbatiminput

\lstinline|\LaTeX{}|

\begin{lstlisting}
Here is some \LaTeX{} code.
\end{lstlisting}

\lstinputlisting{hello.c}

\LaTeX{}
Here i s some \LaTeX{} code .

// A s i m p l e program
#i n c l u d e " s t d i o . h "

i n t main ( ) {
p r i n t f ( " H e l l o , World ! \ n " ) ;
return 0;
}

As you can see, by default it isn’t much different from the verbatim
environment. The big difference is that every command accepts optional
argument that allows you to customise the output. The argument accepts
a comma-delimited key-value list. For example, to automatically highlight
44 Real World LATEX

the code, we may pass the language key.

\lstinputlisting[language=C]{hello.c}

// A s i m p l e program
#include " s t d i o . h "

int main ( ) {
p r i n t f ( " H e l l o , World ! \ n " ) ;
return 0 ;
}

For many, the default style of the listings may look a bit strange. No
worries, this is easily fixed. The output can be customized using the
following keys:
basicstyle, keywordstyle, identifierstyle and commentstyle
Note that you will need to use some font changing commands, when
configuring the styles. More about font changing command can be found
in Section 7.2.

\lstinputlisting[
language=SQL, -- A simple query
basicstyle=\ttfamily, SELECT * FROM employees
commentstyle=\color{gray}, WHERE salary > 2000.00
keywordstyle=\itshape, ORDER BY last_name ;
]{employee.sql}

If you intend to use similar options for many listings in the document,
you can use the \lstset command to set them beforehand. In this way,
you will avoid repeating them every time you want to typeset some code.
\lstset{
language=C,
numbers=left, 1 // A simple program
breaklines, 2 # include " stdio .h"
basicstyle=\ttfamily, 3
commentstyle=\color{gray}, 4 int main () {
prebreak=\textrightarrow,
}
5 printf ("Hello , World→
!\n");
\lstinputlisting{hello.c} 6 return 0;
7 }
The statement
\lstinline|int x = 1;| The statement int x = 1; assigns 1
assigns 1 to variable to variable x.
\lstinline|x|.
2.17 Code Listings 45

If a language has several dialects, you may specify which inside square
brackets before the language name. You must enclose the value in curly
brackets.

\lstinputlisting[language={[LaTeX]TeX}]{hello.tex}

\ documentclass { article }

\ begin { document }
Hello , World !
\end{ document }

When presenting code, it is often that we want to point to a specific

line. To save the reader from counting which line we mean, it is possible
to print line numbers by using the numbers key. Its possible values are
none, left and right.

\lstinputlisting[language=C, numbers=left]{hello.c}

1 // A simple program
2 # include " stdio .h"
3
4 int main () {
5 printf ("Hello , World !\n");
6 return 0;
7 }

The appearance of numbers may be further customised with the following

keys:

firstnumber allows you to specify the first number. Besides numbers,

this key can also contain two special values: last and auto (the
default). last continues numbering from the last listing, while
auto continues it from the last listing with the same name argument,
or starts over if no name is present.

stepnumber prints only every 𝑛-th number. For example, if you pass
stepnumber=7, then only line numbers 1, 8, 15, 22, … will be printed.

numberblanklines controls whether or not line numbers are printed on

empty lines. Either true or false.
46 Real World LATEX

numberstyle allows you to customise the font for printing numbers. It

accepts switch commands, as described in Section 7.2.

\lstinputlisting[ 4 // A simple program

language=C, # include " stdio .h"
numbers=left,
stepnumber=2,
int main () {
numberblanklines=false,
firstnumber=4, 8 printf ("Hello , World !\n");
numberstyle=\tiny, return 0;
]{hello.c} 10 }

If you have a long file and want to show it piecewise, you can use the
firstline and lastline keys.

The \lstinline|main|
function body
consists of: The main function body consists of:
\lstinputlisting[ printf ("Hello , World !\n");
language=C,
firstline=5,
return 0;
lastline=6,
]{hello.c}

If you are trying to typeset long lines, you may order the listings to
automatically break them by using the breaklines key.

1 import math
2
\lstinputlisting[ 3 def oneline_factorial (n):
language=python,
4 return math.prod(i for
numbers=left,
breaklines, i in range (1, n + 1)
]{factorial.py} )
5
6 print ( oneline_factorial (5))

You can customise the indentation width with the breakindent key.
It may be useful to indicate that a line break has occurred by using
the prebreak and postbreak keys, which print their value respectively
before and after an artificial line break. Listing 2.1 shows an example of
this.
2.17 Code Listings 47

\lstinputlisting[
language=python,
numbers=left,
breaklines,
breakindent=1cm,
prebreak=\textrightarrow,
postbreak=\textleftarrow,
]{factorial.py}

1 import math
2
3 def oneline_factorial (n):
4 return math.prod(i for→
← i in range (1, n →
←+ 1))
5
6 print ( oneline_factorial (5)→
←)

Listing 2.1: An example of marking the artificial linebreaks in listing

package.
48 Real World LATEX

One of the neat features of the listings package is that you can evaluate
LATEX code inside the listing. The easiest way is to pass the texcl key,
which enables LATEX syntax within comments.

\begin{lstlisting}[
texcl,
language=haskell, -- I can use LATEX here.
] -- The cost is in €
-- I can use \LaTeX{} here.
-- The cost is in \texteuro{}
cost x = show (
cost x = show ( foldr (+) 0 x
foldr (+) 0 x ) ++ " eur"
) ++ " eur"
\end{lstlisting}

This feature is especially useful in combination with the \label

command. We can use it to point to a specific line of code without
hardcoding it into the document.

\begin{lstlisting}[
texcl,
numbers=left,
language=haskell, 1 cost x = show (
]
2 foldr (+) 0 x
cost x = show (
foldr (+) 0 x 3 ) ++ " eur" --
) ++ " eur" -- \label{concat} The ++ in Haskell as seen in line 3
\end{lstlisting}
means string concatenation.
The \lstinline|++| in Haskell
as seen in line~\ref{concat}
means string concatenation.

This has the downside that it introduces empty comments that are just
there to include label. To fix this we may use the escapeinside key
that accepts sets the two delimiters between which LATEX code can be
typed. The delimiters themselves will not be printed.

\begin{lstlisting}[
escapeinside={(*}{*)},
numbers=left,
language=haskell, 1 cost x = show (
] 2 foldr (+) 0 x
cost x = show ( (*\label{show}*) 3 ) ++ " eur" (€)
foldr (+) 0 x
) ++ " eur" (*(\texteuro)*) The show in Haskell as seen in
\end{lstlisting} line 1 converts its argument to a
The \lstinline|show| in Haskell string.
as seen in line~\ref{show}
converts its argument to a string.
2.17 Code Listings 49

2.17.3 The minted Package

While the listings package allows you to typeset pretty decent looking
code snippets, you may still find it lacking in some respects. The most
obvious problem is the syntax highlighting: you may find that your
language of choice is not supported. You can write a custom style for the
language, but it relies on a simple keyword search, so this is an option
only for simple languages.
If this is a problem for you, it may be worth considering the minted [63]
package. It relies on the Pygments [7] program to highlight code. In
contrast to the listings package, this program uses pushdown automata
to colour the code, which may produce much better results. Moreover,
the predefined styles and language support are much richer than those
offered by the listings package. This is the package that is used to colour
examples throughout this booklet.
Due to the fact that the minted package relies on an external program,
there are two things that you need to do before using it:

1. Ensure that the Pygments program is installed. If you are using a

Unix-like system it is probably enough to execute
pip install Pygments
You can find more information at their official website: https:
//pygments.org and in the minted [63] package documentation.

2. Add the --shell-escape flag when the compiling LATEX document,

for example:
xelatex --shell-escape document.tex

It is important to understand what the cryptic flag mentioned in the

second point actually means. It allows the LATEX document to call any
external program via the shell. Let me repeat this to make the point
clear: Enabling this flag allows the LATEX document to call any program
via the shell. This means that a maliciously crafted document could, for
example, delete all files from your computer. Only enable this flag if the
document comes from a trusted source.
Once you meet these requirements, you can use the package in a
manner similar to the previous approach with listings. It provides

\mintinline[〈options〉]{〈language〉}{〈code〉}
\inputminted[〈options〉]{〈language〉}{〈code〉}
\begin{minted}[〈options〉]{〈language〉}

In contrast to listings, the 〈language〉 is a required parameter. The

command \mintinline works with both normal groups and custom
50 Real World LATEX

delimiters.

\LaTeX{}
\mintinline{latex}|\LaTeX{}|
x = 0
\begin{minted}{python} for i in range(10):
x = 0 x += 2**i
for i in range(10): print(f"Result: {x}")
x += 2**i
print(f"Result: {x}") fn main() {
\end{minted} let age = 25;
println!("I am {} years old.",
\inputminted{rust}{age.rs}
age);
}

minted’s capabilities are comparable to those of the listings package.

Some of the options have synonyms that makes their usage identical to
the listings package. For example, to enable line numbers you can use
either the linenos key (which is a boolean value) or the numbers key
(which accepts left, right, none or both).

1 .review {
2 font-size: large;
\inputminted[ 3 background-color: darkred;
linenos, 4 color: aliceblue;
]{css}{review.css} 5 display: flex;
6 align-items: center;
7 }

You can change the line numbering using firstnumber and stepnumber.
Additionally you may highlight some lines using the highlightlines
key to draw attention to them. Note that highlightlines uses the
transformed line numbers.
2.17 Code Listings 51

Theorem em_irr:
6 forall A: Prop, ~~(A \/ ~A).
Proof.
\inputminted[ unfold not.
linenos, 9 intros.
firstnumber=5, apply H.
stepnumber=3, right.
highlightlines={6, 10-12} 12 intros.
]{coq}{em.v} apply H.
left.
15 exact H0.
Qed.

As in the listings package, breaklines enables automatic breaking of

long lines, however it will only break the lines at whitespace characters. If
you want the breaks to occur anywhere, use the breakanywhere key. The
breaking behaviour may be fine-tuned by using the keys breakbytoken,
breakbytokenanywhere, breakbefore and breakafter.

1 quicksort :: Ord a => [a] ->

↪ [a]
\inputminted[ 2 quicksort [] = []
linenos,
3 quicksort (p:xs) = quicksort
breaklines,
]{haskell}{quicksort.hs} ↪ (filter (< p) xs) ++ [p]
↪ ++ quicksort (filter (>=
↪ p) xs)

As you can see, by default it inserts “↪” to indicate that an automatic

line break occurred. You can customise the printed symbols with the
breaksymbolleft and breaksymbolright keys.
In order to use LATEX inside the comments, you can use either the
texcl or its synonym texcomments. You can also add custom LATEX
escape delimiters with escapeinside, but these must be single tokens
(unlike in listings).
52 Real World LATEX

\begin{minted}[
linenos,
texcomments, 1 <!DOCTYPE html>
escapeinside=||, 2 <html>
]{html} 3 <head>
<!DOCTYPE html>
4 <title>On LATEX</title>
<html>
<head> |\label{head}| 5 </head>
<title>On |\LaTeX{}|</title> 6 <body>
</head> 7 <div class="review">
<body> 8 <!-- LATEX review -->
<div class="review"> 9 <p>It's awesome!</p>
<!-- \LaTeX{} review --> 10 </div>
<p>It's awesome!</p>
11 </body>
</div>
</body> 12 </html>
</html>
\end{minted} The <head> element in line 3 con-
The \mintinline{html}{<head>} tains page metadata.
element in line~\ref{head}
contains page metadata.

The Pygments program comes with numerous predefined styles for

typesetting your code. In order to choose between them use the style
key.

\inputminted[ #!/bin/bash
style=bw, echo LaTeX is awesome!
]{bash}{echo.sh}
\inputminted[
#!/bin/bash
style=sas,
]{bash}{echo.sh} echo LaTeX is awesome!
\inputminted[
style=xcode, #!/bin/bash
]{bash}{echo.sh} echo LaTeX is awesome!

To avoid having to set the options for every listing and code snippet,
you can use \setminted to define the default values.

1 #include <iostream>
\setminted{ 2
linenos, 3 int main() {
breaklines,
4 std::cout << "Goodbye!"
style=xcode,
} ↪ << std::endl;
\inputminted{c++}{goodbye.cpp} 5 return 0;
6 }
2.18 Tables 53

2.18 Tables
In LATEX, the environment to typeset tables (and more) is called tabular.
While it can be used on its own, the resulting table layouts look extremely
old fashioned. We recommend adding the booktabs [17] package, which
provides several commands that let you typeset beautiful modern looking
tables.
Note that the booktabs [17] package does not modify the tabular
environment, it just adds some extra commands for spacing and adding
lines to your tables. If you write for a publication which has other
requirements, like not using any extra packages, simply do not use the
extra commands from booktabs [17].
To achieve some more advanced table layouts, you will also learn
about the longtable [11], array [46] and multirow [51] packages in this
section. They are so useful, that you’ll probably want to put them all
into the preamble of your document right away.
In addition to a description of its commands, the booktabs documen-
tation [17] contains guidelines on typesetting professional-looking tables.
We have taken these guidelines to heart when writing this booklet. You
will find some of them in this section.

2.18.1 Basic Tables

The environment tabular has the following form

\begin{tabular}[〈pos〉]{〈colspec〉}

The 〈colspec〉 argument, which stands for column specifiers, defines the
format of the columns in the table. Use an l for a column of left-
aligned text, r for right-aligned text, and c for centred text. Within the
environment, use & to begin the next cell within the current row, and \\
to begin the next row.

\begin{tabular}{lcr}
left & centre & right \\ left centre right
1 & 2 & 3 \\ 1 2 3
\end{tabular}

Note that the text inside the cells will not be wrapped. If you want
the column to contain justified text with line breaks, use the p{〈width〉}
54 Real World LATEX

column specifier, where 〈width〉 is the width of the column.

\begin{tabular}{lp{3cm}} left Very long para-

left & Very long paragraph graph that gets
that gets broken into broken into multi-
multiple lines. \\
1 & Another one,
ple lines.
but shorter. \\ 1 Another one, but
\end{tabular} shorter.

The optional 〈pos〉 argument specifies the vertical position of the

table with respect to the baseline of the text. There are three possible
alignments: c centres the table (the default), t matches the baseline of
the top row, and b matches the baseline of the bottom row.
text
\begin{tabular}{ll} 1 & 2 \\ 3 & 4 \\ \end{tabular}
text
\begin{tabular}[t]{ll} 1 & 2 \\ 3 & 4 \\ \end{tabular}
text
\begin{tabular}[b]{ll} 1 & 2 \\ 3 & 4 \\ \end{tabular}
text

1 2
1 2
text text 1 2 text 3 4 text
3 4
3 4

What we have seen so far, allows aligning some items in rows and
columns, but real tables need visible headings. To insert them, use the
commands \toprule, \midrule and \bottomrule from the booktabs
package. All of these accept an optional argument that specifies their
thickness, but usually the default settings are just fine. See Listing 2.2
for an example of using these commands.
With these commands you are already able to produce simple, yet
nicely looking tables. You may be are wondering why we have not
mentioned how to add vertical lines between the columns. Well, we did
not mention them because the first rule of producing professional-looking
tables is that you must not use vertical lines.
The second rule is to never use double lines such as these shown in
Listing 2.3. The default lines are already of different weight in order
to signify their meaning. Using more lines than is necessary means
cluttering the space without adding information. If you stick to these
two rules, your tables will look quite good already.
To make the tables look even more sleek, you may want to remove
the padding in the first and last column. To control the space between
2.18 Tables 55

\begin{tabular}{lcl}
\toprule
Alignment & Letter & Niceness \\
\midrule
Left & l & Very nice \\
Centre & c & Very nice \\
Right & r & Very nice \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Alignment Letter Niceness

Left l Very nice
Centre c Very nice
Right r Very nice

Listing 2.2: A simple table using the booktabs commands.

\begin{tabular}{lll}
\toprule[0.1cm]
\toprule
Person & Face & Table \\
\midrule
\midrule
Me & :( & Not nice \\
You & :[ & Awful \\
Your reader & :< & Terrible \\
\bottomrule
\bottomrule[0.1cm]
\end{tabular}

Person Face Table

Me :( Not nice
You :[ Awful
Your reader :< Terrible

Listing 2.3: An anti-example of using double rules inside a table.

56 Real World LATEX

the columns use the @{〈sep〉} column specifier, where 〈sep〉 is either
text or space. Space of arbitrary length can be inserted using the
\hspace{〈width〉} command. The contents of the 〈sep〉 arguments will
be put between cells in the relevant column.

\begin{tabular}{
@{a} c @{\hspace{1cm}} c @{|} c @{ b}
} a1 2|3 b
1 & 2 & 3 \\ a4 5|6 b
4 & 5 & 6\\ a7 8|9 b
7 & 8 & 9\\
\end{tabular}

If you leave the 〈sep〉 empty it will suppress the padding between the
columns. See Listing 2.4 for an example.
Sometimes it may make sense to group columns under one heading.
To achieve this, we need two things: a way to group multiple heading
columns, and to have a line covering the same columns (sitting underneath
the merged heading cell). Use the

\multicolumn{〈ncols〉}{〈colspec〉}{〈text〉}
command to merge the cells. The 〈ncols〉 argument indicates how many
columns should the 〈text〉 span, while the 〈colspec〉 is the column spec-
ification for the new content—the same as when starting a tabular
environment. See Listing 2.5 for an example.
To get a horizontal line to span multiple columns, use the command

\cmidrule[〈dim〉](〈trim〉){〈a-b〉}
While the command uses nonstandard syntax for 〈trim〉, this is just an
optional argument with different pair of delimiters.9 The 〈dim〉 allows
us to specify the thickness of the line. The 〈trim〉 argument accepts any
combination of r, r{〈dim〉}, l or l{〈dim〉}. This allows you trim the rule
from right or left, either by the package default or the specified 〈dim〉. It
is usually recommended to trim the rules from the side where they touch
other columns. The command’s only required argument is the span of
columns to draw the line over (〈a-b〉). See Listing 2.6 for an example.
If you need a cell to span multiple rows instead of columns, then
you have to use package multirow. Its main command is a little more
complicated

\multirow[〈vpos〉]{〈nrows〉}{〈width〉}[〈vmove〉]{〈text〉}
The arguments are
9
This syntax allows specification of the second optional argument without the first,
which would be impossible if square brackets were used for both.
2.18 Tables 57

\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}}
\toprule
Person & Face & Table \\
\midrule
Me & :) & Nice \\
You & :] & Sleek \\
Your reader & :> & Informative \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Person Face Table

Me :) Nice
You :] Sleek
Your reader :> Informative

Listing 2.4: An example of using @{} column specifier to suppress outer

separators.

\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}}
\toprule
Person & Face & Table \\
\midrule
Me & :) & Nice \\
You & :] & Sleek \\
Your reader & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Not available} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Person Face Table

Me :) Nice
You :] Sleek
Your reader Not available

Listing 2.5: An example of using the \multicolumn command in a table.

58 Real World LATEX

\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}}
\toprule
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Reaction} \\
\cmidrule(l){2-3}
Person & Face & Exclamation \\
\midrule
Me & :) & Nice \\
You & :] & Sleek \\
Your reader & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Not available} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Reaction
Person Face Exclamation
Me :) Nice
You :] Sleek
Your reader Not available

Listing 2.6: An example of using the \cmidrule command inside a table.

〈vpos〉 is the vertical position of the text within the cell. Can be either
c for centre (the default), t for top or b for bottom.

〈nrows〉 is the number of rows for the new cell to span.

〈width〉 is the width of the cell. Apart from a regular length, you can
also pass two special arguments here: * for the natural length of
the text and = for the same width as the column (this only makes
sense if the column width was specified, for example via p{3cm}).

〈vmove〉 allows adjusting the position of the text if it sits too low or too
high.

〈text〉 is the text to be put in the cell.

Unlike with \multicolumn you still have to write all the cells in remaining
rows, but they should be empty. See Listing 2.7 for an example.
In general it is not a good idea to use the \multirow command for
showing values common to multiple rows. Usually repeating the values
in question makes the table more readable.
When typesetting numerical data in the table, you may want to
align it by decimal point. A way to do this (and more) is described
in subsection 3.5.4. The section also contains some guidelines about
typesetting numerical data in tables.
2.18 Tables 59

\begin{tabular}{@{}lll@{}}
\toprule
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Reaction} \\
\cmidrule(l){2-3}
Person & Face & Exclamation \\
\midrule
\multirow[t]{2}{*}{VIPs} & :) & Nice \\
& :] & Sleek \\
Others & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Not available} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Reaction
Person Face Exclamation
VIPs :) Nice
:] Sleek
Others Not available

Listing 2.7: An example of using \multirow inside a table.

2.18.2 Long Tables

Material typeset with the tabular environment always stays together on
one page. This poses a problem for especially long tables. If your table
is not very wide, you may get away with it by typesetting its rows side
by side. You should then put a bigger space between those to indicate
that these are separate; either by using @{...} or by putting an empty
column between those as shown in Listing 2.8.
This approach will obviously not work for really long tables. This is
where the longtable package shines. It defines a longtable environment
that works in a similar way to the tabular environment, but allows page
breaks inside.

\begin{longtable}[〈align〉]{〈colspec〉}

In contrast to tabular, longtable always starts a new paragraph and is

centred by default. Thus the optional argument 〈align〉 specifies whether
the table should be centred, on the left, or on the right. Use c, l and r
to specify this. The 〈colspec〉 argument is the same as in the tabular
environment. See Listing 2.9 for an example.
Note that the page breaks are always placed between rows. If you
have a tall row, thanks to a p{...} specification, it will not broken (as
seen in Listing 2.10).
60 Real World LATEX

\begin{tabular}{@{}cllcl@{}}
\toprule
Digit & Word && Digit & Word \\
\midrule
0 & Zero && 5 & Five \\
1 & One && 6 & Six \\
2 & Two && 7 & Seven \\
3 & Three && 8 & Eight \\
4 & Four && 9 & Nine \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Digit Word Digit Word

0 Zero 5 Five
1 One 6 Six
2 Two 7 Seven
3 Three 8 Eight
4 Four 9 Nine

Listing 2.8: An example of producing table with rows next to each other.

Number Word
\begin{longtable}{cl} 0 Zero
\toprule 1 One
Number & Word \\ 2 Two
\midrule 3 Three
0 & Zero \\ 4 Four
1 & One \\
2 & Two \\ 5 Five
% ... 6 1 Six
10 & Ten \\ 7 Seven
\bottomrule 8 Eight
\end{longtable} 9 Nine
10 Ten

2
Listing 2.9: An example of using the longtable environment.
2.18 Tables 61

\begin{longtable}{
cp{2cm}
} Number Words
\toprule
0 Zero
Number & Words \\
\midrule
0 & Zero \\ 1 Multi
1 para-
1 & Multi paragraph graph text.
text. It makes the
table cell
It makes the table very tall.
cell very tall. \\ 2 Two
2
2 & Two \\
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}

3
Listing 2.10: An anti-example of using longtable assuming it will break
the paragraphs inside the cells.

The longtable environment also defines some additional commands

that end table rows. One of them is \textbackslash* which, similarly to
its use in a paragraph, prohibits a page break after the row. Other useful
commands are \endhead, \endfirsthead, \endfoot and \endlastfoot.
If you end a row with them, they will set the preceding rows as head-
ers and footers of the table. The \endhead and \endfoot commands
put the headers and footers on every page, while \endfirsthead and
\endlastfoot put them on the first and last page. An example of using
these commands is presented in Listing 2.11.
Note that while you can use \multicolumn and \multirow normally
within the longtable environment, the table may get very complicated.
LATEX will then need several passes to properly calculate the column
widths.

2.18.3 Advanced Tables and Non-Tables

In regular text, you can specify the amount of space between two lines
as an optional argument to the \\TU\textbackslash command. Can
the same be done within a table? It turns out that it can, but there is
one caveat. If you use it together with a p{...} column, the resulting
space will be different depending on column order.
62 Real World LATEX

\begin{longtable}{cl}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{V.~Important Table} \\
Number & Word \\
\midrule \endfirsthead

\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{VIT (continued)} \\
Number & Word \\
\midrule \endhead

\midrule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Not the end} \\
\bottomrule \endfoot

\midrule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{The end of VIT} \\
\bottomrule \endlastfoot

0 & Zero \\
1 & One \\
% ...
10 & Ten \\
\end{longtable}

V. Important Table VIT (continued)

Number Word Number Word
0 Zero 6 Six
1 One 7 Seven
2 Two 8 Eight
3 Three 9 Nine
4 Four 10 Ten
5 Five
The end of VIT
Not the end

1 2
Listing 2.11: An example of longtable with running headers and footers.
2.18 Tables 63

\begin{tabular}{lp{1cm}}
1 & 2\newline x \\[1cm] 1 2
2 1
3 & 4 \\ x
\end{tabular} x
\begin{tabular}{p{1cm}l}
2\newline x & 1 \\[1cm] 4 3
3 4
4 & 3 \\
\end{tabular}
1 that the space to
This counterintuitive behaviour is caused by the fact
add is calculated based on the last column. In order to prevent that,
simply add \usepackage{array} to your preamble. Since there are no
downsides to this, it is recommended to always use this package when
starting a new document, to avoid breaking tables that rely on the
original behaviour later. The array package also defines some additional
column specifiers.
The p{...} specifier allows the insertion of text with line breaks
into the table. The text always starts from the top though, so the array
package defines two additional specifiers: m{...} for vertically centred
text, and b{...} for text placed vertically from the bottom.

\begin{tabular}{
lp{1.4cm}m{1.4cm}b{1.4cm} Bottom
} Centre matches
Cell &
Cell Top matches cell.
Top matches cell. &
Centre matches cell. & matches cell.
Bottom matches cell. \\ cell.
\end{tabular}

When a column must be formatted a certain way, it is inconvenient

to put the same commands in every cell. Moreover, if you decide that
something needs to be changed about the formatting, then you would
have to edit every cell individually. To avoid that, the array package
defines >{〈cmds〉} and <{〈cmds〉} column specifiers which can be used
to put some code before and after a column.

\begin{tabular}{
l
>{\begin{em}}l<{\end{em}} text emphasised text
}
text emphasised text
text & emphasised text \\
text & emphasised text \\ text emphasised text
text & emphasised text \\
\end{tabular}

While using >{...} and <{...} comes in handy if we only have one
such column, it quickly becomes inconvenient when many columns of the
64 Real World LATEX

same type appear in any tables. In that case, it may be desirable to use
the command

\newcolumntype{〈newcolspec〉}{〈definition〉}

where 〈newcolspec〉 is a single letter used for specification of columns,

and the 〈definition〉 is what should be inserted in the table when using
it.

\newcolumntype{e}{
>{\begin{em}\begin{FlushLeft}}
p{2.5cm}
<{\end{FlushLeft}\end{em}}
}
\begin{tabular}{ee}
This cell will
This cell will This cell will
be flushed left
and emphasised. & be flushed left be flushed left
This cell will and empha- and empha-
be flushed left sised. sised.
and emphasised.
\tabularnewline This cell will This cell will
be flushed left be flushed left
This cell will and empha- and empha-
be flushed left
sised. sised.
and emphasised. &
This cell will
be flushed left
and emphasised.
\tabularnewline
\end{tabular}

In order to create a tic-tac-toe grid, you need to put some vertical

and horizontal lines of the same width. In order to do so, you may use
the | (vertical bar) column specifier for vertical rules and \hline for
horizontal rules.

\begin{tabular}{c|c|c}
O & X & O \\
\hline O X O
X & X & O \\ X X O
\hline X O X
X & O & X \\
\end{tabular}

In case your grid gets more complicated, you may need the \cline{〈a-b〉}
2.19 Including Graphics and Images 65

command, which draws a horizontal line spanning only the specified rows.

\begin{tabular}{|cccc|}
\cline{4-4}
a & a & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{a} & b \\
\cline{2-3} a a a b
a & \multicolumn{1}{|c}{b} & b & b \\ a b b b
\cline{2-2} a a b b
a & a & \multicolumn{1}{|c}{b} & b \\
\cline{1-2}
\end{tabular}

2.19 Including Graphics and Images

LATEX itself does not provide facilities to include images. In order to so,
it is necessary to use the graphicx [10] package. It provides the

\includegraphics[〈options〉]{〈file〉}

command that can be used to include the 〈file〉 in the document.10

Here is an image:

Here is an image:
\includegraphics{example-image} Image

The file may be a PDF, PNG or JPEG. If you omit the extension, then
LATEX will try the following in order: .pdf, .png, .jpg, .mps, .jpeg,
.jbig2, .jb2. Note that if your filename contains dots (other than the
extension dot), then its basename has to be put in curly braces like so:

\includegraphics{{image.with.dots}.jpg}

The 〈options〉 parameter is a comma delimited list of keys and values.

The most basic keys are width and height. If only one is supplied, then
LATEX will calculate the other to keep the aspect ratio of the original

10
In the subsequent examples, we are using images from the mwe [64] package that
should be installed with your LATEX distribution.
66 Real World LATEX

image.

\includegraphics[width=2cm]{example-image}
\includegraphics[height=1cm]{example-image}
\includegraphics[width=2cm, height=1cm]{example-image}

Image
Image Image

You may also pass the keepaspectratio key. This will change the
meaning of width and height keys to the maximum possible width and
height.

\includegraphics[
width=2cm,
height=2cm,
]{example-image}
\includegraphics[ Image
width=2cm, Image
height=2cm,
keepaspectratio,
]{example-image}

Instead of specifying width or height, you may also pass the scale
argument to scale it by a specific amount. Passing negative values will
reflect the image.

\includegraphics[
scale=0.1,
]{example-image}
\includegraphics[ Image
scale=0.3,
Image
]{example-image}
\includegraphics[
scale=-0.15, Image
]{example-image}

If you want to rotate the picture, you can pass the angle key. By
default, the image is rotated about its bottom-left corner. You can
change the anchor point by specifying the origin key. Its value may
contain one or two of the following specifications: l for left, r for right,
c for centre, t for top, b for bottom, and B for baseline (useful with TikZ
pictures as described in Chapter 6). So, for example, lc will rotate the
2.19 Including Graphics and Images 67

image about the centre of its left edge, while c will rotate it about its
centre.

Text \includegraphics[
angle=45,
]{example-image}
Text \includegraphics[

e
ag
angle=180,

Im
]{example-image} \\ Text Text
Text \includegraphics[ Image

angle=180,
origin=c, Image

]{example-image}
Text \includegraphics[ Image
angle=180, Text Text
origin=lt,
]{example-image}

If you want to show only a part of the picture, you may specify
the clip key and set the viewport key to required part of the image.
The viewport takes as its value four numbers: the first two specify the
bottom-left point of a rectangle, while the last two specify the top-right
point of rectangle.

\includegraphics[
clip,
viewport=3cm 3cm 8.5cm 5.5cm,
]{example-image} Image
If you are including a PDF file, \includegraphics will only include
its first page. If you want to specify a different page, pass it to the page
key.

\includegraphics[
width=1.5cm,
]{example-image-a4-numbered}
\includegraphics[
width=1.5cm,
page=2, 1 2 11
]{example-image-a4-numbered}
\includegraphics[
width=1.5cm,
page=11,
]{example-image-a4-numbered}
68 Real World LATEX

If you pass the draft option then, instead of the actual images, only
their names are printed, to save on file size and processing time. This key
will be inherited from the \documentclass options, if specified there.

\includegraphics[
scale=0.3,
example-image.pdf
draft,
]{example-image}

2.20 Floating Bodies

If you try writing a longer text with tables and images, you will soon
notice a problem: they cannot be broken across multiple pages (except
for longtables). If you simply include them in normal text flow, this will
lead to a lot of empty space if the image is large and the text preceding
it would be to close to the bottom of the page. In Listing 2.12 the first
page is half empty.
The solution to this problem is to ‘float’ any figure or table that
does not fit on the current page to a later page, while filling the current
page with body text. LATEX offers two environments for floating bodies;
one for tables and one for figures. To take full advantage of these two
environments, it is important to understand approximately how LATEX
handles floats internally. Otherwise, floats may become a major source
of frustration, because LATEX never puts them where you want them to
be.
Let’s first have a look at the commands LATEX supplies for floats.
Any material enclosed in a figure or table environment will be treated
as floating matter.

\begin{figure}[〈placement specifier〉]
\begin{table}[〈placement specifier〉]

The optional 〈placement specifier〉 parameter is used to tell LATEX about

the locations to which the float is allowed to be moved. A 〈placement
specifier〉 is constructed by building a string of float-placing permissions.
See Table 2.2 for a description of available specifiers. Note that the order
of the specifiers does not matter.
For example, a table float could be started with the following line:

\begin{table}[!hbp]
2.20 Floating Bodies 69

Here is some text to take

up some space.
Below this text is an im-
Here is some text age.
to take up some space.

Below this text is an image.

1
\begin{Center}
\includegraphics[
scale=0.2
]{example-image} Image
\end{Center}

Here is more text.

Here is more text.

Listing 2.12: An anti-example of half-empty page due to a large, non-

floated image.

Table 2.2: Float Placing Permissions.

Spec Permission to place the float …

h here at the very place in the text where it oc-
curred. This is useful mainly for small floats.
t at the top of a page
b at the bottom of a page
p on a special page containing only floats.
! without considering most of the internal parame-
tersa , which could otherwise stop this float from
being placed.
a
Such as the maximum number of floats allowed on one page.
70 Real World LATEX

The placement specifier [!hbp] allows LATEX to place the table right
here (h) or at the bottom (b) of some page or on a special floats page
(p), and all this even if it does not look that good (!). If no placement
specifier is given, the standard classes assume [tbp].
LATEX will place every float it encounters according to the placement
specifier supplied by the author. If a float cannot be placed on the current
page it is deferred either to the figures queue or the tables queue.11 When
a new page is started, LATEX first checks if it is possible to fill a special
‘float page’ with floats from the queues. If this is not possible, the first
float on each queue is treated as if it had just occurred in the text: LATEX
tries again to place it according to its respective placement specifiers
(except h, which is no longer possible). Any new floats occurring in the
text get placed into the appropriate queues. LATEX strictly maintains the
original order of appearance for each type of float. That’s why a figure
that cannot be placed pushes all subsequent figures to the end of the
document. Therefore:

If LATEX is not placing the floats as you expected, it is often

only one float jamming one of the two float queues.

While it is possible to give LATEX single-location placement specifiers,

this causes problems. If the float does not fit in the location specified
it becomes stuck, blocking subsequent floats. In particular, you should
never, ever use the [h] option—it is so bad that in more recent versions
of LATEX, it is automatically replaced by [ht].
Using floats, Listing 2.12 could be made better by rewriting it like
Listing 2.13. As you can see there, LATEX proceeded to typeset the
remaining text and delayed inserting the image until the next page.
Having explained the difficult bit, there are some more things to
mention about the table and figure environments. Use the

\caption[〈short caption〉]{〈full caption〉}

command to define a caption for the float. A running number, and the
string “Figure” or “Table”, will be added by LATEX.
The two commands

\listoffigures and \listoftables

operate similar to the \tableofcontents command, printing a list of

figures or tables, respectively. These lists will display the whole caption,
so if you tend to use long captions you must have a shorter version of the
caption for the lists. This is accomplished by entering the short version
in brackets after the \caption command.
11
These are FIFO—‘first in first out’—queues!
2.20 Floating Bodies 71

Here is some text to take

up some space.
Here is some text Below this text is an im-
to take up some space. age.
Here is more text.
Below this text is an image.

\begin{figure} 1
\centering
\includegraphics[
scale=0.2
]{example-image}
\end{figure} Image

Here is more text.

Listing 2.13: An example of using figure float to achieve dynamic image

placement inside a document.

\caption[Short]{LLLLLoooooonnnnnggggg}

Use \label and \ref to create a reference to a float within your

text. Note that the \label command must come after the \caption
command, since you want it to reference the number of the caption.
Listing 2.14 presents an example usage of these commands.
Under certain circumstances it might be necessary to use the

\clearpage or even the \cleardoublepage

command. It orders LATEX to immediately place all floats remaining in

the queues and then start a new page. \cleardoublepage even goes to
a new right-hand page.

2.20.1 Createing your own Float-Types

If you want to have other float types besides “Table” and “Figure”, use
the newfloat [70] package. It provides the

\DeclareFloatingEnvironment[〈options〉]{〈name〉}

For example, the \DeclareFloatingEnvironment{cat} will define a

new environment, cat, which can be used like the figure and table
72 Real World LATEX

List of Figures
\listoffigures 1 A figure . . . . 2

Here is some text describ-

Here is some text describing
ing the Figure 1.
the Figure~\ref{figure}.
Here is more text.
\begin{figure}
\centering
1
\includegraphics[
scale=0.2
]{example-image}
\caption[A figure]{An Image
interesting figure}%
\label{figure}
\end{figure}
Figure 1: An interesting fig-
Here is more text. ure

Listing 2.14: An example of using figure float together with references

and list of figures.
2.21 Big Projects 73

environments, and command \listofcats, which works in the same

way as \listoftables. You can customise the floats using the 〈options〉
to change the printed captions (name), list title (listname) or default
placement (placement).

2.20.2 The longtable Environment

Floating bodies occupy only a single page. Thus, putting a longtable
into one does not make sense. Still, you may want to have the longtable
listed in the list of tables with some caption. The longtable package defines
its own \caption command, which you can use inside the environment.
Its use is similar to the standard \caption command, except that it
is treated as a row. If you pass an empty optional argument to the
\caption command, it will typeset normally but it won’t be put in the
list of tables, which is useful if you want to have a running caption. See
Listing 2.15, for an example.

2.21 Big Projects

When working on big documents, you might want to split the input file
into several parts. LATEX has two commands that help you do this.
Use the

\include{〈filename〉}

command in the document body to insert the contents of another file

named filename.tex. Note that LATEX will start a new page before
processing the material input from filename.tex.
The second command can be used in the preamble. It allows you to
instruct LATEX to only input some of the \included files.

\includeonly{〈filename〉, 〈filename〉, ...}

After this command is executed in the preamble of the document, only

\include commands for the filenames that are listed in the argument of
the \includeonly command will be executed.
The \include command starts typesetting the included text on a
new page. This is helpful when you use \includeonly, because the
page breaks will not move, even when some \include files are omitted.
Sometimes this might not be desirable. In this case, use the

\input{〈filename〉}

command. It simply includes the file specified. No flashy suits, no strings

attached.
74 Real World LATEX

Table 1: Numbers
\begin{longtable}{@{}cl@{}}
\caption{Numbers} \\
\toprule Number Word
Number & Word \\ 0 Zero
\midrule \endfirsthead 1 One
2 Two
\caption[]{(continued)} \\ 3 Three
\toprule
Number & Word \\
\midrule \endhead Table 1: (continued)
1
\bottomrule \endfoot
Number Word
\bottomrule \endlastfoot
4 Four
0 & Zero \\ 5 Five
% ... 6 Six
\end{longtable} 7 Seven

2
Listing 2.15: An example of longtable with running caption.

To make LATEX quickly check your document, use the syntonly package.
This makes LATEX skim through your document, only checking for proper
syntax and usage of commands, but doesn’t produce any (PDF) output.
As LATEX runs faster in this mode, you may save yourself valuable time.
Usage is very simple:

\usepackage{syntonly}
\syntaxonly

When you want to produce pages, just comment out the second line (by
adding a percent sign).
Chapter 3

Typesetting Mathematical
Formulae

The TEX typesetting system has become nearly ubiquitous when it comes
to typesetting mathematics. Many software packages even offer to export
their mathematical formulae to LATEX (for example, SageMath [81]) or allow
entering math expressions in LATEX or LATEX-derived syntax (for example,
Wikipedia [84]). In this chapter, you will learn how to insert math formulae
into your document.

3.1 Modern Mathematics

While core LATEX is able to produce high quality mathematics output
out of the box, there are a few areas where useful features are missing,
and some design choices have not aged well over the last 30 years.
The American Mathematical Society was very interested in TEX from
the earliest days and sponsored the development of several well received
enhancements to improve LATEX’s math abilities. The enhancements are
known as AMS-TEX and AMS-LATEX.
These days, the AMS-LATEX features, and some additional ones, are
provided by the mathtools [25] package. It loads the amsmath package
internally, adjusts some settings, fixes some behaviours, and adds some
additional commands. We recommend loading it together with the
unicode-math [61] package for an optimal math-writing experience.
The original TEX used its own font encoding for typesetting mathe-
matics, which is still used by default in LATEX. In recent years, a new
standard appeared: OpenType math extensions,1 which makes it pos-
sible to use standardized Unicode characters inside documents. The
unicode-math package adds support for these fonts in LATEX, allowing
1
Its internal structure is actually based on TEX font tables.
76 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

you to use more symbols and makes the commands for accessing math
symbols a bit more consistent. The problem with unicode-math, is that
some older math packages rely on the classic math font encoding. So if
you have to use them, do not use the unicode-math package, to protect
your sanity.
Throughout this section, we assume that your preamble contains
these two lines in this order:

\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage[
math-style=ISO,
warnings-off={mathtools-colon, mathtools-overbracket},
]{unicode-math}

The math-style=ISO key fixes a small inconsistency in original TEX

regarding the shape of uppercase Greek letters. The warnings-off key
disables two warnings about overwriting some mathtools commands.2

3.2 Single Equations

LATEX distinguishes between two styles of typesetting formulae: text style
and display style. The text style is used to typeset inline math in running
text, like this: ∑𝑘=0 𝑘1 , while the display style is used to typeset bigger
∞

equations on their own line, like this:

∞
1
∑ .
𝑘=0
𝑘

To typeset an inline formula, put it between \( and \) commands,

while \[ and \] typesets it in display mode.

Not like this 3-1=0,

but like this \(3-1=2\) Not like this 3-1=0, but like this
or this 3 − 1 = 2 or this
\[
3 - 1 = 2 3−1=2
\]

It is often the case that we want to refer to a specific formula or

equation in the document. To make this possible, a special equation
environment exists that typesets the formula in display mode and adds
2
These are \overbracket, \underbracket, \coloneq, \dblcolon, \coloneqq,
\Coloneqq and \eqqcolon. Disable this package option and read these warnings
if you are going to use them.
3.2 Single Equations 77

a number to the right. The equations can be labelled and referred to by

using the commands described in Section 2.12.

\begin{equation}
\label{trivial}
2 + 2 = 4 2+2=4 (1)
\end{equation}
Equation~\ref{trivial}
Equation 1 is true.
is true.

The commands \eqref and \tag make cross-referencing in math context

even simpler. The first one is similar to the \ref command but encloses
its label in parentheses to match the appearance of the equation label.
The second one allows you to customize the visible label of the equation.

\begin{equation}
\tag{Ingsoc's theorem}
\label{ingsoc} 2 + 2 = 5 (Ingsoc’s theorem)
2 + 2 = 5
\end{equation} Equation (Ingsoc’s theorem) is
Equation~\eqref{ingsoc} is false. false.

The starred version, equation*, is a synonym of \[.

3.2.1 Math Mode

The commands and environments mentioned in the previous section
activate a special math-optimised version of the LATEX language. It is
commonly known as math mode. LATEX normally operates in text mode.
There are numerous differences between the two modes. For starters,
most of the whitespace is ignored in math mode.

\(123xyz\) is the same as \(

1 2 3 x y z 123𝑥𝑦𝑧 is the same as 123𝑥𝑦𝑧.
\).

The spaces around symbols are derived logically from the mathematical
expressions. We will talk more about those in Section 3.7. Since there
is no concept of a paragraph in math formulae, leaving empty lines
inside math mode is not allowed. Doing so will result in the “Bad math
environment delimiter.” error.
Another difference is the fact that all letters are treated as math-
ematical variables. Variables are printed using an italic font, and the
spacing around each letter is wider than in text-mode.

Compare office to \(office\). Compare office to 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒.

78 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

If you want to typeset normal text within a formula, you can use the
\text command.

\( 1 + \text{one} = 2\) 1 + one = 2

Finally, additional commands and syntax become available to enable

typesetting mathematical notation. For example, the ^ and _ characters
can now be used to typeset superscripts and subscripts, respectively.

\( a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \) \\ 𝑎2 + 𝑏 2 = 𝑐 2

\( A_x = G_{a\times c} \) 𝐴𝑥 = 𝐺𝑎×𝑐

3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae

In this section, we describe the most important commands used in
mathematical typesetting. The symbols introduced here are only a
tiny pick from what is available in LATEX world. If you need additional
symbols, be sure to check out [37, 59, 52] since there is a big chance they
already exist.

3.3.1 Basic Arithmetic

You can probably guess how to typeset addition, subtraction, and equality
based on the previous examples. To typeset multiplication and division
symbols, you can use \times and \div commands.

\( (4 \times 6) \div 3 = 8 \) (4 × 6) ÷ 3 = 8

If you prefer to use dots for multiplication or slash for division, you can
use \cdot and \divslash, respectively. To typeset a negated equality,
you can precede the equal sign with \not.

\( (5 \cdot 3) \divslash 2
(5 ⋅ 3) ∕ 2 ≠ 7
\not= 7 \)

Alternatively, you can use \neq which will produce the same result. The
\not notation is more general in that it works with many more symbols.
To typeset weak inequalities, you can use the \leq (less or equal)
and \geq (greater or equal) commands. If you prefer slanted versions,
swap them for \leqslant and \geqslant.

\( 1 \leq 2 \) vs.\
\(1 \leqslant 2\)
1 ≤ 2 vs. 1 ⩽ 2
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 79

Exponents are written using the superscript character ^. LATEX will

adapt the size and position of the superscript to the the height of the
previous character. This is usually correct, but when parentheses are
present the position may be a bit too low.

\( a^2 \) is fine, but what

𝑎2 is fine, but what about (𝑎2 )2 ?
about \( (a^2)^2 \)?

In the example above, the second superscript doesn’t know about the
first one inside the parenthesis, and it adapts only to the height of the
closing parenthesis. To fix this, enclose the parentheses in a group.

2
\( {(a^2)}^2 \) is better. (𝑎2 ) is better.

In subsection 3.3.7 we will also talk about growing parentheses that do

not have this problem.
To enter square roots use, the \sqrt command. It will automatically
overline the expression it received as the argument.

From Homer's theorem it

follows that From Homer’s theorem it follows
\[ that
\sqrt{a} + \sqrt{b} = \sqrt{c} √ √ √
𝑎+ 𝑏= 𝑐
\] √
so we can see that so we can see that 𝑐 = 2𝑥2 + 7.
\(c = \sqrt{2x^2+7}\).

The full syntax of the \sqrt is actually

\sqrt[〈n〉]{〈expr〉}

The optional argument 〈n〉 allows you to typeset 〈n〉-th root radicals.3

Find three positive integers Find three positive integers 𝑎, 𝑏

\(a, b\) and \(c\), such that
and 𝑐, such that
\[
a = \sqrt[7]{b^7 + c^7}
𝑎 = √𝑏7 + 𝑐7
7
\]

3
The name \sqrt is a bit misleading in that respect ;-).
80 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Finally, typesetting built-up fractions is made possible by the

\frac{〈numerator〉}{〈denominator〉}
command.
And since
\[ And since
\frac{a}{b} \leq
\frac{a+c}{b+d} \leq
𝑎 𝑎+𝑐 𝑐
≤ ≤
\frac{c}{d} 𝑏 𝑏+𝑑 𝑑
\] √
it follows that it follows that 𝑥 = 𝑦3 .
𝑧+3

\(x = \frac{\sqrt{z+3}}{y^3}\).

3.3.2 Logic and Set Theory

The basic logical operations can be typeset using rather self-explanatory
commands: \lnot, \land, \lor, \implies and \iff.
\[
p \land q \iff
\lnot (p \implies \lnot q) 𝑝 ∧ 𝑞 ⟺ ¬(𝑝 ⟹ ¬𝑞)
\]

There’s also a left facing implication named \impliedBy. Some less

established logical symbols can also be found under less intuitive names
such as \veebar, which produces ⊻ used by some for exclusive disjunction.
If you intend to use them, make sure to use commands described in
Section 2.9 to create meaningful synonyms.
The quantifier symbols can be typeset using \forall and \exists
commands.
\[
\lnot\forall_{q} P(q) \iff
\exists_{q}\lnot P(q) ¬∀𝑞 𝑃 (𝑞) ⟺ ∃𝑞 ¬𝑃 (𝑞)
\]

To typeset sets, use the \{ and \} commands.

\( \{1, 2, 3, \ldots, 100\} \) {1, 2, 3, … , 100}

To indicate set membership (“is an element of”), you can use the \in
command.4 Sets defined by a predicate are often written using set-builder
notation with a colon. The naïve way would be to write it like this:

\( \{x \in X:
{𝑥 ∈ 𝑋 ∶ ∃𝑛 𝑥𝑛 = 1}
\exists_n x^n = 1\} \)
4
Try to guess its left-flipped version name.
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 81

The result doesn’t look right, though. The reason is the aforementioned
automatic spacing based on mathematical meaning. The : character is
used in LATEX for ratios, such as 1 ∶ 2, which is why it has equal spacing
on both of its sides. To typeset colons in set-builder notation, use the
\colon command instead.

\(\{ X \ni x\colon

{𝑋 ∋ 𝑥 ∶ ∃𝑛 𝑥𝑛 = 1}
\exists_n x^n = 1\} \)

The usual set inclusion symbols are accessible as \subset, \subseteq

and \subsetneq, while their flipped versions are accessible as \supset,
\supseteq and \supsetneq. The set union symbol is hiding behind \cup
while set intersection is \cap. Set difference is just \setminus though.
You may also find \emptyset useful.

% TODO: Waiting for unicode-math fix

\RenewDocumentCommand{\setminus}{}{\smallsetminus}
\[
\emptyset
\subset X \setminus X
∅ ⊂ 𝑋 𝑋 ⊆ 𝑋∩∅ ⊊ 𝑋 ⊇ 𝑋∪𝑋
−

\subseteq X \cap \emptyset

\subsetneq X
\supseteq X \cup X
\]

3.3.3 Greek Letters

Every mathematician knows the Latin alphabet just isn’t enough. Access-
ing the Greek alphabet is as easy as typing \alpha, \beta, \gamma, …
for lowercase letters and \Alpha, \Beta, \Gamma, … for uppercase letters.

Let \(\epsilon\) be a small

Let 𝜖 be a small number, and let
number, and let \(\Epsilon\)
be a large number. 𝛦 be a large number.

As you can see above, in most fonts (including the default LATEX one)
there is no visual difference between some uppercase Greek letters and
their Latin equivalents. If you want to use them, make sure they do not
clash in your document.
Some Greek letters have defined variants. These are accessible by
prepending the word var before the letter name; \varepsilon, for
example. A list of all defined variants is presented in Table 3.1.
Note that all Greek letters in math mode, the same as all the Latin
letters, are considered to be mathematical variables. In particular, \pi
should not be used to denote the famous constant.
82 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Table 3.1: Available variants of Greek letters.

Command Variant Main

\varepsilon 𝜀 𝜖
\varkappa 𝜘 𝜅
\varphi 𝜑 𝜙
\varpi 𝜛 𝜋
\varrho 𝜚 𝜌
\varsigma 𝜍 𝜎
\vartheta 𝜗 𝜃
\varTheta 𝛳 𝛩

3.3.4 Mathematical Fonts and How To Use Them

When writing mathematics, we tend to use different fonts for mathe-
matical symbols depending on the object they represent. For example,
variables are typeset using an italic font, while named sets often get a
fancy double-struck (also known as ‘blackboard bold’) font, for example,
ℕ. You can access various fonts by using the family of \sym... com-
mands. For example, to typeset double-struck letters use the \symbb
command.

\[
\forall_{p \in \symbb{P}}
\exists_{n \in \symbb{N}}
p < 5 \lor p^2 = 24n + 1 ∀𝑝∈ℙ ∃𝑛∈ℕ 𝑝 < 5 ∨ 𝑝2 = 24𝑛 + 1
\]

All font changing commands are listed in Table 3.2.

Avoid writing these commands directly in your formulas. Instead,
you should create logical wrappers around them. For example, the ISO
80000-2:2019 [30] standard states that mathematical constants should
be written in a Roman (upright) font. Writing \symrm{e} every time we
want to refer to the base of the natural logarithm will make the code less
readable, so we create simple wrappers for the constants we are going to
use.

\NewDocumentCommand{\e}{}{\symrm{e}}
\NewDocumentCommand{\im}{}{\symrm{i}}
\NewDocumentCommand{\cpi}{}{\symrm{\pi}}
\[ \e^{\im\cpi} + 1 = 0 \]

eiπ + 1 = 0
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 83

Table 3.2: Commands that change the font of mathematical symbols. An

empty example field indicates that the Unicode does not define glyphs
in the given set.

Example
Command Latin Greek Numerals
\symup ABCabc … ΑΒΓαβγ … 123 …
\symbfup 𝐀𝐁𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐜 … 𝚨𝚩𝚪𝛂𝛃𝛄 … 𝟏𝟐𝟑 …
\symit 𝐴𝐵𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑐 … 𝛢𝛣𝛤 𝛼𝛽𝛾 …
\symbfit 𝑨𝑩𝑪𝒂𝒃𝒄 … 𝜜𝜝𝜞 𝜶𝜷𝜸 …
\symsfup 𝖠𝖡𝖢𝖺𝖻𝖼 … 𝟣𝟤𝟥 …
\symbfsfup 𝗔𝗕𝗖𝗮𝗯𝗰 … 𝝖𝝗𝝘𝝰𝝱𝝲 … 𝟭𝟮𝟯 …
\symsfit 𝘈𝘉𝘊 𝘢𝘣𝘤 …
\symbfsfit 𝘼𝘽𝘾𝙖𝙗𝙘 … 𝞐𝞑𝞒 𝞪𝞫𝞬 …
\symtt 𝙰𝙱𝙲𝚊𝚋𝚌 … 𝟷𝟸𝟹 …
\symbba 𝔸𝔹ℂ𝕒𝕓𝕔 … ℾℿℽℼ 𝟙𝟚𝟛 …
\symbbitb ⅅⅆⅇⅈⅉ
\symscrc 𝒜ℬ𝒞𝒶𝒷𝒸 …
\symbfscrd 𝓐𝓑𝓒𝓪𝓫𝓬 …
\symfrak 𝔄𝔅ℭ𝔞𝔟𝔠 …
\symbffrak 𝕬𝕭𝕮𝖆𝖇𝖈 …
a
In the Greek set, only the four presented glyphs (\Gamma, \Pi, \gamma and \pi)
are defined by the Unicode standard.
b
Only the five presented glyphs (D, d, e, i and j) are defined by the Unicode
standard.
c
The default font does not contain lowercase glyphs. Here they are shown using a
different font.
d
Same as above.
84 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Functions such as sin or log should be written in Roman style, how-

ever you should not use the \symrm command to do so. As the name of
the command indicates, it is meant to be used for mathematical sym-
bols. Since in “sin” 𝑠, 𝑖 and 𝑛 are not symbols, but components of a
single operator name, there are separate commands for typesetting these.
Fortunately you do not have to access them directly since many of the
standard functions are already defined.

\( \cos(2\cpi) = \ln(\e) \) cos(2π) = ln(e)

The full list of predefined functions is presented in Table 3.3.

If these are not enough for you, use the \DeclareMathOperator
command to define your own. It can be only used in the preamble.

% In preamble
\DeclareMathOperator{\argh}{argh}
% ...
\[ \argh(x) = \sinh(\max(x, x^2)) \]

argh(𝑥) = sinh(max(𝑥, 𝑥2 ))

3.3.5 Big Operators

At the beginning of the Section 3.2, we used the summation operator to
show off some capabilities of mathematical typesetting. To typeset it,
use the \sum command, its lower and upper limits are specified by the
sub- and superscript operators.

\(
\sum_{k=0}^{n} \frac{1}{k^2} ∑𝑛𝑘=0 1
𝑘2
\)

Table 3.3: All functions predefined by LATEX.

\arccos \cos \csc \exp \ker \limsup

\arcsin \cosh \deg \gcd \lg \ln
\arctan \cot \det \hom \lim \log
\arg \coth \dim \inf \liminf \max
\sinh \sup \tan \tanh \min \Pr
\sec \sin
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 85

The appearance in text style differs massively from the one in display
style.

\[ 𝑛
1
\sum_{k=0}^{n} \frac{1}{k^2} ∑
\] 𝑘=0
𝑘2

This is an example of what’s commonly known as big operator. There

are other such operators, such as \prod for products, or \bigwedge for
conjunctions. Some functions listed in Table 3.3 are also big operators.

\[
c = \max_{x\in X} f(x) 𝑐 = max 𝑓(𝑥)
𝑥∈𝑋
\]

You can define your own big operators by using a starred version of
the \DeclareMathOperator command.

% In preamble
\DeclareMathOperator*{\nut}{Nut}
% ...
\[ \nut_y = \lim_{x \to y} \argh{x} \]

Nut = lim argh 𝑥

𝑦 𝑥→𝑦

If you have a long limit, it may make sense to typeset it vertically

instead of horizontally. This can be done using the \substack command.
Inside, you can place \\ to indicate where new lines should be started.

\[
\sum^n_{
𝑛
\substack{0<i<n \\
j\subseteq i} ∑ 𝑃 (𝑖, 𝑗) = 𝑄(𝑖, 𝑗)
0<𝑖<𝑛
} 𝑗⊆𝑖
P(i,j) = Q(i,j)
\]

The integral symbol is also a big operator, but it only shifts the lower
limit left.

\[ 𝑏
\int_a^b \liminf_{a \to x} a^2 ∫ lim inf 𝑎2
𝑎→𝑥
\] 𝑎
86 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Due to the fact that the symbol is highly slanted to the right, type-
setting multiple integrals leads to excessive space around them. Use
\iint,\iiint,\iiiint instead for improved spacing.

∫∫∫∫
\[ \int\int\int\int \]
vs.\ vs.
\[ \iiiint \]
⨌

If you want to suppress the big operators’ limit-placement-behaviour

and typeset normal, sub-, or superscripted text next to them, you can
simply surround them with curly braces.

\[
{\sum_{a}}^b 𝑏
𝑏 𝑏
{\int}_a^b ∑ ∫ Nut𝑎
{\nut^b}_a 𝑎 𝑎
\]

However, if a long limit is present this may lead to excessive spacing

before the sub- or superscripts.

𝑏
\[ {\sum_{loooooong}}^{b} \] ∑
𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑔

To fix the issue, use the

\sideset{〈left〉}{〈right〉}{〈symbol〉}

command. It surrounds the 〈symbol〉 with left and right commands

before typesetting its limits.

\[ \sideset{^{a}}{^{b}}{\sum}_{loooooong} \]

𝑎 𝑏
∑
𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑔
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 87

3.3.6 Math Accents

To denote an arithmetic mean taken over a variable, a notation with a
bar over the variable is used: 𝑥.̄ If you remember Table 2.1 from page 25,
you may think it would be possible to write it as \=x. This will not work
though. In fact, none of the commands from this table will work in math
mode. There is a good conceptual reason for this—the accents listed
there are meant to typeset non-Latin letters that are used in various
languages. The character \"u is meant to represent u-umlaut and the
correct glyph for it will be chosen if it exists in the current font. In math,
we don’t want an u-umlaut—we want the “double dot above” operator
applied to variable 𝑢. Thus, different commands are used to achieve this.
To actually get a bar over a variable, you can use the \bar command.
Other accents include \hat, \grave, \acute, \tilde or \ddot. Refer
to [59] for a full list.

\(\bar{x}\) \(\hat{x}\)
\(\grave{x}\) \(\acute{x}\) 𝑥̄ 𝑥̂ 𝑥 ̀ 𝑥́ 𝑥̃ 𝑥̈
\(\tilde{x}\) \(\ddot{x}\)

Some accents also exist in a ‘wide’ version. These can encompass

more than one character. Compare \hat to \widehat in the example
below.

\(\hat{ABC}\) vs.\
̂ vs. 𝐴𝐵𝐶
𝐴𝐵𝐶 ̂
\(\widehat{ABC}\)

The wide version of the \bar accent is called \overline. It is useful if

you want to mark the repetend of a decimal fraction.

\(0.123\overline{456789}\) 0.123456789

Some wide accents even have limits. For example, the \overbrace
and \underbrace commands enable you to create horizontal braces with
an expression above or below them.

\[
\underbrace{
\overbrace{(a+b+c)}^6 6 7
\times ⏞
(𝑎⏞
+⏞ ⏞⏞
𝑏+ 𝑐) × ⏞
⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟⏟ (𝑑⏞
+⏞ ⏞⏞
𝑒+ 𝑓) = 42
\overbrace{(d+e+f)}^7
meaning of life
}_{\text{meaning of life}}=42
\]
88 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

You can even create your own math-accents using \overset and
\underset.

\(\overset{\text{foo}}{x}\) foo
𝑥 𝐴
\(\underset{\times}{A}\) ×

These commands may also be used when creating custom binary relations.
Make sure that you do not overwrite existing commands!

\(a \overset{\text{def}}{=} b\) def

vs.\ \(a \eqdef b\) 𝑎 = 𝑏 vs. 𝑎 ≝ 𝑏

3.3.7 Delimiters
Besides the standard parentheses, brackets and braces, LATEX provides
all sorts of symbols for delimiters, such as:

\[
\langle x \rangle
\lBrack x \rBrack
\lfloor x \rfloor ⟨𝑥⟩ ⟦𝑥⟧ ⌊𝑥⌋ |𝑥|
\lvert x \rvert
\]

While all of them work fine for bungalow-style math, things get ugly
when the expression inside them starts getting tall.

\[
{\lfloor
\frac
{{\langle\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} k^{-4}\rangle}^3}
{\frac{{\lvert\{a,b,c\}\rvert}^8}{{(x^4)}^3}}
\rfloor}^6
\]

∞ 3 6
⟨∑𝑘=1 𝑘−4 ⟩
⌊ ⌋
|{𝑎,𝑏,𝑐}|8
3
(𝑥4 )

To fix this, you can use the \left and \right commands. They take
one argument—the delimiter to extend—and adapt its size based on the
3.3 Building Blocks of Mathematical Formulae 89

content they delimit. You must close every \left with a corresponding
\right, but they do not have to use the same delimiter.
\[
\left(
\frac{1}{1 +
\frac{1}{1 + ⎛ 1 ⎤
\frac{1}{1 + ⎜
⎜ ⎥
⎜1 + 1 ⎥
\frac{1}{1 + 1+ 1

\sqrt{2}}}}}
⎝ 1+ 1√
1+ 2 ⎦
\right]
\]
If you want to typeset a delimiter only on one side of the expression, a
special value may be passed: the dot character ., which is treated as an
invisible delimiter.
\[
x = \left.
∞
\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} 1
𝑥= ∑ }
\frac{1}{k^2} 𝑘2
𝑘=1
\right\}
\]
While using the \left and \right commands directly is sometimes
necessary, the simplest case of using some predefined delimiters on both
sides is the most common. For this usage, the command
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\〈name〉}{〈left delim〉}{〈right delim〉}
is really useful. It declares the 〈name〉 command which simply encloses
its argument between 〈left delim〉 and 〈right delim〉, while its starred
version additionally uses \left and \right commands when typesetting
delimiters.
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\set}{\{}{\}}
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\size}{\lvert}{\rvert}
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\mean}{\langle}{\rangle}
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\floor}{\lfloor}{\rfloor}
\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\group}{(}{)}
\[
\floor*{
\frac
{\mean*{\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} k^{-4}}^3}
{\frac{\size*{\set{a,b,c}}^8}{\group*{x^4}^3}}
}^6
\]

3 6
⎢ ⟨∑∞ 𝑘−4 ⟩ ⎥
⎢ 𝑘=1 ⎥
⎢ |{𝑎,𝑏,𝑐}|8 ⎥
⎣ (𝑥4 )
3
⎦
90 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

In some special circumstances, you may also want to select the size of
the delimiter yourself. You can do this by using the \big, \Big, \bigg
and \Bigg commands. These may be either prepended to a delimiting
symbol with “l” and “r” suffixes, or passed as an optional argument to a
declared delimiter.

\DeclarePairedDelimiter{%
\set}{\{}{\}}
\( \bigl[ \ddagger \Biggr) \)
[‡) {1, 34 }
\( \set[\Big]{1,\frac{3}{4}} \)

If the \DeclarePairedDelimiter is not enough for you, there also

exists a more powerful \DeclarePairedDelimiterX command. It allows
you to define delimiters that are composed of more than one part (such as
bra-kets) and manipulate their arguments. For a full description, check
out the documentation of mathtools [25] package.

3.4 Multiline Equations

The math environments discussed so far only allow typesetting a single
line equation. However, sometimes an equation might be too long to fit.

\begin{equation}
a = b + c + d + e + f
+ g + h + i + j 𝑎 = 𝑏+𝑐+𝑑+𝑒+𝑓+𝑔+ℎ+𝑖+𝑗+𝑘+𝑙+𝑚+𝑛+𝑜+𝑝
+ k + l + m + n + o + p (1)
\end{equation}

In this case, it is necessary to introduce line breaks inside the equation.

When doing so, it is important to remember a few rules to improve the
readability:

1. In general one should always break an equation before an equality

sign or operator.

2. A break before an equality sign is preferable to a break before any

operator.

3. A break before a plus- or minus-operator is preferable to a break

before a multiplication-operator.

4. Any other type of break should be avoided if at all possible.

This section will introduce several environments to typeset equations

with linebreaks inside them. These and more are described in more detail
in the amsmath [55] package documentation.
3.4 Multiline Equations 91

3.4.1 Long Equations

The easiest way to display long equations is the multline environment.
It allows introducing line breaks with the \\ command.

\begin{multline}
a + b + c + d + e
+ f + g + h + i \\ 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐+𝑑+𝑒+𝑓 +𝑔+ℎ+𝑖
= j + k + l + m + n
= 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 + 𝑛 (1)
\end{multline}

The first line in multline environment is aligned to the left, and the last
one to the right, while all the others are centred.

\begin{multline}
a + b + c + d + e \\ 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐+𝑑+𝑒
+ f + g + h + i \\
= j + k + l + m + n +𝑓 +𝑔+ℎ+𝑖
\end{multline} = 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 + 𝑛 (1)

If you do not want some particular inner line centred, you can use
\shoveleft and \shoveright commands to force the line to be left or
right aligned.

\begin{multline}
a + b + c \\ 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐
\shoveleft{+ d + e + f} \\
\shoveright{+ g + h + i} \\
+𝑑+𝑒+𝑓
= j + k + l + m + n +𝑔+ℎ+𝑖
\end{multline} = 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 + 𝑛 (1)

As with equation*, there also exists a starred multline* version

that suppresses the equation number.

3.4.2 Multiple Unaligned Equations

When typsetting multiple equations within several equation environ-
ments, unneeded spacing appears between them.
\begin{equation}
2 + 2 = 4
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
2+2=4 (1)
2 \times 2 = 4 2×2=4 (2)
\end{equation}
\begin{equation} 2+2×2=6 (3)
2 + 2 \times 2 = 6
\end{equation}
92 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Use the gather environment to eliminate the extra space. It allows you
to break lines using the \\ command, and centres each equation.

\begin{gather}
2 + 2 = 4 \\ 2+2=4 (1)
2 \times 2 = 4 \\
2 + 2 \times 2 = 6 2×2=4 (2)
\end{gather} 2+2×2=6 (3)

The equation numbering commands, such as \eqref, \label and \tag,

now apply to the line they are present in. Additionally the command
\notag allows you to suppress equation numbering for a particular line.

\begin{gather}
2 + 2 = 4
\tag{Easy}\label{easy} \\ 2+2=4 (Easy)
2 \times 2 = 4 \notag \\
2 + 2 \times 2 = 6 2×2=4
\label{hard} 2+2×2=6 (1)
\end{gather}
Note:~\eqref{easy} is easier Note: (Easy) is easier than (1).
than~\eqref{hard}.

The above example also illustrates that the centring of the equations
inside the environment may depend upon the length of the tag. Keep
this in mind if your tags and/or equations get long.
As always, the starred version of the environment, gather*, sup-
presses all equation numbers.

3.4.3 Multiple Aligned Equations

If the gathered equations have a natural midpoint, it may be the case
that the align environment is much better suited to typeset them. It
allows you to align the equations by inserting the & character, the same
as in the tabular environment. Note that the & should come before any
binary operator, in order to produce the correct spacing.

\begin{align}
2 + 2 & = 2 \times 2 \\ 2+2=2×2 (1)
3 + 3 & \neq 3 \times 3 \\
2 + 2 \times 2 & < 8 3+3≠3×3 (2)
\end{align} 2+2×2<8 (3)

The align environment allows placing multiple bits of math on a

single line by using & as a separator. The bits are considered to be
3.4 Multiline Equations 93

paired, so every second alignment character will produce a bigger space

to accommodate for the spacing between columns.

\begin{align}
a & \succeq b & c & \leq d \\
𝑎⪰𝑏 𝑐≤𝑑 (1)
a & \geq d & d & \prec c
\end{align} 𝑎≥𝑑 𝑑≺𝑐 (2)

The align environment is also really useful when writing transfor-

mations of a single equation over multiple lines.

𝑛 𝑛−1
\begin{align}
\sum_{k=0}^n k ∑𝑘 = ∑𝑘 + 𝑛 (1)
&= \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} k + n \\ 𝑘=0 𝑘=0
&= \frac{n(n-1)}{2} + n \\ 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)
= +𝑛 (2)
&= \frac{n(n+1)}{2} 2
\end{align} 𝑛(𝑛 + 1)
= (3)
2

We can even use additional columns to add line-by-line comments with

the \text command.

\begin{align*}
\sum_{k=0}^n k 𝑛 𝑛−1
&= \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} k + n ∑𝑘 = ∑𝑘 + 𝑛 definition
&& \text{definition} \\ 𝑘=0 𝑘=0
&= \frac{n(n - 1)}{2} + n 𝑛(𝑛 − 1)
&& \text{induction} \\ = + 𝑛 induction
&= \frac{n(n + 1)}{2} 2
&& \text{trivial} 𝑛(𝑛 + 1)
= trivial
\end{align*} 2

The \phantom command from subsection 3.7.3 allows us to correctly

align equation systems.

\begin{align}
a + b + c
&= d + e + f \nonumber \\ 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐=𝑑+𝑒+𝑓
& \phantom{=}\ + g + h
+𝑔+ℎ
\nonumber \\
& \phantom{=}\ + i \\ +𝑖 (1)
&= j + k + l =𝑗+𝑘+𝑙 (2)
\end{align}

LATEX encloses relation symbols in thick spaces \; and binary symbols

in medium spaces \:. The symbols = and + in our example are each
94 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

of this type. The \phantom command strips = of its relation status,

leaving it short of two thick spaces. On the other hand, LATEX interprets
+ following \phantom as a binary symbol, creating a spurious medium
space. So we need an extra normal space: \ = \; + \; - \:.
If this aproach seems a bit complicated to you, have a look at subsec-
tion 3.4.5.

3.4.4 Equations as Building Blocks

All the environments presented above can be used inside other equations
by appending “-ed” to their name. They no longer number the equations
inside them, and accept an optional vertical positioning argument, with
the same semantics as those accepted by tabular (see Section 2.18 on
page 53).

\[
\begin{multlined}[t]
1 + 2 \\
+ 3 + 4
\end{multlined} =
\begin{gathered}[c]
1 + 2 \\ 1+2
1+2
+ 3 + 4 1+2 = = +3+4
\end{gathered} = +3 + 4
+3+4
\begin{aligned}[b]
1 & + 2 \\
& + 3 + 4
\end{aligned}
\]

These are useful if you want to, for example, break an equation into
multiple lines with alignment, but still retain only a single equation
number.

\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
2 + 2 \times 2 2+2×2=2×2+2
&= 2 \times 2 + 2 \\ (1)
&\neq 2 \times (2 + 2) \\ ≠ 2 × (2 + 2)
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
3.4 Multiline Equations 95

They can be also freely nested, if the need arises.

\begin{align}
a + b + c
&= \begin{multlined}[t]
d + e \\ 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐=𝑑+𝑒 (1)
+ e + f \\ +𝑒+𝑓
+ h
+ℎ
\end{multlined} \\
&= \begin{aligned}[t] =𝑖+𝑗 (2)
i &+ j \\ −𝑘
&- k \\
&\div m \\ ÷𝑚
&\times n ×𝑛
\end{aligned} \\
&= o + p + q =𝑜+𝑝+𝑞 (3)
\end{align}

3.4.5 IEEEeqnarray Environment

If the environments defined in amsmath do not meet your needs, you
can try the IEEEeqnarray from the IEEEtrantools [69] package. It allows
you to specify the alignment of each math column separately, like in the
tabular environment. Here we will present some of its basic functionali-
ties. More information about IEEEeqnarray can be found in Appendix F
of [68].
To specify column alignments, use l, c and r. Their uppercase version
also adds a small space around the column, which is useful in case of
binary operators. For example, to emulate the align environment we
could use rCl, i.e., three columns: the first column right-justified, the
middle one centred with a little more space around it, and the third
column left-justified.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray}{rCl}
a & = & b + c \\ 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐 (1)
& = & d + e + f + g + h \\
& = & i + j + k =𝑑+𝑒+𝑓 +𝑔+ℎ (2)
\end{IEEEeqnarray} =𝑖+𝑗+𝑘 (3)

In contrast to the amsmath environments, IEEEeqnarray does not

try to avoid collisions between the equation and its number.
\begin{IEEEeqnarray}{rCl}
a & = & b + c \\
& = & d + e + f 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐 (1)
+ g + h + i + j \\ = 𝑑 + 𝑒 + 𝑓 + 𝑔 + ℎ + 𝑖 + 𝑗(2)
& = & k + l + m + n.
\end{IEEEeqnarray} = 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 + 𝑛. (3)
96 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

To avoid this, use the \IEEEeqnarraynumspace on the offending line. It

will shift the whole equation left to accommodate the number present on
the given line.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray}{rCl}
a & = & b + c \\
& = & d + e + f 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐 (1)
+ g + h + i + j
\IEEEeqnarraynumspace \\ = 𝑑 + 𝑒 + 𝑓 + 𝑔 + ℎ + 𝑖 + 𝑗 (2)
& = & k + l + m + n. = 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 + 𝑛. (3)
\end{IEEEeqnarray}

You can also use \IEEEeqnarraymulticol to adjust only a single

line within the environment, with its usage being similar to that of the
\multicol environment.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray}{rCl}
\IEEEeqnarraymulticol{3}{l}{
a + b + c + d = e + f 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐+𝑑 =𝑒+𝑓 (1)
} \\
e + f & = & g + h \\ 𝑒+𝑓=𝑔+ℎ (2)
& = & i + j + k + l + m = 𝑖 + 𝑗 + 𝑘 + 𝑙 + 𝑚 (3)
\end{IEEEeqnarray}

If a particular line should not have an equation number, the number

can be suppressed using \notag, as discussed before. Additionally,
IEEEtrantools defines \IEEEyesnumber and \IEEEyessubnumber. The
former command can be used to turn on numbering within the starred
version of an environment.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray*}{rCl}
a & = & b + c \\ 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐
& = & d + e \IEEEyesnumber\\
& = & f + g =𝑑+𝑒 (1)
\end{IEEEeqnarray*} =𝑓 +𝑔

The latter changes the numbering to indicate sub expressions.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray}{rCl}
a & = & b + c \\
& = & d + e \notag \\ 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐 (1)
& = & f + g =𝑑+𝑒
\IEEEyessubnumber
\end{IEEEeqnarray} =𝑓 +𝑔 (1a)

Note that \label commands should eventually follow after these.

3.5 Units 97

Here is an alternative approach to the \phantom example above.

Notice the extra \negmedspace required to properly separate the plus
sign from the variable name. The \negmedspace{} command adds a
medium negative space, which cancels the space that LATEX inserts
between variable and operator in a formula like 𝑎 + 𝑏, while playing
the role of a variable when LATEX decides whether the next symbol is a
relation symbol or a unary operator.

\begin{IEEEeqnarray*}{rCl}
a & = & b + c + d \\ 𝑎=𝑏+𝑐+𝑑
& & + e \quad \text{too narrow!}\\
& & \negmedspace{} + e \\
+𝑒 too narrow!
& = & f + 2e +𝑒
\end{IEEEeqnarray*} = 𝑓 + 2𝑒

3.5 Units
When dealing with real world data, you will often find yourself writing
units such as 10 kg or 25 C mol−1 . In technical writing, it is crucial to
accurately convey values to avoid errors and ambiguity. The International
System of Units (SI ) [54], comes with a detailed set of typesetting rules.
For example, you may have noticed that in the first sentence the space
between 10 and kg is smaller than between the words.
Fortunately, thanks to the logical nature of LATEX markup and the
excellent siunitx [86] package, you do not need to know most of the rules.
Just use the special unit-commands provided by the package, and all the
units in your document will be typeset correctly.

3.5.1 Pitfalls of Naïvely Entered Units

Naïvely, one might write units like this:

The speed of light The speed of light is exactly

is exactly 299792458 m/s. 299792458 m/s.

This may look fine initially, but if your document gets longer you will
probably get into a situation where an unfortunate line break occurs.

\ldots{} The speed of light … The speed of light is 299792458

is 299792458 m/s. Thus, we
can calculate \ldots
m/s. Thus, we can calculate …
98 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

A non-breaking space will fix this problem, but the next one is already
waiting—the space between numbers. Digits of long numbers should be
grouped to make them easier to read. The above example should then
be written like this:

The speed of light is The speed of light is

299~792~458~m/s. 299 792 458 m/s.

Yet another challenge arises when trying to write the units inside math
mode
\(10~\frac{m}{s} 10 𝑚
× 12 𝑠 = 120 𝑚
\times 12~s = 120~m\) 𝑠

Here we need to make sure that the units are written in roman font. The
above example should be then written as
\(10~\frac{\textrm{m}}
{\textrm{s}} 10 m
× 12 s = 120 m
\times 12~\textrm{s} s
= 120~\textrm{m}\)
Hopefully, these examples illustrate why a better method is needed.

3.5.2 Basic Commands of the siunitx Package

The basic commands of siunitx package are
\num[〈options〉]{〈number〉}
\unit[〈options〉]{〈unit〉}
\qty[〈options〉]{〈number〉}{〈unit〉}
The \num command typesets a number, \unit typesets a unit, and \qty
typesets a quantity, i.e. a number followed by a unit. All the commands
feature an optional 〈options〉 argument, which is a comma delimited
key-value pair list that can influence the output of the command. The
〈unit〉 argument can be provided in one of two styles, either “literal” or
“interpreted”.
In literal mode units are entered as strings of letters
\unit{kg} is a unit,
\qty{10}{m/s} is a quantity
kg is a unit, 10 m/s is a quantity

Spaces in literal mode are ignored. If you want to insert a product of

units, use either dot . or tilde ~.
\unit{N} is
not \unit{kg m / s^2}, N is not kgm/s2 , but kg m/s2 or
but \unit{kg.m / s^2} kg m/s2
or \unit{kg~m / s^2}
3.5 Units 99

In interpreted mode, on the other hand, units are entered using

predefined macros:

\unit{\kilo\gram} is a unit,
\qty{10}{\metre\per\second} kg is a unit, 10 m s−1 is a quantity
is a quantity

At first glance this may seem less convenient, but this enables the package
to recognize the logical structure of the units, which means that the
formatting can be changed on the fly.

Which one do you prefer:

\(\unit{\newton} = \unit{
\kilo\gram\metre\per\square\second}\),
\(\unit{\newton} = \unit[per-mode = fraction]{
\kilo\gram\metre\per\second\squared}\) or
\(\unit{\N} = \unit[per-mode = symbol]{
\kg\m\per\s\tothe{2}}\)?

kg m
Which one do you prefer: N = kg m s−2 , N = s2 or
N = kg m/s2 ?

The commands \gram, \kilo, \per are rather self-explanatory. As you

can see, we have also used the per-mode option to influence the unit
style. While the command \tothe typesets arbitrary superscripts, the
command \of typesets arbitrary subscripts, known as qualifiers.

\unit{\kg\of{mol}}, kgmol , Bi
\unit{\bel\of{i}}

Note that the \per command only works on the next unit by default.
If we want it to apply to all following units, we may use sticky-per
option.

The unit of thermal conductivity is

\unit{\watt\per\metre\per\kelvin}
or equivalently
\unit[sticky-per]{\m\kg\per\s\cubed\K}.

The unit of thermal conductivity is W m−1 K−1

or equivalently m kg s−3 K−1 .

Sometimes, you may want to make the units use a different colour,
so they figure more prominently. This can be done using unit-color.
Options number-color and color may be used to colour only the numeric
100 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

values or whole quantities. If you want to highlight a single unit in a

compound unit, you may use the \highlight command.
\qty[unit-color = red ]{9.81}{\m\per\s\squared},
\qty[number-color = blue]{9.81}{\m\per\s\squared},
\qty[color = green ]{9.81}{\m\per\s\squared},
\qty{9.81}{\m\per\highlight{orange}\s\squared}

9.81 m s−2 , 9.81 m s−2 , 9.81 m s−2 , 9.81 m s−2

Now let’s turn our attention to numbers. Numeric values will always
use dot as a decimal separator, regardless of the symbol entered. If
you want to use comma as the decimal separator, change the output-
decimal-marker option.
\(\cpi \approx \num{3.14159}\)
\(\cpi \approx \num{3,14159}\) π ≈ 3.141 59
\(\cpi \approx \num[ π ≈ 3.141 59
output-decimal-marker={,} π ≈ 3,141 59
]{3.14159}\)
Numbers may also be entered using exponent notation. The symbols
before the exponent and base may be controlled using exponent-product
and exponent-base options
\(\qty{1}{\tonne}
= \qty{1e6}{\g}\) \\
\(\qty{1}{\gibi\byte} = \qty[
1 t = 1 × 106 g
exponent-base = 2,
]{1e30}{\byte}\) \\ 1 GiB = 1 × 230 B
\(\qty{1}{\L} = \qty[ 1 L = 1 ⋅ 10−3 m3
exponent-product = \cdot,
]{1e-3}{\cubic\m}\)
If we want all numbers to be formatted in exponent notation, regard-
less of their entered form, we may use the exponent-mode option.
\(2^{16} = \num{65536}\) \\
\(2^{16} = \num[
exponent-mode = scientific,
]{65536}\) \\
\(2^{16} = \num[ 216 = 65 536
exponent-mode = engineering,
216 = 6.5536 × 104
]{65536}\) \\
\(2^{16} = \num[ 216 = 65.536 × 103
exponent-mode = fixed, 216 = 65 536
]{65.536e3}\) \\ 216 = 0.655 36 × 105
\(2^{16} = \num[
exponent-mode = fixed,
fixed-exponent = 5,
]{65.536e3}\)
3.5 Units 101

In some fields, it may be common to write an uncertainty next to the

numbers. This may be done in several ways. In order to customize the
appearance of the uncertainties, use the uncertainty-mode option.

\(M_{\oplus} = \qty{
5.9722(6) e24}{\kg}\)
\(M_{\oplus} = \qty{
5.9722 +- 0.0006 e24}{\kg}\) 𝑀⊕ = 5.9722(6) × 1024 kg
\(M_{\oplus} = \qty{ 𝑀⊕ = 5.9722(6) × 1024 kg
5.9722 \pm 0.0006 e24}{\kg}\)
\(M_{\oplus} = \qty[
𝑀⊕ = 5.9722(6) × 1024 kg
uncertainty-mode = separate 𝑀⊕ = (5.9722 ± 0.0006) × 1024 kg
]{5.9722(6) e24}{\kg}\) 𝑀⊕ = 5.9722(0.0006) × 1024 kg
\(M_{\oplus} = \qty[
uncertainty-mode = full
]{5.9722(6) e24}{\kg}\)

By default, siunitx typesets the quantities in math mode. This may

be especially jarring if you are using a different font for the document
text. One simple solution is to set the mode option to text.

\qty{1}{\degreeCelsius} is
equal to \qty{1}{\kelvin},
but \qty[
mode = text, 1 °C is equal to 1 K, but 0 °C is
]{0}{\degreeCelsius} is \qty[ −273.15 K. Bizarre, isn’t it?
mode = text,
]{-273.15}{\kelvin}.
Bizarre, isn't it?

If your document contains both math and normal text, it is probably

better to use a matching math font. You will learn more about this in
subsection 7.3.4.
The behaviour of the commands when it comes to typesetting units
and quantities may be customized even further. For a full list of options
check out the siunitx package documentation.
To avoid repeating the options with every command, use the

\sisetup{〈options〉}

command. It can be used in the preamble to ensure consistent style

throughout the document, or inside the document when the style needs
to be changed just in a given element, such as a table. These options
may be also passed as package options. Listing 3.1 shows an example
usage of the package in a full document.
102 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage[per-mode = fraction, unit-color = red]{siunitx}

\begin{document}
Units are typeset like this: \qty{9.81}{\m\per\s\squared}.
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\sisetup{exponent-mode = fixed, fixed-exponent = 1}
\begin{tabular}{@{}lr@{}}
\toprule
No. & Result (\unit{\kg}) \\
\midrule
1 & \num{12.3} \\
2 & \num{0.3} \\
3 & \num{1e2} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Measurement results.
Here custom options are used.}\label{table}
\end{table}

Now we are back to normal: \qty{3.637e-4}{\m\squared\per\s}.

\end{document}

Units are typeset like this: 9.81 sm2 .

No. Result (kg)

1 1.23 × 101
2 0.03 × 101
3 10 × 101

Table 1: Measurement results. Here custom options are used.

Now we are back to normal: 3.637 × 10−4 s .

m2

1
Listing 3.1: An example of using siunitx in a document.
3.5 Units 103

3.5.3 Other siunitx Commands

Besides the basic commands described above, siunitx also defines several
other useful commands.
Angles are special in that they use base 60 instead of base 10 when
subdividing. The command
\ang[〈options〉]{〈angle〉}
exists in order to simplify entering them. If they are entered using a
semicolon as a separator, then the following numbers are treated as
minutes and seconds. If they are given as a decimal number, they will
be displayed as such.
\ang{10}
\ang{1;2;3}
\ang{;;20} \\
10° 1°2′ 3″ 20″
\ang{32.5} 32.5° 60°
\qty{60}{\degree}

When listing several numbers, we may use the

\numlist[〈options〉]{〈numbers〉}
command, where 〈numbers〉 are delimited by semicolons. This command
is context-aware, which means it will produce correct results when used
with polyglossia.
\numlist{1;2;3;4}
1, 2, 3 and 4
\begin{german}
\numlist{1;2;3;4} 1, 2, 3 und 4
\end{german}

The package also contains dedicated commands for dealing with

products and ranges of numbers. The numbers in a product should be
delimited with the x letter.
Pick a number from
range \numrange{1}{10}. \\
Pick a number from range 1 to 10.
\numproduct{2x5} is \(10\). \\
\begin{german} 2 × 5 is 10.
\numrange{1}{10} 1 bis 10
\end{german}

All these commands also have quantity versions.

Obtained results:
\qtylist{2;5;7}{\L}.\\
Obtained results: 2 L, 5 L and 7 L.
Acceptable range is
\qtyrange{1}{10}{\kg}. \\ Acceptable range is 1 kg to 10 kg.
This area is This area is 2 m × 5 m.
\qtyproduct{2x5}{\metre}.
104 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

If we are dealing with quantum mechanics, then complex numbers

may be useful. To typeset them, use \complexnum and \complexqty.
They can be entered in both Cartesian form and polar coordinates.

The conjugate of
\complexnum{2+3i} is The conjugate of 2 + 3i is
\complexnum{2-3i} 2 − 3i which is approximately
which is approximately
\complexnum{3.6056:-56.310}. \\
3.6056∠−56.310°.
Why is my scale showing my Why is my scale showing my
weight is weight is (65 + 21i) kg?
\complexqty{65+i21}{\kg}?

Sometimes the unit we want to use is missing. For example, through-

out this book, the unit of typographical point is used when talking about
font sizes. To define it we may use the

\DeclareSIUnit[〈options〉]{〈unit〉}{〈symbol〉}

command. The 〈unit〉 is the macro we will use in the interpreted mode,
while the 〈symbol〉 is the typeset symbol. The 〈options〉 allow us to define
defaults concerning, for example, the spacing of the unit in quantities.

\DeclareSIUnit{\pt}{pt}
The default font size in LATEX is
The default font size
in \LaTeX{} is \qty{10}{\pt}. 10 pt.

This command may also be used when we want to adjust the appear-
ance of a predefined unit. For example, the default litre is typeset using
uppercase ‘L’, but you may want to change to lowercase ‘l’, instead.

Litre before redefining:

\unit{\L}. \\
Litre before redefining: L.
\DeclareSIUnit{\litre}{l}
Litre after redefining: Litre after redefining: l.
\unit{\L}.
3.5 Units 105

Similarly, the commands

\DeclareSIPrefix
\DeclareSIPower
\DeclareSIQualifier
allow definition of unit-related macros in case additional are needed.
\DeclareSIUnit{\pt}{pt}
\DeclareSIPower{\quartic}{\tothefourth}{4}
\DeclareSIPrefix{\decakilo}{dk}{4}
\DeclareSIQualifier{\polymer}{pol}

It's over \qty{9000}{\quartic\decakilo\pt\polymer}!

It’s over 9000 dkpt4pol !

3.5.4 Table Columns with Numbers

When typesetting tables that contain numeric data, it is often useful
to align them along the decimal point, so they can be compared easily.
The siunitx package adds a special column specifier, S, to the tabular
environment for this purpose. Non-numeric data must be surrounded by
curly brackets in such columns.
When presenting numeric data, such as above, it is good to remember
the following two rules:
• Never drop the leading zero before the decimal point.

• If the unit is the same in all cells, put it in the heading.

All numbers within S columns are automatically parsed by siunitx, which
means that, if we use it, the first rule will be enforced for us.
In order to influence parsing/displaying options of a single column,
pass them in square brackets to the column specification. See Listing 3.3
for an example.
Besides the standard options, there are also table-specific options
that can be passed to the columns. An important one is table-format.
By default, the S specifier centres the decimal point leaving equal space
to the left and to the right of it. This leads to a lot of empty space if
lengths of integer and fraction parts are widely different as can be seen
in Listing 3.4. We can then use table-format to tell LATEX how much
space should be reserved before and after dot. For example, 6.2 means
that it should reserve space for 6 digits before the decimal point, and for
two digits after. The format may also contain information about signs,
exponents, or text around the numbers. See Listing 3.5 for an example.
106 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

\begin{tabular}{@{}lS@{}}
\toprule
Day & {Candy eaten (\unit{\g})} \\
\midrule
Monday & .3011 \\
Tuesday & 54.86 \\
Wednesday & 1000.9722 \\
Thursday & -1000.9722 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Day Candy eaten (g)

Monday 0.3011
Tuesday 54.86
Wednesday 1000.9722
Thursday −1000.9722

Listing 3.2: A simple example of using siunitx’s S column specification.

\DeclareSIUnit{\eur}{\euro}
\begin{tabular} {
@{}l
S[output-decimal-marker={,},
per-mode=symbol]@{}
}
\toprule
Candy & {Price (\unit{\eur\per\kg})} \\
\midrule
Chocolate & 11.30 \\
Lollipops & 15.86 \\
Marshmallows & 5.97 \\
Golden taffy & 1125.12 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Candy Price (€/kg)

Chocolate 11,30
Lollipops 15,86
Marshmallows 5,97
Golden taffy 1125,12

Listing 3.3: An example of using optional parameters in a single S column

specification.
3.6 Matrices and the like 107

\sisetup{exponent-mode = fixed}
\begin{tabular} {@{}SS@{}}
\toprule
{\unit{\ug}} & {\unit{\kg}} \\
\midrule
1 & 1e-9 \\
0.2 & 2e-10 \\
35 & 35e-8 \\
-100 & -1e-7 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

µg kg
1 0.000 000 001
0.2 0.000 000 000 2
35 0.000 000 35
−100 −0.000 000 1

Listing 3.4: An anti-example of using siunitx’s S column specification

without setting the table-format.

By default, numbers and text within the S columns and centred. If

you want to change the alignment, use the table-number-alignment
and table-text-alignment options. See Listing 3.6 for an example.
The numbers may also be aligned inside a \multicol or \multirow,
using the \tablenum command as seen in Listing 3.7.
If you don’t want the decimal alignment but would still like to have
numbers in columns formatted by siunitx, change the table-alignment-
mode to none. See Listing 3.8 for an example.

3.6 Matrices and the like

Typesetting matrices in LATEX is possible with the matrix environment

from the amsmath [55] packages. It simply aligns the lines and columns as
in the tabular environment and does not place any delimiters around its
contents. In contrast to tabular, it does not accept column specifications,
and each of its entries is typeset in math mode. The maximum number
of columns a matrix can have is 10.
108 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

\sisetup{exponent-mode = fixed}
\begin{tabular} {
@{}
S[table-format = +3.1]
S[table-format = +1.10]
@{}
}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Weight} \\
\midrule
{\unit{\ug}} & {\unit{\kg}} \\
\midrule
1 & 1e-9 \\
0.2 & 2e-10 \\
35 & 35e-8 \\
-100 & -1e-7 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Weight
µg kg
1 0.000 000 001
0.2 0.000 000 000 2
35 0.000 000 35
−100 −0.000 000 1

Listing 3.5: An example of using siunitx’s S column specification with

the table-format key.
3.6 Matrices and the like 109

\begin{tabular} {
@{}
S[
table-format = 2.1(1.1),
table-number-alignment = left,
uncertainty-mode = separate,
]
S[
table-format = 2.2e2{ big!},
table-text-alignment = right,
]
@{}
}
\toprule
{Confidence (\unit{\percent})}
& {Value} \\
\midrule
57.1(2) & 10e2 \\
25.3(0) & 2e-1 \\
0(0.1) & 99.99e99{ big!} \\
92(1) & 7.2e10 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Confidence (%) Value

57.1 ± 0.2 10 × 102
25.3 2 × 10−1
0.0 ± 0.1 99.99 × 1099 big!
92 ± 1 7.2 × 1010

Listing 3.6: An example of aligning text and numbers inside the siunitx’s
S column.
110 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

\sisetup{table-format = 4.4e1}
\begin{tabular}{@{}lr@{}}
\toprule
Candy & Friend \\
\midrule
Chocolate & Peter \\
Lollipop & Jane \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{\tablenum{12,34 e0}} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{\tablenum{333.5567 e1}} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{\tablenum{4563.21 e2}} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Candy Friend
Chocolate Peter
Lollipop Jane
12.34
333.5567 × 101
4563.21 × 102

Listing 3.7: An example of using the \tablenum command.

\sisetup{
table-alignment-mode = none,
output-decimal-marker = {,},
unit-color = red,
}
\begin{tabular}{@{}cS@{}}
Variable Value
\toprule foo 101,892
Variable & {Value} \\ bar 2 × 10−1
\midrule
baz 2,1 kg
foo & 101.892 \\
bar & 2e-1 \\
baz & \qty{2.1}{\kg} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

Listing 3.8: An example of using the S column specifier without aligning

numbers.
3.6 Matrices and the like 111

\( \left[
\begin{matrix}
1 & 2 \\ 1 2
3 & 4 \\
[ ]
3 4
\end{matrix}
\right] \)
Because matrices are usually delimited, there are five additional
versions that simply surround the matrix contents within delimiters.
These are
pmatrix that uses parentheses as delimiters: ( 13 24 ).
bmatrix that uses brackets as delimiters: [ 13 24 ].
Bmatrix that uses braces as delimiters: { 13 24 }.
vmatrix that uses vertical lines as delimiters: ∣ 13 24 ∣.
Vmatrix that uses double vertical lines as delimiters: ∥ 13 24 ∥.
Matrices created using these environments are rather large, because
they are meant to be typeset in display math. If for some reason you
want to typeset a matrix within text, you may get better results with the
smallmatrix environment. Note that there are no delimited variants, so
you must provide any delimiters yourself.
Compare \(
\begin{matrix}
1 & 2 \\
3 & 4 \\
\end{matrix} 1 2
\) with \( Compare with 12
34
\begin{smallmatrix}
3 4
1 & 2 \\
3 & 4 \\
\end{smallmatrix}
\)
The matrix environment could also be used to typeset piecewise
functions, by using the . character as an invisible \right delimiter in
conjunction with a left brace. However, a much better alternative is the
cases environment. Its contents are left aligned, and the delimiters are
already provided.
\[
\lvert x \rvert =
\begin{cases} ⎧−𝑥 if 𝑥 < 0,
-x & \text{if } x < 0, \\ {
0 & \text{if } x = 0, \\
|𝑥| = ⎨0 if 𝑥 = 0,
x & \text{if } x > 0. {𝑥 if 𝑥 > 0.
⎩
\end{cases}
\]
112 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

If you need more control over the alignment of the individual columns,
you may also use the array environment. It accepts the column specifier,
just like tabular, but typesets its contents in math mode. Note that it
introduces a bit more spacing compared to the matrix environments.

\[
\begin{array}{rcl}
12 & 1 & 21 \\ 12 1 21
1 & 22 & 101 \\ 1 22 101
\end{array}
\]

3.7 Spacing in Math Mode

3.7.1 Mathematical Object Classes
LATEX decides how much space to surround the symbols in math mode
based on their class. For example, ≤ belongs to class of binary relations,
so it is typeset with surrounding spaces. The class of a symbol can
be changed using the commands listed in Table 3.4. For example, the
symbol 𝑅 is normally treated as alphabetical character, but we may force
it to treat it as relation symbol using the \mathrel command.

Let \(R\) be any relation. Let 𝑅 be any relation. We should

We should now write it like
this \(a \mathrel{R} b\),
now write it like this 𝑎 𝑅 𝑏, and
and not like this \(a R b\). not like this 𝑎𝑅𝑏.

It is important to use symbols with proper classes while typesetting

mathematics. Some symbols may look the same as a single glyph but
are different in terms of their classes. For example, \bot and \perp look
very similar, but the former is meant to typeset a symbol, while the
latter represents the relation of perpendicularity.

Let \(x \in \{\top, \bot\}\). Let 𝑥 ∈ {⊤, ⊥}.

Given two lines \(k \perp l\). Given two lines 𝑘 ⟂ 𝑙.

Another good example is the difference between the vertical bar symbol,
|, as compared to the \lvert and \rvert commands. The former is a
symbol, while the latter are commands suitable for delimiting expressions.
Class commands should not be used throughout the body of the
document. If you want to use a new symbol (for example, an image) or
3.7 Spacing in Math Mode 113

Table 3.4: Commands to influence mathematical object classes

Command Explanation Examples

\mathord Ordinary symbols, that do x𝑥
not require any special han- \bot ⊥
dling
\mathop Large operators, that are \sum ∑
vertically centred within ex- \bigcap ⋂
pression
\mathbin Binary operators, with ex- ++
tra spacing around them \times ×
\mathrel Binary relations, with extra ==
spacing around them \succeq ⪰
\mathopen Symbols that open groups, ((
with space before \lBrack ⟦
\mathclose Symbols that close groups, ))
with space after \rBrack ⟧
\mathpunct Punctuation symbols, with ,,
space after \colon ∶

repurpose an old one (such as the 𝑅 relation), define a logical wrapper

for it that uses the appropriate class inside.

\NewDocumentCommand{\modulo}{}{%
\mathbin{\%}%
}
17 % 3 = 2
\( 17 \modulo 3 = 2 \)

3.7.2 Manual Spacing

If LATEX’s choice of spacing within formulae is not satisfactory, it can be
adjusted manually. The most basic command to do so is

\mspace{〈width〉}

The 〈width〉 is specified using a special unit “mu”, which is roughly equal
to 1⁄18 of the width of letter “M” in the current math font.5

\( 1 \mspace{18mu} 2 \)
\textinterrobang{} vs.\
1 2
\( ? \mspace{-7mu} ! \) ‽ vs. ?!

There also exist predefined synonyms for the values most commonly used.
These are presented in Table 3.5 and are usually sufficient when creating
114 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

Table 3.5: Commands for manual math spacing

Command Alias Equivalent to Effect

none →←
\thinspace \, \mspace{3mu} →←
\medspace \: \mspace{4mu} →←
\thickspace \; \mspace{5mu} →←
\quad \mspace{18mu} → ←
\qquad \mspace{36mu} → ←
\negthinspace \! \mspace{-3mu} →←
\negmedspace \mspace{-4mu} →←
\negthickspace \mspace{-5mu} →←

a document. For example, if you wanted to define the “d” in differentials,

you may want to insert a small space before it, to separate it from the
contents of the integral.

\NewDocumentCommand{\ud}{}{%
\,\symrm{d}%
𝑏
}
\[
∫ 𝑓(𝑥) d𝑥
𝑎
\int_a^b f(x)\ud x
\]

Negative spaces can also be used if you want to create your own
mathematical symbols by overlaying existing ones.

\NewDocumentCommand{\myrel}{}{
\mathrel{
-\mspace{-11mu}
\infty{} 𝑥−
∞−𝑦
\mspace{-11mu}-
}
}
\( x \myrel y \)

3.7.3 Phantoms
In some situations, it may be useful to insert the space that would
normally be occupied by some existing symbol. While you could eyeball
5
Units are explained in more detail in subsection 7.5.1.
3.8 Theorems and Proofs 115

it and insert appropriate \mspace, there is a better way to do so—

phantoms. There are three commands for inserting phantoms:

\phantom{〈text〉}
\vphantom{〈text〉}
\hphantom{〈text〉}
Each of these typesets an invisible box that has dimensions equal to the
text that it received as an argument. The \vphantom has zero width,
while the \hphantom has zero height.
For example, when creating left superscripts and subscripts, they will
be aligned to the left, since they actually apply to the previous (empty)
symbol. A simple fix would be to pad the space using appropriate
phantom. In the real world, it would be better to use the \prescript
command from the mathtools package.

\( {}^{14}_{6}A \) vs.\
\( \prescript{14}{6}A \) vs.\ 14
6 𝐴 vs. 14
6𝐴 vs. 14
6𝐴
\( {}^{14}_{\phantom{1}6}A \)

Left superscripts and subscripts are often found in chemistry, when

typesetting isotopes. If you intend to use LATEX for that, it is better to
use a dedicated package, such as chemformula [49] or mhchem [24].
The \vphantom command is useful if you want to typeset a formula
having delimiters split over multiple lines (since delimiters only work
with a single-line formula inside of them). Using that command, we can
artificially increase the height of the sub-formula, so that the height of
the delimiters will be calculated correctly.

\begin{multline*}
f(a, b) = \left(
\int_a^b f(x)
loooooong
\right. \\ 𝑏
\left. 𝑓(𝑎, 𝑏) = (∫ 𝑓(𝑥)𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑔
\vphantom{ 𝑎
\int_a^b f(x)
loooooong 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 d𝑥)
}
short \ud x
\right)
\end{multline*}

3.8 Theorems and Proofs

When writing mathematical documents, you probably need a way to
typeset “lemmas”, “definitions”, “axioms”, and similar structures. These
116 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

are known as theorems in LATEX, and can be created using the

\newtheorem{〈name〉}[〈counter〉]{〈caption〉}[〈section〉]

command. The 〈name〉 argument is name of the newly created environ-

ment used to typeset the theorem. The 〈caption〉 argument defines the
actual name, which will be printed in the final document.
The two optional arguments are both used to specify the numbering
used on the “theorem”. Only one of them may be present. Use the
〈counter〉 argument to specify the 〈name〉 of a previously declared “theo-
rem”. This will make the new theorem be numbered the same way as the
old one. The 〈section〉 argument allows you to specify the sectional unit
within which the theorem should get its numbers. The starred version of
the command defines a theorem without a counter.
After executing the \newtheorem command in the preamble of your
document, you can use the following environment within the document.

\begin{〈name〉}[〈title〉]
This is my interesting theorem
\end{〈name〉}

The optional 〈title〉 argument can be used to locally typeset the theorem
name next to the caption.

\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}
% ... Proposition 1 I propose
\begin{proposition} that this should be enough of
I propose that this should dummy text.
be enough of dummy text.
\end{proposition} Proposition 2 (More) It
\begin{proposition}[More] is not enough for more than
It is not enough for more one proposition.
than one proposition.
\end{proposition}

1
The amsthm [3] package provides the

\theoremstyle{〈style〉}

command, which lets you further customise a theorem by picking from

three predefined styles: definition (bold title, roman body), plain
(bold title, italic body), or remark (italic title, roman body). An example
of using these commands is presented in Listing 3.9
If you want to customise your theorems down to the last dot, the
ntheorem [45] package offers a plethora of options.
3.8 Theorems and Proofs 117

\usepackage{amsthm}

\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{axiom}{Axiom}[section]
\theoremstyle{plain} 1 First
\newtheorem{theorem}[axiom]{Theorem}
\theoremstyle{remark} Axiom 1.1 (Uncertainty).
\newtheorem*{remark}{Remark} Nothing is certain.
% ...
\section{First} Theorem 1.2. It is uncer-
\begin{axiom}[Uncertainty] tain whether this theorem is
Nothing is certain. true.
\end{axiom} Remark (Other things).
\begin{theorem} Other things are probably
It is uncertain whether
also uncertain.
this theorem is true.
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}[Other things]
Other things are
probably also uncertain. 1
\end{remark}

Listing 3.9: An example of creating several theorem environments with

different styles.
118 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

The amsthm package also provides the proof environment to use

with theorems.

\begin{proof}
Trivial. Proof. Trivial.
\end{proof}

The QED symbol ( ) is put at the end of the last line in the environment.
This may create unnecessary lines if the proof does not end with a
paragraph.

Proof. Trivial, use

\begin{proof}
Trivial, use
\[ E=mc^2. \] 𝐸 = 𝑚𝑐2 .
\end{proof}

You can adjust its placement using the \qedhere command.

\begin{proof}
Trivial, use Proof. Trivial, use
\[ E=mc^2. \qedhere \]
\end{proof} 𝐸 = 𝑚𝑐2 .

If you do not like the default symbol, you can redefine the \qedsymbol
macro to your liking.

\RenewDocumentCommand{%
\qedsymbol}{}{QED}
\begin{proof}
Trivial.
\end{proof} Proof. Trivial. QED
\RenewDocumentCommand{%
Proof. Trivial. ∎
\qedsymbol}{}{\(\QED\)}
\begin{proof}
Trivial.
\end{proof}

3.9 Fiddling with Math Styles

You have already seen that LATEX typesets mathematics differently, ac-
cording to whether it is in inline or display style. There are actually four
styles, the additional two being typically used for super- and subscripts.
If you want to change the style chosen by LATEX, you can do so by using
the commands presented in Table 3.6.
3.9 Fiddling with Math Styles 119

Table 3.6: Math style commands available in LATEX

Command Example
∞
\displaystyle ∑ 𝐴𝐵𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑐123
𝑘=0
\textstyle ∑∞
𝑘=0
𝐴𝐵𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑐123
\scriptstyle ∞
∑𝑘=0 𝐴𝐵𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑐123
\scriptscriptstyle ∑∞
𝑘=0 𝐴𝐵𝐶𝑎𝑏𝑐123

By default, the \frac command decreases the style of its contents

by one level when possible.

\[
\frac
{\frac 1
2
{\frac{1}{2}} 2
{2}} 2
{2}
\]

If you want to prevent this, use the appropriate command in its argu-
ments.

\[
\frac 𝑛
{\displaystyle ∑(𝑥𝑘 − 𝑥)2
\sum_{k=1}^n (x_k - x)^2} 𝑘=1
{\displaystyle 𝑛 2
\left(
(∑(𝑥𝑘 − 𝑥))
\sum_{k=1}^n (x_k - x)
𝑘=1
\right)^2}
\]

When typesetting formulae within text, you may enclose tall or deep
math expressions, or sub-expressions, within \smash. This makes LATEX
ignore the height of these expressions and keeps the line spacing even,
but risks overlap with the surrounding text.

A \(d_{e_{e_p}}\) mathematical
expression followed by a
A 𝑑𝑒𝑒 mathematical expression
\(h^{i^{g^h}}\) expression. 𝑝

As opposed to a smashed 𝑔ℎ
followed by a ℎ𝑖 expression. As
\smash{\(d_{e_{e_p}}\)} opposed to a smashedℎ𝑑𝑒𝑒 expres-
expression followed by a
sion followed by a ℎ𝑖 expression.
𝑔 𝑝

\smash{\(h^{i^{g^h}}\)}
expression.
120 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

The \smash command accepts an optional argument—either t or

b—that changes the height of top or bottom part of the symbol to
zero. This may be useful in some rare circumstances, for example, when
adjacent radical symbols don’t line up due to differing content heights.

\( \sqrt{x}
+ \sqrt{y}
+ \sqrt{z}\) √ √ √ √ √
√
vs.\ 𝑥+ 𝑦+ 𝑧 vs. 𝑥 + 𝑦 + 𝑧
\( \sqrt{x}
+ \sqrt{\smash[b]{y}}
+ \sqrt{z} \)

3.10 Dots
Use the \dots command to omit an easily deduced part of a mathematical
expression, like 0, 1, 2, … to indicate the sequence of all natural numbers.
It attempts to adjust its output based on the surrounding symbols.

\(1, 2, 3, \dots, 100\) vs.\

1, 2, 3, … , 100 vs. 1+2+3+⋯+100
\(1 + 2 + 3 + \dots + 100\)

If the spacing chosen by LATEX is not appropriate, you can specify it

explicitly by using:

\dotsc for dots between commas (1, 2, … , 100)

\dotsb for dots between binary operators or relations (1 < 2 < ⋯ < 100)

\dotsm for dots indicating multiplication (𝑋1 𝑋2 ⋯ 𝑋100 )

\dotsi for dots between integrals (∫ ∫ ⋯ ∫ )

𝑋1 𝑋2 𝑋100

\dotso for dots in situations not matched by any of the above (1 … +)

\(1 + 2 + 3 + \dots\) vs.\

1 + 2 + 3 + … vs. 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯
\(1 + 2 + 3 + \dotsb\)

You can also redefine the above wrappers if the version chosen by LATEX
is not to your liking. By default, all of these commands choose between
\ldots, for dots on baseline, and \cdots, for centred dots.

\RenewDocumentCommand{%
\dotsb}{}{\ldots} 1 + 2 + 3 + … + 100
\( 1 + 2 + 3 + \dotsb + 100 \)
3.11 More About Fractions 121

In the case of matrices, you may also need non-horizontal dots.

These are accessible from the commands \vdots (vertical dots ⋮), \ddots
(descending dots ⋱), and \adots (ascending dots ⋰).

\[ \begin{bmatrix}
a_{1,1} & \cdots & a_{1,n} \\ 𝑎1,1 ⋯ 𝑎1,𝑛
\vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ ⎡ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⎤
⎢ ⎥
a_{m,1} & \cdots & a_{m,n} \\ ⎣𝑎𝑚,1 ⋯ 𝑎𝑚,𝑛 ⎦
\end{bmatrix} \]

3.11 More About Fractions

You have already learned about the \frac command for typesetting
built-up fractions. Its output depends on whether it is typeset in display
or text style.

1
vs.
\( \frac{1}{2} \) vs.\ 2
1
\[ \frac{1}{2} \]
2

If you don’t want to type \displaystyle or \textstyle every time

to correct the style of fractions, you can use \tfrac and \dfrac. These
always typeset the fractions in text or display style, respectively.

\( \dfrac{1}{2} \) vs.\ 1
\( \tfrac{1}{2} \)
vs. 1
2
2
\[ \dfrac{1}{2}\text{ vs.\ } 1
\tfrac{1}{2} \]
vs. 1
2
2

When writing the fractions in-line, often the slashed form 1/2 is
preferable for small fractions. You may also want to use the xfrac [26]
package and the \sfrac command it provides to typeset them in a
slashed form with smaller numbers.

\( \frac{1}{2} \) vs.\
\sfrac{1}{2} vs.\ 1
2 vs. 1⁄2 vs. 1/2 vs. ½
\( 1/2 \) vs.\ \textonehalf{}

Note that \sfrac essentially ‘fakes’ the fraction by manually placing

relevant symbols in the given positions. If the faked version is not to
your liking, the package provides more customization options. These are
described in the package documentation. Some fonts support arbitrary
fractions as symbols, which may produce better results; you can find
more information about it in the Section 7.3.
122 Typesetting Mathematical Formulae

If you have tried writing continued fractions, you may have noticed
that the spacing is not ideal. The amsmath package defines a special
\cfrac command to fix this issue.
\[
\dfrac{1}{ 1
1 + \dfrac{1}{ 1
1 + \dfrac{1}{ 1+
1
1 + \dotsb}}} 1+
\] 1+⋯
vs.\ vs.
\[ 1
\cfrac{1}{ 1
1 + \cfrac{1}{ 1+
1 + \cfrac{1}{ 1
1+
1 + \dotsb}}} 1+⋯
\]
Binomial coefficients can be typeset using the \binom, \tbinom and
\dbinom commands. These work the same as the \frac, \tfrac and
\dfrac commands.
\[
𝑛
\sum_{k=0}^{n} \binom{n}{k} 𝑛
∑ ( ) = 2𝑛
= 2^{n} 𝑘
𝑘=0
\]

Built-up fractions and binomial coefficients are specialized examples

of a more general command called \genfrac. It allows you to typeset
one expression over another, with an optional line between them and
optional delimiters. Its full syntax is
\genfrac{〈left〉}{〈right〉}{〈thickness〉}{〈style〉}{〈num〉}{〈den〉}
The 〈left〉 and 〈right〉 arguments are the left and right delimiters, such as
parentheses in the case of \binom. The 〈thickness〉 argument determines
the thickness of the line between the expressions. If you leave it empty,
it defaults to the same as that used by \frac. The 〈style〉 argument
is a number from 0 to 3, and overrides the default math style used to
typeset the symbol. For example, \tfrac sets it to 1, to always typeset
the symbol in text style.
As an example, to create a wrapper for the unsigned Stirling numbers
of the first kind you could write
\NewDocumentCommand{\stirfst}{}{
\genfrac{[}{]}{0cm}{}
} 𝑛
𝑛
\[ ∑ [ ] = 𝑛!
\sum_{k=0}^{n} \stirfst{n}{k} 𝑘=0
𝑘
= n!
\]
3.11 More About Fractions 123

You should avoid using \genfrac inside the body of the document, and
always define logical wrappers if you intend to use it in multiple places.
Chapter 4

Bibliographies

When writing articles or books concerned with some topic you will often need
to reference other books and articles to point out where some information
might be found. You have already seen this done multiple times throughout
this book. Doing this by hand would be tedious, so LATEX comes with an
option to manage the bibliographic data of our document.

This chapter will describe two approaches to bibliography manage-

ment in LATEX:

thebibliography environment which is suitable for rather small bib-

liographies.

biblatex with biber which is an advanced bibliography management

system that is suitable for books and publications with extensive
bibliographies. These systems also make it easy to format all
bibliography entries in exactly the style required by the publisher.

4.1 thebibliography environment

Produce a bibliography with the thebibliography environment. Each
entry starts with

\bibitem[〈label〉]{〈marker〉}

The 〈marker〉 is then used to cite the book, article, or paper within the
document.

\cite{〈marker〉}

If you do not use the 〈label〉 option, the entries will get enumerated
automatically. The parameter after the \begin{thebibliography} com-
mand defines how much space to reserve for the number of labels. In the
126 Bibliographies

example below, {99} tells LATEX to expect that none of the bibliography
item numbers will be wider than the number 99.

Partl [1] has proposed that …

Partl~\cite{pa} has
proposed that \ldots
\begin{thebibliography}{99} References
\bibitem{pa} H.~Partl:
\emph{German \TeX}, [1] H. Partl: German TEX, TUG-
TUGboat Volume~9, Issue~1 (1988) boat Volume 9, Issue 1 (1988)
\end{thebibliography}

1
In order to get the citations typeset properly, two passes of LATEX
compiler are needed similar to how tables of contents are done.
This approach has the advantage that it is simple and entirely self-
contained—no external packages and programs are needed since it is
supported out of the box by LATEX. There are however many problems:

• Each entry has to be formatted manually, which may lead to

inconsistent styling. Moreover, simple changes in format will require
editing each entry by hand.

• There is no logical/structural markup to imply which part of

bibliographic entry is author, title, journal, etc.

• No sorting is performed. If you want the entries to be processed in

citation order, you have to ensure this manually.

• If you want to use different citation style than numeric, you have
to manually set all the labels.

For all projects that contain more than few citations biblatex is strongly
recommended.

4.2 biblatex with biber

The biblatex [44] package uses a separate program, biber [14], for bibliog-
raphy management. biber is a successor of the popular BIBTEX program.
Its main advantage is UTF-8 support, which was lacking in the original
BIBTEX. The database format is largely backward compatible, so on
many sites you can find “BibTeX entry” or “Export Bibtex Citation”,
which will be useful when compiling your own citation database.
4.2 biblatex with biber 127

4.2.1 Database files

The bibliographic database is stored in special .bib files with their own
syntax. A single bibliographic entry is of the form

@〈entry type〉{〈marker〉,
〈field1〉 = {〈value1〉},
〈field2〉 = {〈value2〉},
〈field3〉 = {〈value3〉},
⋮
}

The fields required depend on the bibliography style you choose, the
default style of biblatex will accept the following 〈entry type〉s:

article for articles from journals or other periodicals. Important fields

are author, title, journaltitle, date, url, doi.

book for single-volume book. With the fields author, title, date,
publisher, volume.

online for accessed online resources. With author, title, date, url,
urldate.

manual for technical documentation. With author, title, date, url,

version.

misc for entries that do not fit any of the predefined categories. With
author, title, date, howpublished, note.

Note that the above list is far from exhaustive both in terms of 〈entry
type〉s and the field names mentioned. For a full list check the biblatex
manual or the style you are using.
Each .bib file will typically contain multiple entries. See Listing 4.1
for an example.

4.2.2 Using biblatex

In order to use biblatex, the following three commands are necessary.
The biblatex package must be loaded with the

\usepackage[〈options〉]{biblatex}

command. The 〈options〉 are comma delimited key value pairs that allow
to customise the behaviour of biblatex package. Some of them will be
explained later.
128 Bibliographies

@book{lshort,
title = {The Not So Short Introduction to \LaTeXe},
author = {Tobias Oetiker and Hubert Partl
and Irene Hyna and Elisabeth Schlegl},
date = {2021-03-09},
version = {6.4},
url = {https://www.ctan.org/pkg/lshort-english}
}

@article{curie,
title = {Les nouvelles substances radioactives},
author = {Curie, Marie},
year = {1900},
journaltitle = {Revue scientifique},
series = {4},
volume = {14},
number = {3}
}

@misc{dream,
title = {Yesterday's dream},
howpublished = {The vision came to me while I was sleeping},
note = {It was very vivid},
author = {Jane Diviner},
date = {3012-07-19},
keywords = {dreamy, unreliable}
}

Listing 4.1: An example bibliography database for biber (.bib file)

4.2 biblatex with biber 129

The command
\addbibresource[〈options〉]{〈file〉}
must be put in the preamble. The 〈file〉 is the name of the .bib file
containing bibliographic entries. You may also specify a remote location
here, but then you must also put location=remote in the 〈options〉.
Finally the
\printbibliography[〈options〉]
typesets the loaded bibliography. The 〈options〉 may be used to alter the
title or filter the entries included.
Processing files requires three LATEX passes in addition to the biber
command. A typical command line run may look like this:
$ xelatex document.tex
$ biber document
$ xelatex document.tex
$ xelatex document.tex

The first LATEX pass extracts the citation data from the document which
are then read by biber. In the second pass, the bibliography is placed in
the document and the third pass finally typesets the document with all
the correct citations.
Listing 4.2 is a complete example that shows how the bits work
together. In this and all the following examples, the example.bib file is
assumed to be the same as in the Listing 4.1.

4.2.3 Controlling the bibliography

The default sorting order is N ame (author/editor), T itle, Y ear or nty
in short. This order can be changed by passing sorting=〈order〉 as a
package option. For example if you want to sort entries in chronological
order simply pass the ynt option. Other options allow sorting by citation
order (none) and by the number of citations (count).

[1] Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles sub-

stances radioactives”. In: Revue
scientifique. 4th ser. 14.3 (1900).
% In preamble
\usepackage[ [2] Tobias Oetiker et al. The Not So
sorting=ynt Short Introduction to LATEX 2ε .
]{biblatex} Mar. 9, 2021. url: https://www.
ctan.org/pkg/lshort-english.
% ... [3] Jane Diviner. Yesterday’s dream.
The vision came to me while I
was sleeping. It was very vivid.
July 19, 3012.

1
130 Bibliographies

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{biblatex}
\addbibresource{example.bib}

\begin{document}
\ldots{} Recently I was learning to use Bib\LaTeX{}
from~\cite{lshort}. It seems very useful. \ldots

\ldots{} which was already shown by Mrs.~Curie

in~\cite{curie}. \ldots

\ldots{} this can be easily explained by

the fact that Einstein was a time
traveller~\cite{dream}. \ldots

\printbibliography
\end{document}

… Recently I was learning to use BibLATEX from [3]. It seems

very useful. …
… which was already shown by Mrs. Curie in [1]. …
… this can be easily explained by the fact that Einstein was a
time traveller [2]. …

References
[1] Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles substances radioactives”. In:
Revue scientifique. 4th ser. 14.3 (1900).
[2] Jane Diviner. Yesterday’s dream. The vision came to me
while I was sleeping. It was very vivid. July 19, 3012.
[3] Tobias Oetiker et al. The Not So Short Introduction to
LATEX 2ε . Mar. 9, 2021. url: https://www.ctan.org/
pkg/lshort-english.

1
Listing 4.2: An example of using biblatex to manage references in an
article
4.2 biblatex with biber 131

While the default citation style is numeric, this can be easily changed
by setting the preferred style via the 〈style〉 option. Choose from
alphabetic, authoryear, authortitle or verbose. Some styles come
in several variations.

The validity of [Div12] as a scientific

% In preamble source was recently called into question
\usepackage[ though it correctly claims that polo-
style=alphabetic nium was first described in [Cur00].
]{biblatex}

% ...
References
[Cur00] Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles
The validity of~\cite{dream} substances radioactives”. In:
as a scientific source was Revue scientifique. 4th ser.
recently called into question 14.3 (1900).
though it correctly claims
that polonium was first [Div12] Jane Diviner. Yesterday’s
described in~\cite{curie}. dream. The vision came to
me while I was sleeping. It
was very vivid. July 19, 3012.

In contrast to the thebibliography environment, 1 the biblatex’s

\printbibliography command only prints entries that were referenced
in the document. If you want to print entries not mentioned in the
document, you may use the \nocite{〈marker〉} command. It will insert
invisible citations, thus instructing biblatex to put them in the bibliog-
raphy. The special value * can be passed as a 〈marker〉 if you want to
print all entries in the database.

I’ve only cited [3].

References
I've only [1] Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles sub-
cited~\cite{lshort}. stances radioactives”. In: Revue sci-
entifique. 4th ser. 14.3 (1900).
\nocite{*} [2] Jane Diviner. Yesterday’s dream. The
\printbibliography vision came to me while I was sleep-
ing. It was very vivid. July 19, 3012.
[3] Tobias Oetiker et al. The Not
So Short Introduction to LATEX 2ε .
Mar. 9, 2021. url: https : / / www .
ctan.org/pkg/lshort-english.

1
132 Bibliographies

If your bibliography gets really large it may make sense to split

it into several parts. This can be done by passing filter options to
the \printbibliography command. Available filters include type,
category, keyword. It may be useful to also change the titles of different
categories using title option.

Books I’ve referenced

[3] Tobias Oetiker et al. The Not So
\printbibliography[ Short Introduction to LATEX 2ε .
type=book, Mar. 9, 2021. url: https://www.
title=Books I've referenced ctan.org/pkg/lshort-english.
]

\printbibliography[ Don’t trust those

keyword=unreliable,
title=Don't trust those [2] Jane Diviner. Yesterday’s dream.
] The vision came to me while I
was sleeping. It was very vivid.
July 19, 3012.

1
By default, the bibliography does not appear in the table of con-
tents. This is because it is using starred version of \chapter/\section
(depending on the class) to generate its heading. In order to change
the default we may pass the option heading to \printbibliography.
Available options include

bibliography the default, starred version of heading

bibintoc starred version of heading, will appear in table of contents

subbibliography will drop the bibliography one level in hierarchy

(\section* instead of \chapter* and so on)

bibnumbered will use non starred version for heading, thus numbering
it and appearing in table of contents

subbibintoc will drop the bibliography one level and put it in table of
contents

subbibnumbered will drop the bibliography one level and use non starred
version of heading

none will not print the heading

4.2 biblatex with biber 133

Contents
\tableofcontents 1 Important section 1
\section{Important section}
2 Other 1
% ... 2.1 Bibliography . . . . . . . . 1

\section{Other}
1 Important section
\printbibliography[
heading=subbibnumbered, 2 Other
title=Bibliography,
] 2.1 Bibliography
% ... [1] Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles sub-
stances radioactives”. In: Revue sci-
entifique. 4th ser. 14.3 (1900).

1
As you may have noticed, when entries have many authors, then not
all of them will be printed; instead “et al.” shows up at the end of the
author list. This behaviour may be controlled via maxnames (default 3)
and minnames (default 1) options. If the number of names is greater
than 〈maxnames〉 then it will be shortened to 〈minnames〉 and “et al.”
will be added.

[1] Tobias Oetiker, Hubert Partl, Irene

\usepackage[ Hyna, and Elisabeth Schlegl. The Not
maxnames=4, So Short Introduction to LATEX 2ε .
]{biblatex} Mar. 9, 2021. url: https : / / www .
ctan.org/pkg/lshort-english.

[1] Tobias Oetiker, Hubert Partl, et al.

\usepackage[ The Not So Short Introduction to
minnames=2, LATEX 2ε . Mar. 9, 2021. url: https:
]{biblatex} / / www . ctan . org / pkg / lshort -
english.

1
4.2.4 Citing commands
Until now we have only used the basic \cite command. biblatex extends
the command set to allow extra control with citations.
134 Bibliographies

Most of the citing commands (\cite included) allow inserting notes

around citations:
\cite[〈pre〉][〈post〉]{〈marker〉}
Other standard citation commands include \parencite (citation in
parentheses), \footcite (in footnotes), \textcite (citation intended to
be subject in a sentence), \smartcite (context dependent).

Indicate page in Indicate page in cita-

citation~\cite[25]{lshort}. tion [Oet+21, p. 25]. This
This citation is in citation is in parenthe-
parentheses~\parencite{curie}. ses [Cur00]. Footnote cite1 .
Footnote cite~\footcite{dream}. Smart2 . Again3 . “Curie
Smart \smartcite[See][78]{lshort}. [Cur00] was an important
Again\footnote{Smart
paper. ”
\smartcite[12--56]{dream}.}.
\enquote{\Textcite{curie} 1 Div12.
was an important paper. 2 See Oet+21, p. 78.
} 3 Smart [Div12, pp. 12–56].

Another set of commands allows us to extract specific 1 information

from the bibliographic entry, and use the information directly in the text.
This includes commands such as \citeauthor, \citetitle, \citeyear,
\citedate, \citeurl.

The Not So Short Introduc-

\Citetitle{lshort} is a book by tion to LATEX 2ε is a book by
\citeauthor{lshort}. Latest version Oetiker et al. Latest version
was released in \citeyear{lshort}, was released in 2021, or to be
or to be more precise on more precise on Mar. 9, 2021.
\citedate{lshort}. It is available It is available at https :
at \citeurl{lshort}. / / www . ctan . org / pkg /
lshort-english.

If you want to be less tied to a specific style, the \autocite

1 command
follows the citation style specified in the package options.

\usepackage[
This is auto citation.1
style=verbose,
autocite=footnote,
]{biblatex}

% ... 1 Marie Curie. “Les nouvelles

substances radioactives”. In: Re-

This is auto citation vue scientifique. 4th ser. 14.3
\autocite{curie}. (1900).

1
4.2 biblatex with biber 135

\usepackage[
style=authoryear, This is auto citation (Curie
autocite=inline,
1900).
]{biblatex}

% ...
1
4.2.5 More about entries
biber uses “and” as a separator in certain entries. To prevent this
behaviour, enclose “and” in curly brackets
@book{kru,
publisher = {Kruger {and} sons}
}
The same trick may be useful when biber changes capitalisation, even
though it shouldn’t. On top of this biber splits author entries into smaller
bits which are then used elsewhere. So in Listing 4.1 the name Jane
Diviner is split into the first name Jane and the surname Diviner. When
you don’t want this, enclose the entire name in braces
@book{kru,
author = {{Kruger brothers}}
}
When writing about certain subject it often happens that the same
author or publishing company released several books. In order to reuse
the information in several entries in the .bib file, a special entry xdata
is available. It may be used like this

@xdata{krugers,
author = {{Kruger brothers}}, References
publisher = {Kruger {and} sons},
location = {Paris} [1] Kruger brothers. LATEX
} is awesome! Paris:
Kruger and sons, 2022.
@book{kru21, [2] Kruger brothers. Why is
title = {Why is \LaTeX{} so hard?}, LATEX so hard? Paris:
year = {2021}, Kruger and sons, 2021.
xdata = {krugers}
}

@book{kru22,
title = {\LaTeX{} is awesome!},
year = {2022},
xdata = {krugers}
}

1
Chapter 5

Specialities

When putting together a large document, LATEX will help with some special
features like index generation, automatic linking to relevant pages and other
things. A much more complete description of specialities and enhancements
possible with LATEX can be found in the LATEX Manual [42] and The LATEX
Companion [48].

5.1 Indexing
A very useful feature of many books is their index. With LATEX and the
support program makeindex,1 an index can be generated quite easily.
This introduction will only explain the basic index generation commands.
For a more in-depth view, please refer to The LATEX Companion [48].
To enable the indexing feature of LATEX, the makeidx package must
be loaded in the preamble with
\usepackage{makeidx}
and the special indexing commands must be enabled by putting the
\makeindex
command in the preamble.
The content of the index is specified with
\index{〈key〉@〈formatted entry〉}
commands, where 〈formatted entry〉 will appear in the index and 〈key〉
will be used for sorting. The 〈formatted entry〉 is optional. If it is missing
the 〈key〉 will be used. You enter the index commands at the points
in the text that you want the final index entries to point to. Table 5.1
explains the syntax with several examples.
1
On systems not necessarily supporting filenames longer than 8 characters, the
program may be called makeidx.
138 Specialities

Table 5.1: Index Key Syntax Examples.

Code Entry Explanation

\index{hello} hello, 1 Plain entry
\index{hello!Peter} Peter, 3 Subentry under ‘hello’
\index{Sam@\emph{Sam}} Sam, 2 Formatted entry
\index{Kaese@\emph{K\"ase}} Käse, 33 Formatted entry
\index{ecole@\'ecole} école, 4 Formatted entry
\index{Jenny|emph} Jenny, 3 Formatted page number
\index{Joe@\emph{Joe}|emph} Joe, 5 Formatted page number

When the input file is processed with LATEX, each \index command
writes an appropriate index entry, together with the current page number,
to a special file. The file has the same name as the LATEX input file, but
a different extension (.idx). This .idx file can then be processed with
the makeindex program:

makeindex filename

The makeindex program generates a sorted index with the same base
file name, but this time with the extension .ind. If now the LATEX input
file is processed again, this sorted index gets included into the document
at the point where LATEX finds

\printindex

The showidx package that comes with LATEX prints out all index
entries in the left margin of the text. This is quite useful for proofreading
a document and verifying the index. Make sure to load the package afer
the hyperref package.
Note that the \index command can affect your layout if not used
carefully.

My Word \index{Word}. As opposed

My Word . As opposed to Word.
to Word\index{Word}. Note the
position of the full stop. Note the position of the full stop.

Note that the makeindex has no clue about characters outside the
ASCII range. To get the sorting correct, use the @ character as shown in
the Käse and école examples above.
5.2 Installing Extra Packages 139

5.2 Installing Extra Packages

Most LATEX installations come with a large set of pre-installed style
packages, but many more are available on the net. The main place to look
for style packages on the Internet is CTAN (http://www.ctan.org/).
Packages such as geometry, hyphenat, and many others are typically
made up of two files: a file with the extension .ins and another with
the extension .dtx. There will often be a readme.txt with a brief
description of the package. You should of course read this file first.
In any event, once you have copied the package files onto your
machine, you still have to process them in a way that (a) tells your
TEX distribution about the new style package, and (b) gives you the
documentation. Here’s how you do the first part:

1. Run LATEX on the .ins file. This will extract a .sty file.

2. Move the .sty file to a place where your distribution can find
it. Usually this is in your …/localtexmf/tex/latex subdirectory
(Windows or OS/2 users should feel free to change the direction of
the slashes).

3. Refresh your distribution’s file-name database. The command

depends on the LATEX distribution you use: TEXLive — texhash;
web2c — maktexlsr; MiKTEX — initexmf --update-fndb or
use the GUI.

Now extract the documentation from the .dtx file:

1. Run XƎLATEX on the .dtx file. This will generate a .pdf file. Note
that you may have to run XƎLATEX several times before it gets the
cross-references right.

2. Check to see if LATEX has produced a .idx file among the various
files you now have. If you do not see this file, then the documenta-
tion has no index. Continue with step 5.

3. In order to generate the index, type the following:

makeindex -s gind.ist name
(where name stands for the main-file name without any extension).

4. Run LATEX on the .dtx file once again.

5. Last but not least, make a .ps or .pdf file to increase your reading
pleasure.
140 Specialities

Sometimes you will see that a .glo (glossary) file has been produced.
Run the following command between step 4 and 5:
makeindex -s gglo.ist -o name.gls name.glo
Be sure to run LATEX on the .dtx one last time before moving on to
step 5.

5.3 LATEX and PDF

The initial release of TEX predated the PDF format by nearly 16 years.
The original output files it produced—.dvis—were meant to be only
printed. Today many documents are never or seldom printed, we read
them directly on a screen. PDF format contains many improvements for
viewing documents like this but they are not implemented in core LATEX.
These are accessible via the hyperref [58] package.

5.3.1 Hypertext Links

Hyperlinks are used to quickly jump around the document. The prime
example of using them is the table of contents, you don’t have to manually
scroll to a given page—just click on a given chapter and you will be
immediately transported there. You already know that table of contents
can be typeset using the \tableofcontents command, but it doesn’t
contain any hyperlinks.
Luckily the process of updating your document is extremely easy:
just add \usepackage{hyperref} as the last package loaded in your
preamble. Doing so redefines internal LATEX commands to produce
hyperlinks.

% In preamble
\usepackage{hyperref}
% ... The reference to this section now
The reference to this section looks like that:1 Section 5.3.1 is
now looks like that:\footnote{ on page 140. The hyperref biblio-
Footnotes are also graphic entry is [58].
made into hyperlinks.}
Section~\ref{hyperlinks} is 1
Footnotes are also made into hyper-
on page~\pageref{hyperlinks}. links.
The hyperref bibliographic
entry is~\cite{pack:hyperref}.

By default links are marked by a red box around them. This box is only
visible when viewing the document on screen and will not be printed. The
boxes are, however, rather ugly, so you may want to add the colorlinks
5.3 LATEX and PDF 141

option while loading the package.

% In preamble
\usepackage[
colorlinks
]{hyperref} The reference to this section now
% ... looks like that: Section 5.3.1 is on
The reference to this section page 140.
now looks like that:
Section~\ref{hyperlinks} is
on page~\pageref{hyperlinks}.

This is the option used throughout this booklet and assumed in further
examples. While this makes the links more visually appealing, it has
the disadvantage that the coloured links will be printed. To marry the
best of both worlds you can use the ocgx2 [19] package with the option
ocgcolorlinks like this
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[ocglinks]{ocgx2}

Be warned though that it is not well supported by popular PDF viewers.

Another option is to use option hidelinks that makes the links clickable
but does not distinguish them visually.
In addition to redefining internal LATEX command, hyperref defines
some additional ones. To typeset URLs you can now use the \url
command.

\url{https://www.ctan.org/} https://www.ctan.org/

If you want to display different text for the clickable link you can use the
\href{〈URL〉}{〈text〉}
command. Note that if you intend for the document to be useful when
printed, you have to provide the full URLs anyway.
Packages can be found on
\href{https://www.ctan.org/}{ Packages can be found on CTAN.
CTAN}.
A similar command is
\hyperref[〈marker〉]{〈text〉}
that allows to create a hyperlink within the document with a different
text.
\hyperref[hyperlinks]{
Hyperlinks section} Hyperlinks section describes the
describes the usage of usage of hyperlinks.
hyperlinks.
142 Specialities

To avoid nesting hyperlinks inside one another, hyperref provides starred

versions of \ref and \pageref commands that produce text without
hyperlinking them.

\hyperref[hyperlinks]{
Section~\ref*{hyperlinks}}
describes the usage of Section 5.3.1 describes the usage
hyperlinks. of hyperlinks.
This ref 5.3.1 is not hyperlinked.
This ref~\ref*{hyperlinks}
is not hyperlinked.

Throughout this booklet you have seen references such as ‘subsec-

tion 5.3.1 on page 140’. While this could be achieved using the aforemen-
tioned \hyperref command, this usecase is so common that hyperref
provides two commands that make it much easier:

\autoref{〈marker〉}
\autopageref{〈marker〉}

Their usage is identical to the \ref and \pageref commands, but they
produce additional text based on the counter the 〈marker〉 refers to.

\autoref{hyperlinks} in
subsection 5.3.1 in chapter 5 on
\autoref{specialities} on
\autopageref{hyperlinks}. page 140.

The names are controlled by commands such as \autorefchaptername

or \autorefsectionname. See the hyperref [58] documentation for a full
list.
So far we have used the default colours for URLs, hyperlinks. These
can be changed using the \hypersetup command. It accepts a key value
list customising the appearance of links. Colours may be specified using
linkcolor, citecolor and urlcolor. If you have the xcolor package
loaded, you may specify colours the same way as described in Section 7.4.

\hypersetup{
urlcolor = pink,
citecolor = purple,
https://www.ctan.org/
linkcolor = teal!50!yellow,
} [58]
\url{https://www.ctan.org/} \\ subsection 5.3.1
\cite{pack:hyperref} \\
\autoref{hyperlinks}
5.3 LATEX and PDF 143

You can also adjust the borders around the links. The basic key is
pdfborder. It accepts three numbers: horizontal corner radius, vertical
corner radius and border width.
\hypersetup{pdfborder = 0 0 1}
\url{https://www.ctan.org/} \\
\hypersetup{pdfborder = 10 10 3} https://www.ctan.org/
\url{https://www.ctan.org/} \\ https://www.ctan.org/
\hypersetup{pdfborder = 10 5 2} https://www.ctan.org/
\url{https://www.ctan.org/} \\ https://www.ctan.org/
\hypersetup{pdfborder = 2 7 5}
\url{https://www.ctan.org/}

The colour of the boxes may be adjusted with the linkbordercolor,

citebordercolor and urlbordercolor keys, assuming the xcolor pack-
age is loaded.
\hypersetup{
pdfborder = 0 0 2,
urlbordercolor = violet,
citebordercolor = pink, https://www.ctan.org/
linkbordercolor = teal, [58]
} subsection 5.3.1
\url{https://www.ctan.org/} \\
\cite{pack:hyperref} \\
\autoref{hyperlinks}

5.3.2 Document Metadata

Another thing that may be adjusted with the hyperref package is docu-
ment metadata. These are information about your document that are
not visible in the document itself, but may be used by your PDF viewer
in various ways. For example, the title of the document may be shown
in its top window bar.
Additional information about your document may be set using
pdfinfo key. This key itself accepts a key value list of document proper-
ties.
\hypersetup{
pdfinfo = {
Title = Title of the Book,
Author = {Us, Ourselves and We},
Subject = Book creation with LaTeX,
Creator = Our House,
Keywords = {LaTeX, typesetting},
Producer = LuaTeX,
}
}
144 Specialities

You can also control the way your document presents itself when
opening. For example you can choose whether the bookmarks should
be shown (bookmarksopen), whether external links should be opened in
new windows (pdfnewwindow) whether the pages should initially fit the
window (pdffitwindow).
If you want to set the metadata without redefining internal LATEX
commands to produce links, you may pass implicit=false to hyperref
package options.

5.3.3 Problems with Outline

The hyperref package automatically uses table of contents generated by
the document as a document outline for easier navigation. This may lead
to some problems if your section titles contain some non-text content
(for example, “LATEX”). If this is the case, then it will be ignored by the
hyperref package and the following warning will be reported

Package hyperref Warning:

Token not allowed in a PDFDocEncoded string:

To get around this problem you can use the

\texorpdfstring{〈TEX text〉}{〈outline text〉}

command. Its first argument, 〈TEX text〉, is the text to be displayed

inside the document, while the second is the fallback for hyperref to use.
An example would be to change

\section{\LaTeX{} is awesome!}

to

\section{\texorpdfstring{\LaTeX}{LaTeX} is awesome!}

While the above method may be necessary for some complicated

math formulae that need to be nicely printed in the outline, usually the
replacement texts are rather obvious for a given command. In this case
you can use the

\pdfstringdefDisableCommands{〈commands〉}

command, which allows you to define general fallbacks for some com-
mands. The 〈commands〉 argument is a list of redefinitions to be done
when evaluating outline titles. Commands may be redefined using the
\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand command. For a description of
how to redefine the commands see subsection 7.1.1. An example of using
this command would be
5.4 Creating Presentations 145

\pdfstringdefDisableCommands {
\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand{\ldots}{}{...}
\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand{\LaTeX}{}{LaTeX}
\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand{\emph}{m}{*#1*}
}

5.4 Creating Presentations

TEX and LATEX were primarily designed for creating text documents,
and that is where they shine. Still, it is also possible to use them for
creating presentations. In presentations created with LATEX you will be
able to use all the LATEX features such as logical markup, mathematical
typesetting and all the typesetting magic you are acustomed too. While
these presentations are just PDF files, you may be amazed what is
possible with the PDF in this respect.
Historically, there have been several ways to create presentations;
for example, the standard LATEX slides class, or the powerdot package.
While these are still supported, this booklet will focus on the beamer [74]
package, which is the most popular option these days. This section
only scratches the surface of beamer’s capabilities. For a more in-depth
tutorial please see the User Guide [74] distributed with beamer.

5.4.1 Basic Usage

The beamer package provides the beamer class, which loads all the
necessary packages. The fundamental environment is the frame which
adds a single page to your presentation.2

\documentclass{beamer}

\begin{document} Small is beautiful.

\begin{frame}
Small is beautiful.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

The full syntax of the frame is

\begin{frame}[〈options〉]{〈title〉}{〈subtitle〉}
where 〈options〉 is a key-value list applied to the frame, while 〈title〉 and
2
Other presentation software often uses the term “slide” instead of frame, but slides
are a slightly different concept in beamer.
146 Specialities

〈subtitle〉 are displayed at the top of the slide. Despite the curly brackets,
these are optional arguments and have been omitted in the previous
example.

Interesting title
\begin{frame}{% Even more interesting subtitle
Interesting title}{%
Even more interesting
subtitle}
Not so interesting contents.
Not so interesting contents.
\end{frame}

The title and subtitle can also be specified using the \frametitle and
\framesubtitle commands.
As in the standard classes, you can specify a title, author and date in
the preamble by using the \title, \author and \date commands. The
\maketitle command uses these settings to create a title frame.

\author{Jane Doe}
Interesting Title
\title{Interesting Title}
\date{\today}
% ... Jane Doe

\maketitle
May 12, 2025

Additionally, \subtitle, \institute and \titlegraphic are available

to add extra information to the title frame. The \date is often repurposed
to hold the conference name, since it is more informative than the exact
date. Some themes (discussed later) display these fields on each slide.
If you find that they are too long for such use, you may specify shorter
versions via an optional argument, like this:

\title[Short Title]{A Title That Is Too Long}

Sectioning commands, such as \section, are meant to be used be-

tween frames and define the structure of the presentation. Using them
5.4 Creating Presentations 147

has no visible impact on the frames themselves, but they allow for a nice
\tableofcontents with properly hyperlinked entries.

\begin{frame}{Outline}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame} Outline
\section{A Section}
A Section
\begin{frame}
% ...
\end{frame} A Longer Section
\section{A Longer Section} A Subsection
% ...
\subsection{A Subsection}
% ...

beamer provides special commands for emphasising information on

the slide. The \alert command typesets its argument using a bright
red colour. The block environment displays its contents with a title and
separation from the rest of the text.

Here we will talk about

\alert{emphasis}. It is a Here we will talk about
\emph{very} interesting topic. emphasis. It is a very
\begin{block}{Font Shape} interesting topic.
\emph{Italic type} is often
used. Font Shape
\end{block} Italic type is often used.
\begin{block}{Colour}
A distinct \alert{colour} Colour
also works. A distinct colour also works.
\end{block}

beamer redefines many amsmath3 environments, including theorem and

proof, to also produce blocks.
You will find that most of the LATEX commands and environments,
such as \refs or itemize, work just as expected with beamer. A notable
exception is the verbatim input and similar constructs described in
Section 2.17. Using them requires you to pass the fragile option to the

3
amsmath is loaded automatically by beamer.
148 Specialities

frame options.

\begin{frame}[fragile]
Inside \verb|fragile| frames Inside fragile frames you
you can use the verbatim can use the verbatim freely.
freely.
\begin{verbatim} Hello!
Hello!
\end{verbatim}
\end{frame}

5.4.2 Overlay Specification

So far, our frames have been static—they show all of their contents at
once. It is, however, possible to show a frame piece-wise, in order to not
overwhelm an audience with too much information.
The simplest way to do this is the \pause command. It splits the
frame so that the content before the pause is presented on the current
page, while the rest of the frame is presented on the next page. These
partial frames are called slides.

\begin{frame}
This will be shown first. \pause Then this. \pause
And finally this.
\end{frame}

This will be This will be This will be

shown first. shown first. shown first.
Then this. Then this. And
finally this.

While presenting, this has the effect of revealing statements one by one.
A more powerful frame splitting command is exists:

\onslide<〈overlay specification〉>

The 〈overlay specification〉 argument specifies which slides the contents

should appear on. It may be a single number (slides start at 1), a range
5.4 Creating Presentations 149

of numbers (separated by -) or a comma delimited list of the two.

\begin{frame}
\onslide<1> One. \onslide<2> Two. \onslide<1,3> One and
three. \onslide<2-> Two onwards. \onslide<1-2> One to two.
\end{frame}

One. Two.
One and three. One and three.
Two onwards. Two onwards.
One to two. One to two.

Internally, the \pause command uses \onslide with a counter, so these

can be mixed together as desired (although care is required to set the
slide numbers correctly).
A similar command is \uncover. It accepts the same optional 〈overlay
specification〉 argument, but only applies it to its mandatory argument.

\begin{frame}
\uncover<1>{One.} \uncover<2>{Two.} \uncover<1,3>{One
and three.} All.
\end{frame}

One. Two.
One and three. One and three.
All. All. All.

There are more commands that accept 〈overlay specification〉 argument,

and many more preexisting commands and environments that are ex-
tended by beamer to support them. Refer to its User Guide [74] for more
examples.
By default, content remains invisible until uncovered. If you don’t
want a lot of empty space on your slides, or if you prefer not to surprise
your audience, you may adjust this behaviour to typeset the covered
text as transparent. To do so, use the \setbeamercovered with the
150 Specialities

transparent option.

\setbeamercovered{transparent}
% ...

\begin{frame}
This will be shown first. \pause Then this. \pause
And finally this.
\end{frame}

This will be This will be This will be

shown first. shown first. shown first.
Then this. And Then this. And Then this. And
finally this. finally this. finally this.

Among the other possible arguments to these commands, dynamic makes

the text increasingly transparent the later it is shown.4

\setbeamercovered{dynamic}
% ...

\begin{frame}
This will be shown first. \pause Then this. \pause
And finally this.
\end{frame}

This will be This will be This will be

shown first. shown first. shown first.
Then this. And Then this. And Then this. And
finally this. finally this. finally this.

5.4.3 Customisation
If the default appearance of the presentation is not to your liking, beamer
provides a lot of options to customise it. The most basic commands are
\usetheme and \usecolortheme. These allow you to choose from a pre-

4
The effect is amplified a bit in the below example, so it is more visible. The
default variant works better when there are more \pauses.
5.4 Creating Presentations 151

defined set of themes that alter the style and colours of the presentation.

\usetheme{Madrid}
\usecolortheme{wolverine}
\author{Jane Doe}
\title{Title}
Title
\date{Yesterday}
% ...
Normal text. Alerted text.
\begin{frame}{Title} Block
Normal text.
A block.
\alert{Alerted text}.
\begin{block}{Block}
A block.
Jane Doe Title Yesterday 1 / 1
\end{block}
\end{frame}

The full list of available themes can be viewed at reference Another

Beamer Theme Matrix.
The \usefonttheme command can be used in a similar fashion. By
default the text in frames is typeset using a sans serif font. This choice
makes sense, because it is easier to read on lower resolution projectors,
but is less relevant when using a high-resolution display. You can pass
the serif option to \usefonttheme to switch to the default LATEX font.

\usefonttheme{serif}
% ... Is serif better?
\begin{frame}{Is serif better?} Often repeated assertion is
Often repeated assertion is that serif fonts are easier to
that serif fonts are easier read on paper, however, this
to read on paper, however,
is not scientifically
this is not scientifically
confirmed. confirmed.
\end{frame}

Greater customisation is possible using the

\setbeamerfont{〈element〉}{〈attributes〉}
\setbeamercolor{〈element〉}{〈attributes〉}

commands. The 〈element〉 argument is the element to which the cus-

tomised font or colour should be applied, while the 〈attributes〉 specifies
font attributes, such as size, shape and family, and the foreground and
152 Specialities

background colours, fg and bg. Fonts are further discussed in Section 7.3,
while colours are covered in Section 7.4.

\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{
fg=red,
bg=lime,
}
\setbeamerfont{block title}{
Frame Title
series=\bfseries,
family=\ttfamily,
} Normal text.
% ...
Block title
\begin{frame}{Frame Title} More text.
Normal text.
\begin{block}{Block title}
More text.
\end{block}
\end{frame}

By default, LATEX typesets mathematics in serif fonts. When beamer

attempts the same typesetting in a sans serif font, not all symbols may
exist (Greek letters, for example). If your presentation is mathematically
heavy, it may be best to switch to a sans serif math font and matching
text font. Switching math fonts is described further in subsection 7.3.4.

\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setsansfont{Fira Sans}
With these fonts Greek
\setmathfont{Fira Math}
\setoperatorfont{\mathsf} variables don’t look silly
% ... next to the Latin ones.

With these fonts Greek 𝑥+𝑏=𝜒+𝛽

variables don't look silly
next to the Latin ones. sin(𝑥)
lim =1
\[ x + b = \chi + \beta \] 𝑥→0 𝑥
\[ \lim_{x \to 0}
\frac{\sin(x)}{x} = 1 \]

By default, beamer typesets onto 4 ∶ 3 aspect-ratio pages. If the

projector uses some other aspect ratio, you may prefer to match it. You
may do so, by passing an aspectratio to the \documentclass options.
It accepts a single integer that encodes the desired ratio. For example,
169 is interpreted as 16 ∶ 9, while 54 is interpreted as 5 ∶ 4. Wider ratios
are especially useful if you want to incorporate a sidebar with the table
5.4 Creating Presentations 153

of contents into your slides.

\documentclass[
aspectratio=169
]{beamer}
Wide is beautiful.
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
Wide is beautiful.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

5.4.4 Handouts

A feature of beamer is the ability to easily create handouts. The simplest

way to do this is to add the handout option to the \documentclass
command. Doing so will make the beamer class ignore all of the \pauses,
and similar commands, to produce documents with fewer pages.

\documentclass[handout]{beamer}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame} All of the text is on a single
All of the \pause text is on slide, even though pauses are
\pause a single slide, \pause present.
even though \pause pauses
are present.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

This mode is also useful while creating a presentation, as it previews the

frames as a whole without uncovering effects.
Internally, handout generation is accomplished by using overlay spec-
ifications with modes. The default mode is beamer, while the handout
option switches to handout mode. You can specify modes explicitly
within an overlay specification by passing 〈mode〉:〈spec〉. Several mode
specifications can be specified by separating them with | (vertical bar).
154 Specialities

If no mode is specified, beamer mode is assumed.

\documentclass[handout]{beamer}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
Some text \pause with pauses.
\onslide<beamer: 3-| handout: 2-> This text
will be on a separate slide, even in handout.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Some text with Some text with

pauses. pauses. This text
will be on a
separate slide,
even in handout.

Often you will want to show some parts only in one mode—to provide
additional commentary in handouts, or to hide things that only make
sense during the presentation. This is easily achieved by using a special
zeroth slide that is not included in the rendered document. An example
of doing so is presented in Listing 5.1.
Handouts created in this way still use the slide structure—titles, lots
of empty space, and bright colours. As an alternative, the article mode
will typeset the document in a fashion similar to a regular article. Due
to the more pronounced differences between layouts, this may require
more tweaking than the handout mode, but the result will often be much
more suitable for a printed handout.
Switching to the article mode differs from switching to other beamer
modes. Rather than passing options to the class, the class is replaced by
article and the beamerarticle is included in the preamble. See Listing 5.2
for an example. The beamerarticle package defines all of the beamer
commands and environments, so that they will produce sensible output
in the article.
Because the concept of slides is not present in an article,5 the overlay
specifications will be useless. However the special zeroth slide works

5
To be more precise, only contents of the first slide are typeset.
5.4 Creating Presentations 155

\documentclass[handout]{beamer}

\begin{document} A frame.
\begin{frame}
A frame.
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}<handout: 0>
A frame only visible in presentation.
\end{frame} A frame only
\begin{frame}<0>
visible in
A frame only visible in handout.
\end{frame} handout.
\end{document}

Listing 5.1: An example of using zeroth slides to hide content in presen-

tation and in handout.

% \documentclass{beamer}
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{beamerarticle}

\title{Handouts}
\author{Me and Myself} Handouts
\begin{document}
\maketitle Me and Myself

\begin{frame} May 12, 2025

Handouts are \alert{very}
important.
\end{frame} Handouts are very impor-
tant.
\begin{frame} Almost as important as
Almost as important as the the presentations.
presentations.
\end{frame}
\end{document} 1

Listing 5.2: An example of using beamer in article mode.

156 Specialities

normally and can be used to hide content.

\begin{frame}<0>
Additional information for
the article.
\uncover<article: 2->{This Additional information
won't print.} for the article.
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}<article: 0>
Additional information for
the presentation.
\end{frame} 1

Because the overlay specification is often used to provide contents

for a single mode, there exists a short cut: f you provide only the mode
name, this will be the same as setting all other modes to zeroth slide
and leaving the first slide for the specified mode. This usually results in
a more readable code.

\begin{frame}<article>
Content for the article. Content for the article.
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}<beamer>
Content for the presentation.
\end{frame}

1
Chapter 6

Graphics in Your Document

Most documents these days contain some graphics alongside the text. While
photos and drawings can be easily added, integrating diagrams and schemat-
ics seamlessly with your document might prove difficult. Fonts, colours, and
lines must be adjusted so that they do not look out of place. Furthermore,
later changes to your document layout may force you to redo this work.
Fortunately it is possible to create your graphics directly in LATEX, which will
automatically take care of adjusting the aforementioned settings and keep
them in sync with the document itself.

6.1 Overview
First, some background on how to think about graphics. Roughly, there
are three types of pictures that you may find yourself dealing with:

Photos are pictures that contain realistic shading and lots of detail.
These include actual photos, photo-realistic renders, and screen-
shots from video games. In photos, exact pixel colour is not really
important, and lossy compression can be used without visual degra-
dation. It is best to store photos in the JPEG format.

Drawings are pictures with flat colours and relatively few details. This
category includes pixel art and screenshots of program interfaces.
Here, lossy compression would result in visible degradation, and
would not be very efficient anyway. It is best to use a lossless
compression format such as PNG. This will ensure that each
picture is reproduced with pixel-perfect fidelity, while keeping the
file sizes small.

Diagrams or Charts are simple graphics that contain text, lines, and
other geometric objects. Logos and schematics are prime examples
158 Graphics in Your Document

of these. Ideally, they should be stored as drawing instructions in a

vector based graphics in format, such as EPS, SVG or PDF. Vector
based graphics can be scaled to any size without loss of quality.

You have already learned about including photos and drawings, in Sec-
tion 2.19. You can use the same techniques to include diagrams, and
this is totally fine. Some programs, such as Inkscape [29], even support
ways to easily include produced graphics in LATEX documents. However,
this chapter will focus on drawing diagrams directly in LATEX. This has
many advantages, such as logical structuring, plain text formatting, and
seamless integration with the document layout.
Creating graphical output with LATEX has a long tradition. It started
out with the picture environment, which allows you to create graphics
by cleverly placing predefined elements onto a canvas. Unfortunately,
this environment is not very robust, and so many alternatives have
been developed over the years, such as metapost [80], asymptote [22] or
xypic [62]. Today, the most widely used package is pgf [73] (short for
“Portable Graphics Format”) and its user interface TikZ (a recursive
acronym—“TikZ ist kein Zeichenprogramm”—German for “TikZ is not
a drawing program”). This chapter will introduce the basic concepts of
writing graphics in TikZ. More detailed tutorials can be found in the pgf
documentation.
While TikZ is a powerful and versatile language, using it for com-
plicated graphics is not always easy. Many packages and libraries build
upon the pgf foundation to simplify the creation of specialized diagrams.
These include pgfplots [18], for plotting functions and presenting data,
and commutative-diagrams [8], for creating commutative diagrams. It’s
usually a good idea to search CTAN for a package which already solves
your problem before writing new TikZ code from the ground up, yourself.

6.2 Basic Usage

To use pgf and TikZ, simply put the following line in the preamble:

\usepackage{tikz}

Doing so provides the tikzpicture environment and the \tikz com-

mand, inside of which you can execute TikZ commands. Each TikZ
command is terminated with a semicolon (;). The simplest command is
the \draw command, which draws points connected by a path. Points
may be given in either Cartesian coordinates (𝑥, 𝑦) or polar coordinates
(𝜃∶ 𝑟), where 𝜃 is specified in degrees, while distances are specified in
centimetres by default. The path between points may be specified in
6.2 Basic Usage 159

many ways, the simplest is --, which draws a straight line.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) % bottom left
-- (15:4) % angle:length
-- (1, 2); % x,y
\end{tikzpicture}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) -- (1,1);}

If you want to close the shape you are drawing, use cycle instead of
repeating the first point. In addition to being clearer about the intention,
it also produces a better looking line connection (a properly mitred join,
as they say).

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) -- (2, 0) -- (60: 2) -- (0, 0);
\end{tikzpicture}
vs.\
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) -- (2, 0) -- (60: 2) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}

vs.

The \draw command is just a shortcut to the more general \path

command. The latter accepts a path in the same way, but an action must
be specified in square brackets. The \draw command simply supplies
the draw action. The fill action fills the area under the specified path.
Multiple actions may be supplied.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\path[draw]
(0, 0) -- (0, 2) -- (2, 2) -- (2, 0) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\path[fill]
(0, 0) -- (0, 2) -- (2, 2) -- (2, 0) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}
160 Graphics in Your Document

By default, TikZ pictures adjust their size to the minimal surrounding

rectangle. If you want to specify the bounding box yourself, use the
use as bounding box action, or the equivalent \useasboundingbox
command.
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) -- (1, 0);}
vs.\
\tikz{\draw (0, 1) -- (1, 1);}
vs.\
\tikz{
\useasboundingbox (0, 0) -- (0, 1)
-- (1, 1) -- (1, 0) -- cycle;
\draw (0, 1) -- (1, 1);
}

vs. vs.

Normal LATEX input may be displayed inside so-called nodes. To

create a node, use the
\node (〈name〉) at 〈coordinate〉 {〈input〉};
command. The 〈name〉 argument is optional and enables you to use the
〈name〉 as a shorthand for a node’s coordinate.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\node (text) at (0,0) {% 𝐵
Some \LaTeX{} text};
\node (A) at (3, 1) {\(A\)}; 𝐴
\node (B) at (0, 2) {\(B\)};
\draw (A) -- (text) -- (B); Some LATEX text
\end{tikzpicture}

TikZ attempts to be smart about the way it positions lines between nodes.
If you want to influence this, you can specify the exact connection-point
on a node after a dot. The available points are, for example, north,
west, south east and so on. You can also put a number, which will be
interpreted as an angle (in degrees).
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node (T) at (1,1) {%
Some \LaTeX{} text};
\node (A) at (0, 0) {\(A\)}; Some LATEX text
\node (B) at (2, 0) {\(B\)};
\draw (A.north) -- (B.south); 𝐴 𝐵
\draw (T.0) -- (T.145)
-- (T.265) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}
6.3 Curves and Shapes 161

Nodes can be created within paths by typing node after a given

coordinate or line. A node added after a line is placed at its midpoint.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) node {Start} End
-- node {Midpoint} Midpoint
(3, 1) node {End}; Start
\end{tikzpicture}

If you want to create an empty node for the purpose of naming

a specific point, it is better to use the \coordinate command. This
ensures that the node is actually empty, whereas nodes created by \node
take up some space by default, even when they have no content.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\coordinate (A) at (0, 0);
\coordinate (B) at (1, 1);
\node (C) at (2, 0) {};
\draw (A) -- (B) -- (C);
\end{tikzpicture}

6.3 Curves and Shapes

So far we have always used -- to connect points. However, this is not
the only way. For example, if you wanted to only use horizontal and
vertical lines, you could specify -| or |- (according to preferred order)
as the connection between points.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) |- (2, 1);}

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) -| (2, 1);}

If you want to create curved lines, the simplest way is to use to

between points. It works the same as --, but you can provide an optional
argument, with in and out keys, to define the terminal angles of the
connection.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) to[out=90, in=-90] (2, 0);}

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) to[out=45] (2, 0);}
162 Graphics in Your Document

The looseness key may be used to define how much the curve is out-
stretched.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0)
to[out=90, in=-90, looseness=0.5] (2, 0);}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0)
to[out=90, in=-90, looseness=2] (2, 0);}

Often it might be easier to specify relative angles, using the bend left
and bend right keys. If no angle is provided, a default value is used.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) to[bend left] (2, 0);}

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) to[bend right=90] (2, 0);}

If you need even finer control over the curves you, can use a .. controls ..
connection to specify a Bézier curve with one or two control points.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) .. controls (1, 1) .. (2, 0);}

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) .. controls (.5, 2) and (3, 1)
.. (2, 0);}

In addition to curves, the points may also be connected using various

shapes. For example, the grid draws a grid between the points, while
rectangle draws a rectangle.

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) grid (2, 2);}

\tikz{\draw (0, 0) rectangle (3, 1);}
6.4 Customizing Paths and Nodes 163

To specify how fine the grid is, use the step key.
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) grid[step=0.5] (2, 2);}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) grid[step=1.5] (2, 2);}

Other shapes may also be drawn this way, sometimes requiring a

specific syntax. For example the circle interprets the left coordinate
as its centre and receives its radius via the radius key. You can also
specify x radius and y radius separately, thus drawing an ellipse.1
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) circle[radius=1];}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) circle[x radius=2, y radius=0.5];}

Many more shapes are available, such as arc, parabola or sin. Be sure
to check out the documentation[73] for the specifics of their use.

6.4 Customizing Paths and Nodes

By default, all paths are drawn with a continuous black line. You can
modify them by passing options to the \draw command. For example,
passing a colour name will change the colour of the line.
\tikz{\draw[red]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[blue]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
The thickness of a line can be controlled by passing the line width
key (specified in points by default), or by using one of the predefined
values, such as semithick, very thin or ultra thick.
\tikz{\draw[line width=2]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[very thin]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
1
The ellipse shape can also be used in the same way if the naming irks you ;-).
164 Graphics in Your Document

The endings of lines can also be customized. For example, line cap
allows you to specify rounded end-caps.

\tikz{\draw[line width=10]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[line width=10,
line cap=round]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}

You can turn a line into an arrow by specifying the arrows key.

\tikz{\draw[arrows=->]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[arrows=<<->]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}

Lines do not need to be continuous, either. You can specify a dash

pattern or use one of the predefined patterns.

\tikz{\draw[dash pattern=
on 4 off 1 on 2 off 1]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[dotted]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}

Adjust how lines are connected by using line join. Set it to round,
bevel, or miter.

\tikz{\draw[line join=round]
(0, 0) -- (0.5, 1) -- (1, 0);}
\tikz{\draw[line join=bevel]
(0, 0) -- (0.5, 1) -- (1, 0);}

If you want the line joins to be rounded, you can also pass the rounded
corners key with the value set to the radius of the arc.

\tikz{\draw[rounded corners]
(0, 0) -- (0.5, 1) -- (1, 0);}
\tikz{\draw[rounded corners=25]
(0, 0) -- (0.5, 1) -- (1, 0);}

Now, let’s turn our attention to nodes. By default, a node’s boundary

is not drawn, but you can pass draw and fill, optionally set to a colour,
to reveal it.

\tikz{\node[draw] (0, 0)
{Some Text};}
\tikz{\node[fill=red] (0, 0) Some Text Some Text
{Some Text};}
6.4 Customizing Paths and Nodes 165

By default, all nodes are rectangles, but they can be changed to circles
by passing the circle key to their options.

\tikz{\node[draw, circle]
(0, 0) {Some text};} Some text

If you want to place multi-line text inside a node, you have to specify
the align key; without it, new lines are ignored. Possible values are
left, center and right.

\tikz{\node[draw, align=left]
(0, 0) {Some more\\ text};} Some more Even more
\tikz{\node[draw, align=center] text text
(0, 0) {Even more \\ text};}

When nodes are placed along a path, their positions may be adjusted
using the anchor key. Its value is the point on the node boundary that
should be anchored on the given point in path.

\tikz{\draw
(0, 0) node[anchor=south] {A}
C
-- node[anchor=north west] {B}
(1, 1) node[anchor=135] {C}; A B
}

Using relative commands, such as left or above right, for this purpose
usually leads to more readable code, though they are not so powerful.

\tikz{\draw
(0, 0) node[above] {A} C
-- node[below right] {B}
(1, 1) node[right] {C}; A B
}

All these options can be freely combined, but the resulting style
specification may turn out to be lengthy. To avoid retyping it for many
nodes or paths, you can define new styles. Some predefined styles already
exist. For example, the help lines style sets the colour of the lines to
166 Graphics in Your Document

grey and makes them a bit thinner, which is useful for drawing alignment
grids when constructing your own pictures.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[help lines]
(0, 0) grid (3,3);
\draw (1, 1) -- (3,2);
\draw (1.5, 2.5)
circle[radius=0.5];
\end{tikzpicture}

To define your own style, pass a key of the form 〈name〉/.style=〈options〉

to the TikZ environment or command options.
\begin{tikzpicture}[
my line/.style={dotted, ultra thick},
my node/.style={draw, circle},
]
\draw[my line] (0, 0) -- (3, 1);
\node[my node] at (4, 0.5) {A};
\end{tikzpicture}

If you want to set up some styles globally, you can also use the \tikzset
command.
\tikzset{
red style/.style={draw=red},
}
\tikz{\draw[red style]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1) -- (2, 0);} Red node
\tikz{\node[red style]
at (0, 0) {Red node};}
If you want to avoid specifying the style for every node or path within a
TikZ picture, you can set the special styles every node and every path
to change them all at once.
\begin{tikzpicture}[
every path/.style={
ultra thick, dotted},
every node/.style={
circle, draw=red}, A
]
\draw (0, 0) -- (3, 1);
\node at (4, 0.5) {A};
\end{tikzpicture}
6.5 Coordinates 167

6.5 Coordinates
So far, we have always used the default unit of centimetres for specifying
coordinates. However, it is possible to use any LATEX dimension (see
subsection 7.5.1 for details).

\tikz{\draw (0, 0)
-- (1in, 1pt);}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0)
-- (1dd, 1em);}

It is also possible to rescale how the distances are measured by using

the scale key. This is useful if you find that your picture is too big or
too small after drawing it, or if there exists some intuitive coordinate
system (for example, when drawing function plots).

\tikz[scale=2]{\draw
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw (0, 0) -- (2, 2);}

You can also specify xscale and yscale separately.

When specifying scale, you can use simple arithmetic operations. For
example, to change the dimensionless values to inches, you can pass
scale=1in/1cm.

\tikz[scale=1in/1cm]{\draw
(0, 0) -- (1, 0.5);}
\tikz[scale=1em/1cm]{\draw
(0, 0) -- (1, 0.5);}

Keep in mind that coordinates with dimensions will also be scaled, which
may have unintended consequences. A more robust way of changing
dimensionless values is the x and y keys.

\tikz[x=1in, y=1in]{\draw
(0, 0) -- (1, 0.5);}
\tikz[x=1em, y=10ex]{\draw
(0, 0) -- (1, 0.5);}

You can actually specify three-dimensional coordinates when drawing

pictures. By default, the third coordinate is interpreted as a vector
168 Graphics in Your Document

pointing 45 degrees to the bottom left and is a bit shorter.2 This gives
the effect of a parallel (or axonometric) projection.

\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=2]
\draw (0, 0, 0) -- (0, 0, 1) -- (0, 1, 1) --
(0, 1, 0) -- cycle;
\draw (1, 0, 0) -- (1, 0, 1) -- (1, 1, 1) --
(1, 1, 0) -- cycle;
\draw (0, 0, 0) -- (1, 0, 0) (0, 0, 1) -- (1, 0, 1)
(0, 1, 1) -- (1, 1, 1) (1, 1, 0) -- (0, 1, 0);
\end{tikzpicture}

Length and direction can be changed by using the z key.

Sometimes, it may be easier to specify a path by using coordinates
relative to the previous point instead of absolute ones. To do so, prepend
++ to the coordinate, which will be interpreted as the previous specified
point plus this vector.

\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=2]
\draw (0, 0) -- ++(0, 1) --
++(1, 0) -- ++(0, -1) --
cycle;
\draw (1.5, 0) -- ++(0, 1) --
++(1, 0) -- ++(0, -1) --
cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}

Scaling is not the only transformation that can be applied to points. It

is also possible to rotate, shift, or apply an arbitrary linear transformation
by specifying its matrix. Check out the documentation for a detailed
description.

\begin{tikzpicture}[rotate=45]
\draw (0, 0) -- (0, 1) --
(1, 1) -- (1, 0) -- cycle;
\end{tikzpicture}

2
Formally, (0, 0, 1) is the same as (−0.385, −0.385).
6.5 Coordinates 169

It is also possible to apply transformations to a single command.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) -- (1, 1);
\draw[red, xshift=1cm]
(0, 0) -- (1, 1);
\end{tikzpicture}

If you want to apply the same transformation to more than one command
within the same picture, you can use the scope environment. It is
especially useful when your picture consists of more than one sub-picture,
each of which is more or less independent.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{scope}[rotate=45]
\draw (0, 0) rectangle (1, 1);
\draw (0, 0) -- (1, 1);
\end{scope}
\begin{scope}[xshift=2cm]
\draw (0.5, 0.5) circle [radius=0.5];
\draw (0, 0) -- (1, 1);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

When TikZ pictures are positioned within text, their bottom end sits
on the baseline of the text. If you want to modify this, you can use the
baseline key to set the 𝑦 coordinate at which the baseline should be. If
no position is specified, it defaults to 0.

text \tikz{\draw (0, 0) circle [radius=1em];}

text \tikz[baseline]{\draw
(0, 0) circle [radius=1em];}
text \tikz[baseline=-0.5ex]{\draw
(0, 0) circle [radius=1em];} text

text text text text

170 Graphics in Your Document

6.6 Reusing Pictures

Sometimes, you may wish to draw the same picture at a few places within
a bigger one. While you could use the commands described in Section 2.9,
this would be problematic, since modifying their placement or style is
non-trivial. TikZ comes with its own method of defining smaller pictures,
called ‘pics’. They can be created by passing 〈name〉/.pic=〈commands〉
to the TikZ environment or command, and are then used by invoking
the \pic command. An example is presented in Listing 6.1.
If you find yourself repeating a lot of simple commands (for example,
drawing ticks on an axis), you may simplify your code by using the
\foreach command. It repeats the drawing command for each value in
a list, so that you can write repeatable code once, and need only modify
the important parts.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) circle[radius=1cm];
\foreach \i in {0, 60, 120, 180, 240, 300} {
\draw (0, 0) -- (\i: 1);
\fill (\i: 1) circle[radius=0.1cm];
}
\end{tikzpicture}

If your values are a simple arithmetic sequence, you need only provide
the first two values and the last, replacing the rest with triple dots.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0, 0) circle[radius=1cm];
\foreach \i in {0, 20, ..., 340} {
\draw (0, 0) -- (\i: 1);
\fill (\i: 1) circle[radius=0.1cm];
}
\end{tikzpicture}
6.6 Reusing Pictures 171

\begin{tikzpicture}[
heart/.pic={
\draw (0,0) .. controls (-1, 0.7) and (-0.2, 1.7)
.. (0, 1) .. controls (0.2, 1.7) and (1, 0.7)
.. (0, 0);
},
]
\pic at (0, 0) {heart};
\pic[red] at (1, 1) {heart};

\begin{scope}[xshift=2cm, every pic/.style={scale=0.2}]

\draw (0, 0) pic {heart} -- (1, 1) pic {heart} --
(0, 1) pic {heart} -- (1, 0) pic {heart} -- cycle;
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}

Listing 6.1: An example of using pics in TikZ.

172 Graphics in Your Document

You can also iterate over pairs by separating respective parts with /.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \i/\j in {0/a,
1/b, 2/c, 3/d} {
a b c d
\node[draw] at (\i, 0) {\j};
}
\end{tikzpicture}

6.7 Libraries
pgf and TikZ do not rely on LATEX. In fact, they can be used with any
TEX based system or even TEX itself. For this reason, TikZ provides
its own system of extensions that does not use LATEX’s \usepackage
command. Extensions of TikZ are called libraries, and can be loaded
using the \usetikzlibrary command, which receives a list of comma
separated libraries.
For example, if you intend to draw some geometry problems, you will
often find yourself looking for intersections of objects. While you could
calculate their exact coordinates by hand, the intersections library
will do it for you. An example is presented in Listing 6.2.
Other libraries extend the number of available shapes. For example,
the arrows.meta library defines numerous additional arrow tips, if you
do not like the classical one. Some are presented in Listing 6.3.
You can perform additional calculations on existing coordinates. The
calc library allows you to do so by enclosing them within $ symbols.
An example is presented in Listing 6.4.
If you have a lot of TikZ code in your document, you may notice
that compiling it takes much longer. This is because TikZ redraws each
picture with every LATEX pass. If this becomes annoying, you can cache
your images to external files and reuse them on subsequent runs. To do
this, simply put the following code in your preamble.

\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize

This method has some limitations, but should be sufficient for most uses.
Read up on it in the documentation if problems occur.
These are not the only libraries—additional node shapes, real 3D-
perspective, matrices, mind maps and many more are covered. Most of
them are described in the pgf [73] package documentation. Check it out
if you haven’t found solution to your problem here.
6.7 Libraries 173

% In preamble
\usetikzlibrary{intersections}
% ...

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[name path=O] (0, 0) circle [radius=1];
\draw[name path=L] (-2, -1.5) -- (3, 1);

\fill[red, name intersections={of=O and L}]

(intersection-1) circle[radius=2pt]
(intersection-2) circle[radius=2pt];
\end{tikzpicture}

Listing 6.2: An example of using intersections library.

% In preamble
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}
% ...

\tikz{\draw[->] (0, 0) -- (1, 1);}

\tikz{\draw[-{Circle}] (0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[-{Stealth}] (0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[-{Stealth[round]}] (0, 0) -- (1, 1);}
\tikz{\draw[-{Diamond[open]}] (0, 0) -- (1, 1);}

Listing 6.3: Some of the arrow tips defined by arrows.meta library.

174 Graphics in Your Document

% In preamble
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
% ...

\begin{tikzpicture}
\coordinate (A) at (1, -1);
\coordinate (B) at (0, 1);
\draw[red, ->] (0, 0) -- node[above] {\(A\)} (A);
\draw[blue, ->] (0, 0) -- node[left] {\(B\)} (B);
\draw[green, ->] (0, 0) --
node[below right] {\(A+2B\)} ($(A)+2*(B)$);
\end{tikzpicture}

𝐵
𝐴 + 2𝐵
𝐴

Listing 6.4: An example of using the calc library.

Chapter 7

Customising LATEX

Documents produced with the commands you have learned up to this point
will look acceptable to a large audience. While they are not fancy-looking,
they obey all the established rules of good typesetting, which will make them
easy to read and pleasant to look at.
However, there are situations where LATEX does not provide a command
or environment that matches your needs, or the output produced by some
existing command may not meet your requirements.
In this chapter, I will try to give some hints on how to teach LATEX new
tricks and how to make it produce output that looks different from what is
provided by default.

7.1 New Commands, Environments and

Packages
At the beginning of this book we have mentioned that LATEX allows us
to write documents using logical markup, with commands like \emph
or \section. There may be however situations where LATEX does not
provide an appropriate command for the content you want to write about.
You may have noticed that all the commands I introduce in this book are
typeset in a box, and that they show up in the index at the end of the
book. There is no LATEX markup to format example code or commands,
but LATEX allows me to define my own commands for this purpose.

\begin{lscommand}
\csi{dum} \dum
\end{lscommand}

In this example, a new environment called lscommand draws a box around

the command, and a new command named \csi, typesets the command
176 Customising LATEX

name and makes a corresponding entry in the index. Check this out by
looking up the \dum command in the index at the back of this book,
where you’ll find an entry for \dum, pointing to every page where we
mention the \dum command.
If I ever decide that I do not like having the commands typeset in
a box any more, I can simply change the definition of the lscommand
environment to create a new look. This is much easier than going through
the whole document to hunt down all the places where I have used some
generic LATEX commands to draw a box around some word.

7.1.1 New Commands

You have already learned some basic command creation in Section 2.9.
The main command is the

\NewDocumentCommand{\〈name〉}{〈argspec〉}{〈definition〉}

It requires three arguments: the 〈name〉 of the command you want to

create, the 〈argspec〉 (argument specification) and the definition of the
command.
The 〈argspec〉 argument specifies the number and types of arguments
the command receives. The two most important types are m, for manda-
tory and o for optional. To create a command that takes two optional
arguments, then two mandatory, then again one optional and finally
three mandatory you would write oommommm. If the 〈argspec〉 argument
is empty then the command will take no arguments, as you have already
seen.
This example defines a new command called \tnss. This is short for
“The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX”. Such a command could come
in handy if you had to write the title of this book over and over again.

\NewDocumentCommand{\tnss}{}{%
The not so Short Introduction This is “The not so Short Intro-
to \LaTeX} duction to LATEX” … “The not so
This is \enquote{\tnss} \ldots{} Short Introduction to LATEX”
\enquote{\tnss}

The next example illustrates how to define a new command that

takes two arguments. In order to refer to the received arguments you
7.1 New Commands, Environments and Packages 177

use #1 for the first argument, #2 for the second, and so on.
\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{mm}
{This is the \emph{#1}
#2 Introduction to \LaTeX} This is the not so short Introduc-
tion to LATEX
% in the document body: This is the very long Introduction
\txsit{not so}{short} to LATEX
\txsit{very}{long}

If your command accepts an optional argument, but the user does

not supply one, a special marker -NoValue- will be inserted instead.
\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{om}
{This is the \emph{#1}
#2 Introduction to \LaTeX} This is the -NoValue- definitive
Introduction to LATEX
% in the document body: This is the very long Introduction
\txsit{definitive} to LATEX
\txsit[very]{long}

In order to test whether the user supplied a value, use

\IfValueTF{〈argument〉}{〈value version〉}{〈no value version〉}
macro.
\NewDocumentCommand{\MyCommand}{o}{
\IfValueTF {#1} {
Optional argument: #1.
} {
No optional argument given. No optional argument given.
}% Optional argument: hello.
}

\MyCommand\\
\MyCommand[hello]

There are two variations of it: \IfValueT and \IfValueF which may
be used if you only need output for one of the branches. The example
with -NoValue- in the output could be fixed by writing
\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{om}
{This is the
\IfValueT{#1}{\emph{#1} }% This is the definitive Introduction
#2 Introduction to \LaTeX}
to LATEX
% in the document body: This is the very long Introduction
\txsit{definitive} to LATEX

\txsit[very]{long}
178 Customising LATEX

The commands \IfNoValueTF, \IfNoValueT and \IfNoValueF work

exactly the same, but the value/no-value branches are swapped.
Often you will want to use optional arguments when present but use
some default values when the user does not provide them. This could be
achieved by \IfValueTF, but with the O argument a default value can
be set directly. It works like o but allows setting a default if no value is
supplied. Write

\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{O{not so}m}
{This is the \emph{#1}
#2 Introduction to \LaTeX} This is the not so definitive Intro-
duction to LATEX
% in the document body: This is the very long Introduction
\txsit{definitive} to LATEX
\txsit[very]{long}

Another useful argument specification is s, short for star. This

argument allows providing different definitions based on whether the
starred or non-starred version of command was issued by the user. It
uses \IfBooleanTF command (and its variations) that works like the
\IfValueTF command.

\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{sO{not so}m}
{This is the \emph{#2}
#3 Introduction to \LaTeX%
\IfBooleanT{#1}{% This is the not so long Introduc-
: Superstar Edition%
tion to LATEX
}%
} This is the not so long Introduc-
tion to LATEX: Superstar Edition
% in the document body:
\txsit{long}\\
\txsit*{long}

These are just the most common argument specifications. For a full
description, take a look at the [57].
As we have discussed in Section 2.9, LATEX will not allow you to create
a new command that would overwrite an existing one, you can do so
using \RenewDocumentCommand. It uses the same argument specification
syntax as the \NewDocumentCommand command.
In some cases you might want to use the \ProvideDocumentCommand
command. It works like \NewDocumentCommand, but if the command is
already defined, LATEX will silently ignore the new definition. Yet another
variant is the \DeclareDocumentCommand. It always creates the given
command, overwriting old definition if it exists.
7.1 New Commands, Environments and Packages 179

7.1.2 New Environments

The \NewDocumentEnvironment command lets you create your own en-
vironments. It has the following syntax:

\NewDocumentEnvironment{〈name〉}{〈argspec〉}{〈at begin〉}{〈at end〉}

The 〈argspec〉 argument is the same as in the \NewDocumentCommand com-

mand. The contents of 〈at begin〉 and 〈at end〉 arguments will be inserted
respectively when the commands \begin{〈name〉} and \end{〈name〉} is
encountered. The example presented in Listing 7.1 illustrates the usage
of this command.
Note that when environment argument are read, they are read after
the \begin{〈name〉} command. This may be especially counterintuitive
when we consider the s specification. Listing 7.2 illustrates this. If
you want to create a starred version of an environment (similar to the
AMS-LATEX environments) you have to define it separately.

\NewDocumentEnvironment{king}{moo} { ... } { ... }

\NewDocumentEnvironment{king*}{moo} { ... } { ... }

Obviously you can use the same internal commands to define them, for
example renaming the previous implementation to kinginternal making
the king and king* a thin wrapper around it.
The \NewDocumentEnvironment also introduces a special argument
specification: +b, short for body.1 It is only allowed as the last argument
in the 〈argspec〉. It allows you to receive the body of the environment as
an argument.

\NewDocumentEnvironment{twice}{+b} {%
First time:\\ #1
First time:
Second time:\\ #1 This will be printed twice!
} {}
Second time:
\begin{twice} This will be printed twice!
This will be printed twice!
\end{twice}

While this makes one of the 〈at begin〉, 〈at end〉 arguments redundant,
they are still required. (In the example above we provided an empty 〈at
end〉.)
Do not overuse +b as this will both add limitations to the environments
like \verb not being allowed inside and it will slow down the typesetting.
1
The + indicates that it may contain multiple paragraphs.
180 Customising LATEX

\NewDocumentEnvironment{king}{}{%
\emph{Listen! For the
king made a statement:}%
\\[1em]% Listen! For the king made a state-
} {% ment:
\\[1em]%
\emph{This concludes My humble subjects …
the king's statement.}%
} This concludes the king’s state-
ment.
\begin{king}
My humble subjects \ldots
\end{king}

Listing 7.1: An example of using \NewDocumentEnvironment command.

\NewDocumentEnvironment{king}{s}{%
\IfBooleanTF{#1}{
\begin{center}
\emph{Thus spoke Charles I:}
\\[1em]%
\end{center}%
} {
\emph{Listen! For the Thus spoke Charles I:
king made a statement:}%
\\[1em]% My humble subjects …
}%
} {% This concludes the king’s state-
\\[1em]% ment.
\emph{This concludes
the king's statement.}%
}

\begin{king}*
My humble subjects \ldots
\end{king}

Listing 7.2: An example of using the s specifier when defining a new

environment.
7.1 New Commands, Environments and Packages 181

Similar to the \NewDocumentCommand, LATEX makes sure that you

do not define an environment that already exists. If you ever want to
change an existing environment, use the \RenewDocumentEnvironment
command. Its arguments are the same as the \NewDocumentEnvironment
command.

7.1.3 Copying commands

When redefining commands you may want to use the original version of
the command. Your initial code may look like this

\RenewDocumentCommand{\emph}{m}{%
\emph{#1}~(\enquote{#1} is emphasised)%
}

but when you try to compile the document you will get the error message

! TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [input stack size=5000].

To understand why this happens it is instructive to consider how TEX

expands the defined commands. The above \RenewDocumentCommand
tells the TEX engine that whenever \emph{foo} is seen it must replace
it with \emph{foo}~(\enquote{foo} is emphasised). You may al-
ready see the problem here. In the next stage it will again replace the
\emph{foo} yielding

\emph{foo}~(\enquote{foo} is emphasised)~(\enquote{foo} is
↪ emphasised)

This process will never end and at some point TEX simply gives up.
Note that

\NewDocumentCommand{\oldemph}{m}{\emph{#1}}
\RenewDocumentCommand{\emph}{m}{%
\oldemph{#1}~(\enquote{#1} is emphasised)%
}

will suffer the same fate since \oldemph{...} will be replaced by TEX
with \emph{...} and the cycle repeats.
In order to avoid this problem a special command exists

\NewCommandCopy{\〈name〉}{\〈command〉}

It makes the 〈name〉 the exact copy of the 〈command〉. The following
182 Customising LATEX

example shows how this works

\NewDocumentCommand{\foo}{}{Batman!}

\NewDocumentCommand{\newfoo}{}{\foo}
\NewCommandCopy{\copiedfoo}{\foo} Na Na Na Na Na Na
Batman!
\RenewDocumentCommand{\foo}{}{Na Na Na}

\foo{} \newfoo{} \copiedfoo{}

This is precisely the behaviour we need in order to redefine the \emph

command as we have tried to do earlier.

\NewCommandCopy{\oldemph}{\emph}
\RenewDocumentCommand{\emph}{m}{%
\oldemph{#1}~(\enquote{#1} And here it
is emphasised)% comes (“comes” is
} emphasised).
And here it \emph{comes}.

7.1.4 Command-line LATEX

If you work on a Unix-like OS, you might be using Makefiles to build your
LATEX projects. In that connection it might be interesting to produce
different versions of the same document by calling LATEX with command-
line parameters. If you add the following structure to your document:

\IfBooleanTF{\blackandwhite} {
% "black and white" mode; do something...
} {
% "color" mode; do something different...
}

Now compile document like this:

xelatex '\NewCommandCopy{\blackandwhite}{\BooleanTrue}
\input{test.tex}'

First the command \blackandwhite is defined as the \BooleanTrue

macro which holds a special value used in \IfBooleanTF checks. Then
the actual file is read with input. By setting \blackandwhite to
\BooleanFalse the colour version of the document would be produced.
7.2 Fonts and Sizes 183

7.1.5 Your Own Package

If you define a lot of new environments and commands, the preamble of
your document will get quite long. In this situation, it is a good idea
to create a LATEX package containing all your command and environ-
ment definitions. Use the \usepackage command to make the package
available in your document.
Writing a package basically consists of copying the contents of your
document preamble (with minor adjustments) into a separate file with a
name ending in .sty. There is one special command,

\ProvidesExplPackage{〈name〉}{〈date〉}{〈version〉}{〈description〉}
for use at the very beginning of your package file. This command tells
the LATEX to process the file in expl mode. The most visible effect of this
is that all whitespace is ignored. You may have noticed that in many
of the examples above we had to end most lines with % to get correct
spacing in the output. In expl mode, spaces have to be added explicitly
if needed at all. They are usually quite rare when writing a package. To
insert spaces, use the ~ character, which normally denotes non-breaking
space.2 Paragraphs can be started with the \par command.
The arguments are used to provide information about package in the
log file. If you use this package and look at the log file you will find
Package: demopack 2022-05-05 v0.1 Package by Tobias Oetiker
in the .log file.
\ProvidesExplPackage will also issue a sensible error message when
you try to include a package twice. Listing 7.3 shows a small example
package that contains the commands defined in the examples above.

7.2 Fonts and Sizes

7.2.1 Font Changing Commands
LATEX fonts are influenced by four parameters
family The collection of fonts. For example, ‘Latin Modern Roman’ or
‘Source Code Pro’.

series The weight of the font. For example, ‘bold’ or ‘medium’.

shape The shape of glyphs within a font family. For example, ‘small
caps’ or ‘italics’.

size The size of the glyphs. For example, ‘10 pt’ or ‘12 pt’.
2
If you want to insert non-breaking space in expl mode, use \nobreakspace.
184 Customising LATEX

\ProvidesExplPackage{demopack}{2022-05-05}{0.1}{%
Package by Tobias Oetiker
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\tnss}{} {
The~not~so~Short~Introduction~to~\LaTeX
}
\NewDocumentCommand{\txsit}{O{not~so}} {
The~\emph{#1}~Short~Introduction~to~\LaTeX
}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{king}{} {
\begin{quote}
} {
\end{quote}
}

Listing 7.3: Example Package.

LATEX automatically chooses the appropriate font family, series, shape and
size based on the logical structure of the document (sections, footnotes,
emphasis, …). It is possible however to instruct LATEX manually which
font to use. It is important to note that not every combination of family/
series/shape exists as an actual font. LATEX will complain if you try for
something that does not exist.
LATEX predefines three font families to use throughout the document:
the upright or roman family accessible via \textrm, the sans serif family
accessible via \textsf and monospace or typewriter family accessible
via \texttt.

\textrm{Roman is the default

in articles.} \\ Roman is the default in articles.
\textsf{Sans serif is used in Sans serif is used in presentations.
presentations.} \\ Monospace is used in
\texttt{Monospace is used in verbatim code blocks.
verbatim code blocks.}

There are only two predefined LATEX series: medium (\textmd) and
bold (\textbf).

\textmd{The default.} \\ The default.

\textbf{Bold font.} Bold font.
7.2 Fonts and Sizes 185

Shapes are a bit more complicated. The three basic shapes are: italics
(\textit), oblique or slanted3 (\textsl) and small capitals (\textsc).

\textit{Italic shape.} \\ Italic shape.

\textsl{Slanted shape.} \\ Slanted shape.
\textsc{Small Capitals.} Small Capitals.

However there are two additional shapes that are not provided by default
LATEX fonts: swash (\textsw), for decorative fonts and spaced caps and
small caps (\textssc). These are rarely used but may come in handy
when using custom fonts as described in Section 7.3.

Question vs. \textsw{Question} Question vs. Question

In addition two virtual shapes are provided: upright (\textup) and

upper-lowercase (\textulc). These are not actually shapes but utility
commands. The former one switches back to upright font while the
latter disables small capitals. The command \textnormal is just the
combination of the two.

\textsl{\textsc{Back to
\textup{upright.}}} \\ Back to upright.
\textsl{\textsc{Back to
\textulc{lowercase.}}} \\
Back to lowercase.
\textsl{\textsc{Back to Back to normal.
\textnormal{normal.}}}

All of the commands described above also exist in their switch ver-
sion. Instead of receiving the text via argument, they change the font
permanently until it is changed again. For example, the switch version of
\textit and \textrm are \itshape and \rmfamily, respectively. While
the argument versions are useful for defining commands, switch versions
are especially useful when defining your own environments.

Only \textit{argument} is
Only argument is affected. After
affected. After \itshape
everything is in italics everything is in italics until is en-
until \upshape is encountered. countered.

Both argument and switch versions of the described commands are

presented in Table 7.1.
3
Oblique shape differs from the italics in that italic shape uses different glyphs
while oblique shape uses the same glyphs but slanted. The difference is really obvious
when you look at the unslanted italic font.
186 Customising LATEX

Table 7.1: Default font changing commands of LATEX.

Argument Command Switch Example

\textrm{〈text〉} \rmfamily roman
\textsf{〈text〉} \sffamily sans serif
\texttt{〈text〉} \ttfamily typewriter
\textmd{〈text〉} \mdseries medium
\textbf{〈text〉} \bfseries bold face
\textup{〈text〉} \upshape upright
\textit{〈text〉} \itshape italic
\textsl{〈text〉} \slshape slanted
\textsc{〈text〉} \scshape Small Caps
\textsw{〈text〉} \swshape Queen of Swash
\textnormal{〈text〉} \normalfont document font

When working with switch versions of fonts that are slanted right it
is important to remember about italic correction. This is a small space
after the end of right slanting text that is sometimes necessary to avoid
overlapping letters. It is inserted using \/ command.

Without: {\itshape oof}bar \\ Without: oofbar

With: {\itshape oof\/}bar With: oof bar

The italic correction is handled automatically by the argument versions

of the commands.
In contrast to the previous font changing commands, the size of
font can only be controlled via switch versions. LATEX predefines some
switches for changing font size, see Table 7.2 and Table 7.3 for their
description.

Table 7.2: Commands changing font size.

Command Size Command Size

\tiny tiny \Large larger
\scriptsize very small \LARGE very large
\footnotesize
\small
quite small
small
\huge huge
\normalsize
\large
normal
large
\Huge largest
7.2 Fonts and Sizes 187

Table 7.3: Absolute point sizes in standard classes depending on the

class option. The default class option is 10pt.

Size (pt)
Command 10pt 11pt 12pt
\tiny 5 6 6
\scriptsize 7 8 8
\footnotesize 8 9 10
\small 9 10 10.95
\normalsize 10 10.95 12
\large 12 12 14.4
\Large 14.4 14.4 17.28
\LARGE 17.28 17.28 20.74
\huge 20.74 20.74 24.88
\Huge 24.88 24.88 24.88

When using these commands it is important to remember that the line

spacing is only updated after the paragraph ends. To avoid putting empty
lines before the closing curly brace you may use the \par command.

{\Large Here the line spacing Here the line spacing is not
is not updated. A bit tight!} updated. A bit tight!
{\Large Much better! I can Much better! I can breathe
breathe freely again!\par} freely again!
An arbitrary font size can be specified using the
\fontsize{〈size〉}{〈line skip〉}\selectfont
command combo. The 〈line skip〉 determines the height of the text line
and should be usually around 1.2 times larger than the 〈size〉.
\fontsize{2cm}{2.4cm}\selectfont A big one!

A big one!
Fun fact: LATEX default font is a bit unusual in that it looks slightly
different depending on its size. The difference is presented in the table
below where the text written using different sizes was rescaled to the
same height.
188 Customising LATEX

\tiny \normalsize \Huge

Text Text Text

If you need to access even more font variants and shapes4 check out
LATEX 2𝜀 font selection [75].

7.2.2 Danger, Will Robinson, Danger

Note! Using explicit font setting commands defies the basic idea of
LATEX described in Section 1.6, which is to separate the logical and visual
markup. The fonts should get switched automatically according to the
requirements of the context. A simple rule of thumb: If you use the same
font changing command in several places in order to typeset a special
kind of information, you should use \NewDocumentCommand to define a
“logical wrapper command” for the font changing command.

\NewDocumentCommand{\oops}{m}{%
\textbf{#1}} Do not enter this room, it’s oc-
Do not \oops{enter} this room, cupied by machines of unknown
it's occupied by \oops{machines} origin and purpose.
of unknown origin and purpose.

This approach has the advantage that you can decide at some later
stage that you want to use a visual representation of danger other than
\textbf, without having to wade through your document, identifying all
the occurrences of \textbf and then figuring out for each one whether
it was used for pointing out danger or for some other reason.

7.2.3 Advice
To conclude this journey into the land of fonts and font sizes, here is a
little word of advice:

!
Reme𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯 The MO ℛE fonts you
use in a document,

the more readable and beautiful it become . s

7.3 Custom Fonts with fontspec
In the following examples we use Adobe Source fonts [20, 28, 27]. These
fonts are included with TEXLive LATEX distributions and should be
available in the directory
4
For example the aforementioned upright italic shape.
7.3 Custom Fonts with fontspec 189

.../texmf-dist/fonts/opentype/adobe

where the ... denotes the install-path of TEXLive. LuaTEX checks this
directory automatically, so it should work fine, but if you are using XƎTEX
you must first install these fonts in your system. You can also download
and install them manually from the links provided in the bibliography.
Alternatively swap out their respective names with some other fonts
installed in your system.
Many free OpenType fonts are available at https://fontlibrary.
org/.

7.3.1 Main Document Fonts

If you are not pleased with the default Latin Modern font, you can change
it to any font installed in your system using the fontspec [60] package. It
provides three main commands for changing document fonts:

\setmainfont[〈options〉]{〈font〉}
\setsansfont[〈options〉]{〈font〉}
\setmonofont[〈options〉]{〈font〉}

This commands change, respectively, the main font of the document, the
sans serif font used in the document and the monospace font in the
document.

Normal text.
\emph{Emphasised.} \\
\textsf{Sans serif text.
\emph{Emphasised}.} \\
Normal text. Emphasised.
\texttt{Monospace text.
\emph{Emphasised}.} \\ Sans serif text. Emphasised.
Monospace text. Emphasised.
\setmainfont{Source Serif Pro}
\setsansfont{Source Sans Pro} Normal text. Emphasised.
\setmonofont{Source Code Pro} Sans serif text. Emphasised.
Normal text.
Monospace text.
\emph{Emphasised.} \\
\textsf{Sans serif text. Emphasised.
\emph{Emphasised}.} \\
\texttt{Monospace text.
\emph{Emphasised}.}

Note that it is best to put these commands in the preamble of your

document, because some fonts are frozen when the body starts.
The optional 〈options〉 argument accepts key value lists that allow to
customise the font features. For example, many fonts contain, old style
190 Customising LATEX

numerals that are not used by default. You can pass Number=OldStyle
if you want to use them in your document.

\setmainfont{Source Serif Pro}

0123456789
0123456789
\setmainfont[
Numbers=OldStyle,
0123456789
]{Source Serif Pro}
0123456789

Some fonts also provide special glyphs for a given language. For
example the Latin Modern Font provides a special “fk” ligature for the
Polish language. You can set the Language key to a given language to
enable these features.

agrafka

\setmainfont[ agrafka
Language=Polish, agrafka
]{Latin Modern Roman}
agrafka

The polyglossia package activates these features automatically so you

don’t have to worry about them if you use it.
If your font supports it you may wish to enable automatic fractions
insertion with Fractions=On key.

1/2 3/4 123/456

\setmainfont[
Fractions=On,
]{Latin Modern Roman} 1/2 3/4 123/456
1/2 3/4 123/456 1/2 3/4 123/456
1/2 3/4 123/456
\setmainfont[
Fractions=On,
]{Source Serif Pro}
1/2 3/4 123/456

The OpenType font format defines a lot of more font features, that
may or may not be supported by your font of choice. Consult with the
fontspec [60] package documentation for a comprehensive description and
examples.
7.3 Custom Fonts with fontspec 191

7.3.2 Specifying Fonts via Filenames

If you do not want to install fonts in your system or you are working
on a collaborative project where not everybody has the necessary fonts
installed on their system, you can add font files to your project and specify
the fonts directly via their filenames. In this case you must specify font
variations manually. Because the filenames are usually very similar, it
is possible to enter them using * patterns, where * is replaced by the
main name defined. Extension may also be passed via the Extension
key to avoid repetition. See Listing 7.4 for a comparison of font loading
techniques. If the font files are not present in the same directory as the
document you may have to specify it directly using the Path key.
The default LATEX fonts are rather atypical in that they distinguish
between italics and slanted font. Most fonts do not do this, so fontspec
defines slanted font to be the same as italics. This may be fixed by
setting the SlantedFont key explicitly.

\setmainfont{Latin Modern Roman}

\textit{italics} vs. \textsl{slanted}

\setmainfont[
SlantedFont=Latin Modern Roman Slanted,
]{Latin Modern Roman}
\textit{italics} vs. \textsl{slanted}

italics vs. slanted

italics vs. slanted

7.3.3 Defining New Fonts

So far we have only talked about changing the fonts for the whole
document. It is possible however to define new fonts that are used
only sporadically throughout the document, for emphasis or decorative
purposes. It is possible to do so using the

\newfontfamily{\〈command〉}[〈options〉]{〈font〉}

It defines new 〈command〉 that works like to the \rmfamily or \sffamily

commands.

\newfontfamily{\sourcefamily}[
Numbers=OldStyle,
]{Source Serif Pro} Normal text when suddenly … a
Normal text when suddenly
different font! 0123456789
\ldots{} \sourcefamily
a different font! 0123456789
192 Customising LATEX

\setmainfont{Source Serif Pro}

Normal text. \textit{Italics.} \textbf{Bold.}
\textit{\textbf{Bold italics.}} \\

\setmainfont{SourceSerifPro-Regular.otf}
Normal text. \textit{Italics.} \textbf{Bold.}
\textit{\textbf{Bold italics.}} \\

\setmainfont[
ItalicFont=SourceSerifPro-RegularIt.otf,
BoldFont=SourceSerifPro-Bold.otf,
BoldItalicFont=SourceSerifPro-BoldIt.otf,
]{SourceSerifPro-Regular.otf}
Normal text. \textit{Italics.} \textbf{Bold.}
\textit{\textbf{Bold italics.}} \\

\setmainfont[
Extension=.otf,
UprightFont=*-Regular,
ItalicFont=*-RegularIt,
BoldFont=*-Bold,
BoldItalicFont=*-BoldIt,
]{SourceSerifPro}
Normal text. \textit{Italics.} \textbf{Bold.}
\textit{\textbf{Bold italics.}}

Normal text. Italics. Bold. Bold italics.

Normal text. Italics. Bold. Bold italics.

Normal text. Italics. Bold. Bold italics.

Normal text. Italics. Bold. Bold italics.

Listing 7.4: Comparison of font loading with the fontspec package.

7.3 Custom Fonts with fontspec 193

This is especially useful when working with multiple languages as you

have already seen in Section 2.8.
The \newfontfamily checks whether the font family is already de-
fined and raises an error if it is. As in subsection 7.1.1 the \renewfontfamily
and \providefontfamily are available if you want to redefine existing
font families.

7.3.4 Math Fonts

The package unicode-math, introduced in Chapter 3, uses fontspec under
the hood and already enables you to use any OpenType math font within
your document. The main command to do so is called \setmathfont. It
accepts either a font name or a filename. In contrast to the text fonts
that often consist of multiple files, math fonts typically consist of a single
file, thus specifying it via a filename is not as complicated as presented
in subsection 7.3.2.

\setmathfont{STIX Two Math}

is equivalent to

\setmathfont{STIXTwoMath-Regular.otf}

and the latter works in both LuaLATEX and XƎLATEX. While changing
math fonts throughout the document is possible, it may lead to some
problems; prefer to set them in the preamble for the whole document.

\setmainfont{EB Garamond}
\setmathfont{Garamond Math}
% ...

Now we are using Garamond fonts. Now we are using Garamond fonts.
\[ ∞
\symrm{e}^{\symrm{\pi}
𝑏 √
3
𝔸
eπi + 1 = 0 ∑ ∬ lim d𝑥
\symrm{i}} + 1 = 0 \quad 𝑖=0 𝑎 ℎ→0 2ℎ

\sum_{i=0}^\infty \iint_a^b
\lim_{h\to0}\frac{\sqrt[3]{
\symbb{A}}}{2^h}\,\symrm{d}x 1
\]

Not all math fonts have the same character coverage. For example,
the default font doesn’t have lowercase script letters. If you don’t want
to switch the fonts entirely but just use some characters from a different
194 Customising LATEX

font, you can use the range key in the options to the \setmathfont
command.

\(xyz = \symscr{Hello}\) vs.\

\setmathfont[
range=scr, 𝑥𝑦𝑧 = ℋ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜 vs. 𝑥𝑦𝑧 = ℋℯ𝓁𝓁ℴ
]{STIX Two Math}
\(xyz = \symscr{Hello}\)
1
You can also set it to exact Unicode ranges if you need more control over
replaced symbols.
Some fonts define two types of script font roundhand and chancery.
These are normally available as the first stylistic set feature of the font.
You can map \symcal which is normally a synonym for \symscr, to
produce the alternative script letters.

% TODO: Waiting for unicode-math fix

\setmathfont{STIX Two Math}
\setmathfont[
range={cal, bfcal},
StylisticSet=1, 𝒜ℬ𝒞𝒟𝒶𝒷𝒸𝒹 vs. 𝒜ℬ𝒞𝒟𝒶𝒷𝒸𝒹
]{STIX Two Math}

\(\symscr{ABCDabcd}\) vs.\ 1
\(\symcal{ABCDabcd}\)

The default behaviour of the \not command, is to combine the negat-

ing glyph with the following symbol. This usually produces satisfactory
results. If the font defines a dedicated negated symbol it is probably
better to use it in such situations. The \not command is able to use
a predefined mapping to use such glyphs based on the negated symbol.
If the default mapping does not contain the combination, or if you pre-
fer to use a different negation you can create a new mapping by using
\NewNegationCommand.

\(\not\cong\) vs.\
\NewNegationCommand{%
\cong}{\simneqq}%
≇ vs. ≆
\(\not\cong\)

7.4 Colours
7.4.1 Coloured Text
In the Section 1.6 we have used different text colours to illustrate an
example. These can be obtained with the xcolor [31] package. It provides
7.4 Colours 195

three commands to change the colour of text:

\color[〈model〉]{〈color〉}
\textcolor[〈model〉]{〈color〉}{〈text〉} \mathcolor[〈model〉]{〈color〉}{〈text〉}

The \color is a switch version while \textcolor and \mathcolor only

apply to their argument. If no 〈model〉 is specified, then 〈color〉 is
specified as colour expression. The simplest colour expression is just the
name of the colour, for example yellow or red.

\textcolor{yellow}{foo} \\
\color{red} baz foo
\[ baz
\mathcolor{blue}{ 10
\sum_{k=0} ∑𝑖
}^{10} i 𝑘=0
\]

The list of predefined colours can be found in Table 7.4. You can also
pass dvipsnames, svgnames or x11names as a package options to extend
the predefined colours. Consult the package documentation for a full list.

Another type of colour expression is a mix of two colours. The syntax

is

〈first color〉!〈percentage〉!〈second color〉.

The resulting colour will be the result of mixing 〈percentage〉 % of the

〈first color〉 and 100 − 〈percentage〉 % of the 〈second color〉. If you omit
the 〈second color〉 it defaults to white.

\textcolor{green!100!red}{C}%
\textcolor{green!80!red}{o}%
\textcolor{green!60!red}{l}%
\textcolor{green!40!red}{o}%
\textcolor{green!20!red}{r}% Colors
\textcolor{green!0!red}{s} \\ Blue
\textcolor{blue!100}{B}%
\textcolor{blue!75}{l}%
\textcolor{blue!50}{u}%
\textcolor{blue!25}{e}

Colour mixing is left associative so

〈A〉!〈n〉!〈B〉!〈m〉!〈C 〉
196 Customising LATEX

Table 7.4: Basic colours predefined by the xcolor package.

Name Demo Name Demo Name Demo

black lightgray purple

blue lime red
brown magenta teal
cyan olive violet
darkgray orange white
gray pink yellow
green

means calculate the mixture of 〈A〉 and 〈B〉 and then mixture of the
result and 〈C 〉. You can also use the minus sign before the expression to
get the complementary colour.
\color{green!20!red!60!blue}
\LaTeX{} \\ LATEX
\color{-green!20!red!60!blue} LATEX
\LaTeX{}

7.4.2 Models
While colour mixing via expression is useful for simple colour specification,
it is often the case that we want to use colour that is defined in terms of
its RGB or HSB values. Different input method colours can be specified
using the optional 〈model〉 argument. Note that it is case-sensitive.
The simplest model is Gray. It accepts a single number from 0to 15
and produces a grey colour with the given brightness.

\textcolor[Gray]{0}{Zero} \\ Zero
\textcolor[Gray]{3}{Three} \\ Three
\textcolor[Gray]{7}{Seven} \\ Seven
\textcolor[Gray]{11}{Eleven} \\ Eleven
\textcolor[Gray]{15}{Fifteen}
Fifteen

You can input RGB values in three ways: rgb, RGB and HTML models.
The HTML model accepts a hexadecimal colour code. The code may be
either upper or lowercase.
\textcolor[HTML]{e63946}{e63946}
\textcolor[HTML]{06D6A0}{06D6A0}
e63946 06D6A0
7.4 Colours 197

The rgb model accepts three decimal numbers, each between 0 and 1,
while the RGB model accepts three integers from 0 to 255.

\textcolor[RGB]{255, 204, 102}{

255, 204, 102
} \\ 255, 204, 102
\textcolor[rgb]{0.4, 0.4, 1.0}{ 0.4, 0.4, 1.0
0.4, 0.4, 1.0
}

If you prefer the subtractive colour model, both cmy and cmyk are
available. They accept decimal numbers between 0 and 1 to specify the
amount of each colour.

\textcolor[cmy]{0.7, 0.4, 0.3}{

0.7, 0.4, 0.3
} \\
\textcolor[cmyk]{ 0.7, 0.4, 0.3
0.7, 0.4, 0.3, 0.5 0.7, 0.4, 0.3, 0.5
}{
0.7, 0.4, 0.3, 0.5
}

There are three models that enable defining colours by HSB: hsb,
Hsb and HSB. The first two accept three decimal numbers for each value,
the difference being that the Hsb accepts hue as an angle in degrees, that
is a number between 0 and 360. The hsb accepts it as a number between
0 and 1, while saturation and brightness are passed the same way in
both model—as a number between 0 and 1.

\textcolor[hsb]{
0.4, 0.8, 0.75
}{
0.4, 0.8, 0.75
}\\ 0.4, 0.8, 0.75
\textcolor[Hsb]{ 144, 0.8, 0.75
144, 0.8, 0.75
}{
144, 0.8, 0.75
}

The HSB in turn accepts all three as integers—each between 0 and 240.

\textcolor[HSB]{
144, 200, 120
}{ 144, 200, 120
144, 200, 120
}
198 Customising LATEX

If you are writing a paper about light you may also find that the wave
model comes in handy. It allows you to specify a colour by its wavelength.
It accepts a single decimal number that represents a wavelength in visible
spectrum in nanometres.

\textcolor[wave]{452}{
If a light has wavelength
\qty{452}{\nm} it looks
like this. If a light has wavelength 452 nm
} \\ it looks like this.
\textcolor[wave]{700}{ Light with wavelength above
Light with wavelength above 814 nm is called infrared.
\qty{814}{\nm} is called
infrared.
}

7.4.3 Defining Your Own Colours

If you want to use a given colour more than once it makes sense to define
it as a macro. While you could use the \NewDocumentCommand to define
it, the xcolor package provides a better way via the

\definecolor{〈name〉}{〈model〉}{〈value〉}.

command. Using it makes it possible to use the newly defined colour in

colour mixing and such.

\definecolor{MyRed}{wave}{712}
\textcolor{MyRed}{MyRed is MyRed is the perfect colour for
the perfect colour for you!}
\textcolor{MyRed!60}{Tints
you! Tints are also available!
are also available!}

Be careful though, since it doesn’t guard against redefinition. If you want

to check whether you haven’t redefined some colour put \tracingcolors
in your preamble. This will produce warnings when redefinition happens.
If you want to make sure a colour is present but don’t want to redefine
it if it already exists then \providecolor does exactly that. There is
also \colorlet that simply creates a copy of a given colour similar to
the \NewCommandCopy command.
Colours defined in different models may need to be converted when
mixing them. This may lead to a situation where \color{a!75!b} will
result in different colour than \color{b!25!a}. Keep that in mind when
mixing your own colours.
7.5 Lengths and Spacing 199

7.4.4 Colourful Pages and Boxes

So far we have only considered changing the text colour. It is however
possible to also change the background colour of the document page. To
do this use the

\pagecolor[〈model〉]{〈color〉}

command, which accepts the same arguments as the \color command.

If you want to revert to the default transparent background you may do
so with the \nopagecolor command.

\pagecolor{orange} \color{-orange}
Small is colourful \ldots? Small is colourful …?

1 instead of the
If you only want to specify a background of some text
whole page you can use the

\colorbox[〈model〉]{〈color〉}{〈text〉}
\fcolorbox[〈model〉]{〈color〉}[〈model〉]{〈color〉}{〈text〉}

commands. The first one only colours the background, while the second
one allows also drawing a frame (the ‘f’ stands for “framed”).

It is \colorbox{gray}{curious}
how much a document can be It is curious how much a docu-
enhanced or ruined by
\fcolorbox{blue}{red}{
ment can be enhanced or ruined
colours. by colours.
}

Boxes are explored further in Section 7.8.

7.5 Lengths and Spacing

7.5.1 LATEX Units
Throughout this booklet we have often presented commands that accept
length as one of its parameters such as \\ or \fontsize. When intro-
ducing them we have used cm and pt which stand for centimetre and
point, but these are not the only units available in LATEX.
The most fundamental unit in LATEX is sp which stands for scaled
point. Its width is equal to 1⁄65 536 pt, where 1 pt is equal to 1⁄72.27 of
an international inch which in turn is defined as exactly 25.4 mm. All
units in TEX are ultimately represented as a whole numbers of sp. See
Table 7.5 for the exact values.
200 Customising LATEX

Table 7.5: LATEX Units.

Unit Meaning Definition Value (sp) Demo

cm centimetre 0.01 m 1 864 679
mm millimetre 0.001 m 186 467
in inch 25.4 mm 4 736 286
pt point 1
⁄72.27 in 65 536
sp scaled point 1
⁄65 536 pt 1
pc pica 12 pt 786 432
dd didot 0.376 065 mm 70 124
cc cicero 12 dd 841 489
nd new didot 0.375 mm 69 925
bp big point 1
⁄72 in 65 781
em roughly width of an ‘M’ in the current font
ex roughly height of an ‘x’ in the current font
equal to 1⁄18 em, where em is taken from
mu
the current math font

The last three units mentioned in the table are relative to the current
font used. Historically they were related to the ‘M’ and ‘x’ glyphs in
a given font but today they are arbitrarily set by fonts. These units
are useful if we want the length to scale proportionally when used with
different font sizes. The em unit is usually used for horizontal lengths,
while the ex is used for vertical lengths. The mu unit can only be used
in math mode for math spacing (see Section 3.7).

foo\\[1ex] bar foo

foo
\tiny foo\\[1ex] bar bar bar

The desktop publishing point (DTP point) is the de facto standard

point as used in most programs, and it is defined as 1⁄72 in. For historical
reasons the default TEX points are a bit smaller, while the DTP points
are called “big points”. While this shouldn’t be noticeable in normal
circumstances, remember to use bp if exact point values are required of
you.

\fontsize{12pt}{15pt}\selectfont
Text in 12 \TeX{} points. Text in 12 TEX points.
\fontsize{12bp}{15bp}\selectfont Text in 12 DTP points.
Text in 12 DTP points.
7.5 Lengths and Spacing 201

7.5.2 Horizontal Space

LATEX determines the spaces between words and sentences automatically.
However, similarly to commands described in subsection 3.7.2, there
are ways to influence the spaces in normal text. For example, to add
horizontal space, you can use:

\hspace{〈length〉}

The 〈length〉 argument can be specified using the units described in

previous section in the usual way. You can use decimal and even negative
numbers as values.

This\hspace{1.5cm}is a space
This is a space of 1.5 cm.
of \qty{1.5}{\cm}. A bit too
cramped\hspace{-5pt}here. A bit too crampedhere.

The space added that way will disappear if it lands on the end of a line,
similarly to an interword spacing. If you want to retain the extra space,
use the starred version of the command.

The gap here is\hspace{1cm}% The gap here is

\linebreak missing.
missing.
Here the gap is\hspace*{1cm}% Here the gap is
\linebreak not missing. not missing.

So far all the lengths we have seen have been rigid, that is the length
is exactly as specified. But you probably noticed that the spaces between
words are not rigid—they can stretch and shrink, so that TEX can make
the right margin equal. Lengths that can do that are called rubber
lengths.
Such lengths can be specified using a special plus and minus syntax.
For example to specify that a space can stretch if a need arises you can
specify it by writing plus followed by the maximum allowed stretch.

This small\hspace{1em plus 2cm}% This small space may grow if a

space may grow if a need arises.
need arises.
Here\hspace{1em plus 2cm}the Here the need
need\linebreak very much arises. very much arises.

The additional space can extend even beyond the specified maximum,
but in such cases LATEX will print a warning.
202 Customising LATEX

The shrinking can be specified in a similar way using the minus

syntax.

This\hspace{1em minus 2em}%

Thisspace may disappear if it gets
space may disappear if it gets
too crampy. too crampy.

When there are multiple rubber spaces in text TEX calculates the
amount of ‘stretch’ proportionally to the specified maximum. Thus if
TEX needs additional 2 cm of whitespace and one length has plus 1cm
while the other has plus 3cm modifier, it will result in the first one being
enlarged by ( 1+3
1
) × 2 cm while the second one by ( 1+33
) × 2 cm.

This\hspace{0pt plus 3cm}is

This is stretched three
stretched\hspace{0pt plus 1cm}%
three\linebreak times as much. times as much.

With these informations you can use the spaces to automatically

centre the text in a page by setting the allowed stretching to a high
number.

\hspace*{0pt plus 100cm}Hello

Hello
\hspace*{0pt plus 100cm}
\linebreak

This approach will, however, interfere with the spacing inside the centred
expression, since the spaces are still distributed proportionally. The
effect will be getting smaller if you set the allowed stretching to a larger
number but it will still be present. For situations like these, TEX actually
supports a concept of infinitely stretchable space—by using the special
fill unit, allowed only as stretching and shrinking value, we can ensure
that all the other rubber lengths will not stretch.5

\hspace*{0pt plus 1fill}%

No\hspace{0pt plus 100cm}
No stretching allowed.
stretching allowed.%
\hspace*{0pt plus 1fill}%
\linebreak
5
TEX actually recognises three orders of infinity: fil, fill and filll, but as
a document author you should stick to using only the second one. The first order
infinity—fil—is used by some of the internal LATEX such as \\ or \newpage. The
third one can be used to disallow stretching of the second order infinity when it’s
needed in some very rare circumstances.
7.5 Lengths and Spacing 203

Because the fill value is often used with zero width space LATEX
defines a macro that simplifies entering it—the
\stretch{〈n〉}
command.
\hspace*{\stretch{1}}
is equivalent to is equivalent to
\hspace*{0pt plus 1fill}
\linebreak

The 〈n〉 argument is the coefficient by which the fill is multiplied.

Recall that the spaces are distributed proportionally and this is still the
case when infinities are involved.
x\hspace{\stretch{1}}%
x x x
x\hspace{\stretch{3}}x

Still, the most common value to use is \hspace{0pt plus 1fill}

and so LATEX defines \hfill that is equivalent to it. It’s often used when
you want to flush the rest of the line right.

Peter Pan\hfill Neverland

Peter Pan Neverland
Dear Wendy, \ldots Dear Wendy, …

7.5.3 Vertical Space

You have already seen that vertical space between lines can be inserted
using \\ command. However, it does not work well when used for spacing
between paragraphs—the reason being that it always starts a new line,
so if it’s used at the end of paragraph, it will end in an empty line.

Paragraph.\\ Paragraph.

There's an empty line above. There’s an empty line above.

LATEX has a dedicated command for setting the space between paragraphs,
the
\vspace{〈length〉}
command. It works similarly to the \hspace command, however when
used inside a line it will only produce the space after the line is ended.

Some\vspace{1em} text that

Some text that spans multiple
spans multiple lines.
lines.
204 Customising LATEX

Since it does not produce empty lines when used, it is perfect for inserting
a space between paragraphs. Similarly to the \hspace command, the
space will be discarded if it lands at the end of a page—use the starred
version if this is not desirable.
The rubber lengths, \stretch and \vfill work for vertical space
too. However, since manual vertical spacing is much more common com-
pared to manual horizontal spacing, LATEX also declares three semantic
commands for inserting them:

\bigskip
\medskip
\smallskip

The exact sizes of these skips is dependent on the class used. You can
access them as length by appending “amount” to their name, for example,
\medskipamount. These are useful when creating your own environments
or to indicate a thought break between paragraphs.
There also exist the \addvspace command, which works similarly
to the \vspace command, however when multiple such commands are
entered one after another, only the one with the biggest length will be
used. Note that using it will lead to an error if it is not used between
paragraphs.

Hello.
Hello.
\addvspace{1pt}
\addvspace{1em}
\addvspace{1cm}
There is \qty{1}{\cm} space There is 1 cm space above me.
above me.

This command is useful if you want to ensure that a vertical space is

present but avoid entering several of them accidentally.

7.5.4 Length Variables

Like many things in LATEX, lengths can be stored inside commands to
allow reuse.

\NewDocumentCommand{%
\mylength}{}{2em} foo bar
foo\hspace{\mylength}bar

However, LATEX provides dedicated length variables, which are much

7.5 Lengths and Spacing 205

better suited for the purpose. These are created using

\newlength{\〈variable〉}

and set using

\setlength{\〈variable〉}{〈length〉}

It’s important to note that \newlength declares the length globally,

but \setlength only affects the current group. If you declare a length
variable without setting it, it will have a default value of zero.
In contrast to the command approach, length variables are stored
as numbers and not as text. This allows you to to do simple arithmetic
operations, for example, to scale them by prepending them with a number.

\newlength{\mylength}
\setlength{\mylength}{2em}
foo\hspace{0.5\mylength}bar% foo bar baz
\hspace{2\mylength}baz

In order to increase an existing length variable you can use \addtolength.

foo\hspace{\mylength}bar\\
\addtolength{\mylength}{2em}
foo bar
foo\hspace{\mylength}bar foo bar

Since length variables are not stored as text macros, but as TEX
internal numbers, trying to typeset them in a document results in an
error. To translate them back into their textual representation use the
\the command. Note that their value will always be printed using points
as units.

\setlength{\mylength}{1cm}
\the\mylength
28.45274pt

Lengths can be also determined dynamically from the content. The

following commands allow you to determine the width, height and depth
of a LATEX text and assign it to length variable.

\settoheight{\〈variable〉}{〈element〉}
\settodepth{\〈variable〉}{〈element〉}
\settowidth{\〈variable〉}{〈element〉}

The element height is calculated by taking into account the part of the
element that extends above baseline, while the depth takes into account
206 Customising LATEX

the part that extends below baseline.

\newlength{\myheight} \settoheight{\myheight}{Major}
\newlength{\mydepth} \settodepth{\mydepth}{Major}
\newlength{\mywidth} \settowidth{\mywidth}{Major}
The word Major has width of \the\mywidth, height of
\the\myheight{} and depth of \the\mydepth.

The word Major has width of 28.94086pt, height of

7.47885pt and depth of 2.24475pt.

These commands are especially useful when creating your own envi-
ronments requiring complicated alignment or spacing. An example of
using them is presented in Listing 7.5.
As you will see LATEX uses length variables for many things. When
typesetting a document you can use some of them when setting lengths
to make them relative. For example, the \linewidth length holds the
length of the current line. You can use it when inserting a picture to
make it fill the page or scale it to take up half the space available.

\includegraphics[
width=0.5\linewidth, Image
]{example-image}

7.6 The Layout of the Document

7.6.1 Document Class Options
The easiest way to influence the layout of the document is to pass options
to the

\documentclass[〈options〉]{〈class〉}

command at the beginning of your file. The available classes where

already described in Table 1.1 on page 8. The 〈options〉 have to be
separated by commas. The most common options for the standard
document classes are listed in Table 7.6.
For example, if an input file for a LATEX document starts with the
line

\documentclass[11pt, twoside, a4paper]{article}

7.6 The Layout of the Document 207

\newlength{\vardescindent}
\NewDocumentEnvironment{vardesc}{m}{%
\settowidth{\vardescindent}{#1:\ }%
\RenewDocumentCommand{\item}{so}{%
\IfBooleanTF{##1}{#1: }{\\\hspace*{\vardescindent}}%
\IfValueT{##2}{##2 ---}%
}%
\ignorespaces
}{}

\[ a^2+b^2=c^2 \]
\begin{vardesc}{Where}
\item*[\(a\), \(b\)] are adjacent to the right angle
of a right-angled triangle.
\item[\(c\)] is the hypotenuse of the triangle and
feels lonely.
\item[\(d\)] finally does not show up here at all.
Isn't that puzzling?
\end{vardesc}

𝑎2 + 𝑏 2 = 𝑐 2
Where: 𝑎, 𝑏 — are adjacent to the right angle of a right-
angled triangle.
𝑐 — is the hypotenuse of the triangle and feels
lonely.
𝑑 — finally does not show up here at all. Isn’t that
puzzling?

Listing 7.5: An example of using \settowidth to align all of the defini-

tions to a preceding phrase.
208 Customising LATEX

Table 7.6: Document Class Options.

Options Description
10pt, 11pt, Sets the size of the main font in the document. If no
12pt option is specified, 10pt is assumed.
a4paper, Defines the paper size. The default size can be config-
letterpaper ured when installing LATEX. Besides these, a5paper,
b5paper, executivepaper, and legalpaper can be
specified. Note that it only affects the layout of mar-
gins, not the PDF paper size itself, see subsection 7.6.5
for more details.
fleqn Typesets displayed formulae left-aligned instead of cen-
tred.
leqno Places the numbering of formulae on the left hand side
instead of the right.
titlepage, Specifies whether a new page should be started after
notitlepage the document title or not. The article class does not
start a new page by default, while the report and book
classes do.
onecolumn, Instructs LATEX to typeset the document in one column
twocolumn or two columns.
twoside, Specifies whether double or single sided output should
oneside be generated. The classes article and report are single
sided, while the book class is double sided by default.
Note that this option concerns the style of the docu-
ment only. twoside does not tell the printer to make
a two-sided printout.
landscape Changes the layout of the document to print in land-
scape mode.
openright, Makes chapters begin either only on right hand pages
openany o,r on the next page available. This does not work with
the article class, as it does not know about chapters.
By default, the report class by default starts chapters
on the next page available, while the book class starts
them on right hand pages.
7.6 The Layout of the Document 209

then it instructs LATEX to typeset the document as an article with a base

font size of eleven points, and to produce a layout suitable for double
sided printing6 on A4 paper.
If you do not like the appearance of the standard LATEX classes, the
easiest way to change it is to use some alternatives. For example, the
koma-script [40] package provides alternatives that produce documents
with European typography traditions in mind. Another popular pack-
age is memoir [85], which provides a single memoir class with extensive
customization options. On CTAN you can find many more specialized
classes that will let you produce documents as prescribed by various
universities or typographical traditions.

7.6.2 Page Styles

LATEX supports three predefined header/footer combinations—so-called
page styles. The 〈style〉 parameter of the

\pagestyle{〈style〉}

command defines which one to use. Table 7.7 lists the predefined page
styles.
It is possible to change the page style of the current page with the
command

\thispagestyle{〈style〉}

You may also control the style of the displayed page numbers. To
change it, use the

\pagenumbering{〈style〉}

command, where 〈style〉 is one of the styles presented in Table 7.8.

If would like more control over the apparance of your headers and
footers, refere to Section 7.7 on page 215.

7.6.3 Line Spacing

When using custom fonts, you may find that the default line spacing
does not match your taste. You could redefine it using the \fontsize
commands, however, this will be overwritten once you use size changing
commands described in Table 7.2.
6
Note that this only influences the appearance of the document to be adequate for
double sided printing—you still have to pass proper instructions to your printer to
print it on both sides.
210 Customising LATEX

Table 7.7: The Predefined Page Styles of LATEX.

Style Description
plain Prints the page numbers on the bottom of the
page, in the middle of the footer. This is the
default page style.
headings Prints the current chapter heading and the page
number in the header on each page, while the
footer remains empty. (This is the style used in
this document.)
empty Sets both the header and footer to be empty.
myheadings Similar to the headings style but leaves the head-
ers and footers empty, allowing them to be de-
fined by the author. A description of how to do
this is in Section 7.7.

Table 7.8: Possible argument of the \pagenumbering command.

Style Description
arabic Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, …)
roman Lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, …)
Roman Uppercase Roman numerals (I, II, III, …)
alph Lowercase Latin letters (a, b, c, …)
Alph Uppercase Latin letters (A, B, C, …)
7.6 The Layout of the Document 211

To make such adjustments easier LATEX defines the

\linespread{〈factor〉}

command. Once used, each line skip will be multiplied by the 〈factor〉.
Note, that outside the preamble, you must follow it by \selectfont for
the changes to be visible.

\linespread{0.9}\selectfont
If you want to save paper, set
If you want to save paper, set the
the linespread to a value
linespread to a value below 1 to
below 1 to sacrifice a bit of
sacrifice a bit of space between
space between lines.
lines.
\linespread{1.1}\selectfont On the other hand, if your assign-
On the other hand, if your ment is short a few pages, setting
assignment is short a few it to a value above 1 might just
pages, setting it to a value
above 1 might just save you save you some typing.
some typing.

Using the \linespread command it’s also possible to create an effect

of “one and a half” or “double” line spacing. Recall that the default line
spacing is around 1.2 em. Thus if you want to make the document use
double line spacing you have to set the 〈factor〉 to 2/1.2 ≈ 1.667.
Note that setting the \linespread will change the line spacing ev-
erywhere—including footnotes, table of contents and floats. Doing so is
not always desirable, so another approach is to set the \baselineskip
length. This will only affect the line spacing of the main document text.
Similarly to the size changing commands it affects the whole paragraph.

{\setlength{\baselineskip}{%
1.5\baselineskip} This paragraph is typeset with the
This paragraph is typeset with
baseline skip set to 1.5 of what
the baseline skip set to 1.5 of
what it was before. Note the it was before. Note the par com-
par command at the end of the
paragraph.\par} mand at the end of the paragraph.
Here the line spacing returns to
Here the line spacing returns normal, because line skip changes
to normal, because line skip are local to a group.
changes are local to a group.

Yet another approach is to use a dedicated package, like setspace [12]

that defines \doublespacing and similar commands. Note that in gen-
eral you should avoid using excessive line spacing, unless you are emulat-
ing an old document look.
212 Customising LATEX

7.6.4 Paragraph Formatting

In LATEX, there are two lengths influencing paragraph layout: \parindent
defines how much a paragraph is indented, while \parskip is the amount
of space inserted between paragraphs.

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{%
\medskipamount} On the web it is common to sep-
arate paragraphs by some space
On the web it is common to instead of indenting.
separate paragraphs by some
space instead of indenting. Like this.

Like this.

Beware, that these lengths also affect the table of contents—its lines
get spaced more loosely. To avoid this, you might want to put the two
commands after the \tableofcontents command or to not use them at
all, because you’ll find that most professional books use indenting and
not spacing to separate paragraphs.
If you want to indent a paragraph that is not indented, use \indent
at the beginning of the paragraph. Obviously, this will only have an
effect when \parindent is not set to zero. In continental Europe it is
sometimes the case that every paragraph should be indented, even after
sections. To avoid using ths \indent command everywhere, simply use
the indentfirst [9] package in your preamble.

\usepackage{indentfirst}
% ... 1 Title
\section{Title} The first paragraph is now in-
dented.
The first paragraph is now
indented.
1
To create a non-indented paragraph, use \noindent as the first
command of the paragraph. This might come in handy when you start a
document with body text and not with a sectioning command.

7.6.5 Page Layout

As you have seen, LATEX allows you to specify the paper size via options
in the \documentclass command. It then automatically picks the right
text margins, but sometimes you may not be happy with the predefined
values. Naturally, you can customize them to your liking. But before
you start making the margins as narrow as possible to cram the text in,
7.6 The Layout of the Document 213

take a few seconds to think. As with most things in LATEX, there are
good reasons for the page layout to be as it is.
Sure, compared to your off-the-shelf page of your favourite WYSI-
WYG editor, the margins look awfully wide. But take a look at your
favourite, professionally printed book and count the number of characters
on a standard text line. You will find that most lines contain between
45 and 80 characters. Now do the same on your LATEX page. You will
find that the same relationship holds. Empirical studies suggest that
averaging around 66 characters per line creates the optimal reading
experience for readers. If you want to save space when printing your
document consider using twocolumn option or smaller page sizes.
With that warning in place let us proceed to the proper introduction
of geometry [83] package that allows you to easily customize the page
dimensions of your document. It is worth noting that simply including
the package in your preamble will result in considerably narrower margins,
(the very thing we warned you to avoid) so only use the package if you
intend to set them manually or use the pass option that disables most
of the package functions but retains the paper size adjustments.
As we have mentioned in Table 7.6, simply setting a5paper (or similar)
option will only adjust margins of the document without changing the
paper dimensions themselves. The simplest way to fix that is to add the
geometry package to your preamble. It will read the page size option and
adjust it accordingly. The package itself also supports many more page
sizes, such as a0paper or a6paper.
\documentclass{article}
This document is typeset on A6 paper in landscape mode.

\usepackage[
a6paper,
landscape,
]{geometry}

\begin{document}
This document is typeset on
A6 paper in landscape mode. 1

\end{document}
If the predefined dimensions are not enough you can always set it
directly using paperheight and paperwidth keys.
\usepackage[
paperwidth=6cm, This page has dimensions
paperheight=3cm
of 6 by 3 centimetres.
]{geometry}
% ...

This page has dimensions of

6 by 3 centimetres.
1
214 Customising LATEX

As we have indicated, the package is also capable of adjusting the

margins. The simplest way to do so is to use the left, right, top, and
bottom options, each of which sets the size of the respective margin.

\usepackage[ Lorem
top=0.5cm, ipsum do-
bottom=1cm, lor sit amet,
left=1.5cm, consectetuer
right=2cm, adipiscing elit.
]{geometry} Etiam lobortis
% ...

Note that by default the header and footer are not considered part of the
page body, so they may not fit on page if the margins are too narrow (like
in the example above). If you want to include them when considering
margins use the includefoot and/or includehead options.
One of the killer features of the geometry package is its ability to
calculate the correct margin sizes based on other metrics. For example, we
can declare that we want the text to have a given width via textwidth
option and that each page should have a given number of lines via
lines option and the appropriate sizes of margins will be calculated
automatically.

\usepackage[
Lorem ipsum dolor sit
textwidth=5cm,
amet, consectetuer adipiscing
lines=3
elit. Etiam lobortis facilisis sem.
]{geometry}
% ...
1

There are many more options to influence the margins: specifying their
ratios (ratio), defining them to take up certain percent of available
paper size (scale), or including binding offset (bindingoffset). Check
out the package documentation [83] for a full list with examples.
A useful option for prototyping your layout is the showframe option
that draws frames around document body and margins to easier evaluate
the chosen layout.
7.7 Fancy Headers 215

7.7 Fancy Headers

7.7.1 Basic commands

The fancyhdr [50] package provides a few simple commands that allow
you to customise the header and footer lines of your document. It defines
an additional page style fancy and a set of commands to customise it to
your liking. By default, it only adds a line separating the header from
the page body.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy} This statement is false.

\begin{document}
This statement is false. 1
\end{document}

The primary command of the package is

\fancyhf[〈places〉]{〈field〉}

The 〈places〉 is a comma separated list of places where the 〈field〉 should
be displayed. There are total of 12 different places and each is identified
by a combination of three letters:

• The first specifies whether the location is in the header (H) or in

the footer (F).

• The second letter specifies the location within the header or footer:
L for left, C for centre, and R for right.

• The third letter defines whether the field should be printed on even
(E) or odd (O) pages. If the document is not two sided, then all
pages are treated as odd.

For example, the combination FCE identifies the centre part of the footer
on even pages. If any of the letters is omitted, then the identifier points
toward all positions specifiable by the omitted letter. For example, HR is
216 Customising LATEX

right side of the header on both odd and even pages.

\documentclass[twoside]{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr} B D
\pagestyle{fancy}
The next statement is false. The
\fancyhf[HCE]{A}
\fancyhf[L]{\emph{B}} B 1 C
\fancyhf[FR]{\textbf{C}}
\fancyhf[HCO, HRE]{\textsl{D}} B A D
previous statement is true.
\begin{document}
The next statement is false. B 2 C
The previous statement is true.
\end{document}

There are two additional commands, \fancyhead and \fancyfoot,

that work in the same way, except that they respectively assume H and
F in their 〈places〉 argument, unless otherwise specified.

\fancyhead[L]{A} A
\fancyfoot[R]{B}
“Yields a falsehood when ap-
\enquote{Yields a falsehood when pended to its own quotation”
appended to its own quotation} yields a falsehood when ap-
yields a falsehood when appended pended to its own quotation.
to its own quotation.
1 B

The lines drawn by the fancyhdr package may also be customised. To

change their thickness, redefine the

\headrulewidth
\footrulewidth

macros to the desired size.

\RenewDocumentCommand{\headrulewidth}{}{.2cm}
\RenewDocumentCommand{\footrulewidth}{}{.5cm} Do not read
this sentence.
Do not read this sentence.

1
7.7 Fancy Headers 217

By default, headers and footers are as long as the text on the page.
If you want to extend or shorten them, use the
\fancyhfoffset[〈places〉]{〈offset〉}
Added comma after \fancyhf. command. The 〈places〉 argument is the
same as in \fancyhf, except that it cannot contain C.

\fancyhfoffset[L]{-1cm}
\fancyhfoffset[R]{.2cm} If this sentence is true, then
2 + 2 = 5.
If this sentence is true,
then \(2 + 2 = 5\).
1

The command \fancyheadoffset and \fancyfootoffset are used the

same way as \fancyf, but they only modify header or footer respectively.

7.7.2 Contents of the headers

The default footer of the article class contains the current page number.
To use it inside the fancy header, simply use the command \thepage.

Page 1 Page 1 Page 1

This statement is dedicated
\fancyhf{Page~\thepage} to all statements that are not
Page 1 Page 1 Page 1
This statement is dedicated to
all statements that are not Page 2 Page 2 Page 2
dedicated to themselves.
dedicated to themselves.

Page 2 Page 2 Page 2

It is often useful to have the header and footer contain information

based on the content of the page. These are called “marks” in LATEX
terminology. Before we talk about the default ones, let’s consider how
you can define your own using the extramarks7 package.
\extramarks{〈left〉}{〈right〉}
\firstleftxmark
\firstrightxmark
\lastleftxmark
\lastrightxmark
The \extramarks command sets the contents of 〈left〉 and 〈right〉 marks.
7
extramarks is part of fancyhdr [50].
218 Customising LATEX

Then you can access these marks inside the headers by using the appro-
priate command. The first- commands refer to the first mark occurring
on the page, while the last- refer to the last one.

\usepackage{extramarks}

\fancyhead[L]{\firstleftxmark} One Three

\fancyhead[R]{\lastleftxmark}
\fancyfoot[L]{\firstrightxmark} The second statement is
\fancyfoot[R]{\lastrightxmark} false. The third statement
is false. The first statement
The second statement is false. is false.
\extramarks{One}{2 is false}
The third statement is false.
\extramarks{Two}{3 is false} 2 is false 1 1 is false
The first statement is false.
\extramarks{Three}{1 is false}

Let us now look at the default marks defined by LATEX. After loading
extramarks, these may be set and accessed similarly:

\markboth{〈left〉}{〈right〉}
\firstleftmark
\firstrightmark
\lastleftmark
\lastrightmark

The only difference between these and the extra marks is that LATEX
classes automatically fill them. Hence, if you are not careful, you may
lose your content.8 For example, in the article class, 〈left〉 is set by the
\section command, while 〈right〉 is set by the \subsection command.

1 FIRST 2 SECOND
\fancyhead[L]{\firstleftmark}
\fancyhead[R]{\lastleftmark} 1 First
\fancyfoot[L]{\firstrightmark}
\fancyfoot[R]{\lastrightmark} 1.1 Sub

\section{First} 2 Second
\subsection{Sub}
\section{Second} 2.1 Sub
\subsection{Sub}
1 2.1 Sub

8
You may prevent this by setting the pagestyle to myheadings and then redefining
it to use it with fancyhdr as described later.
7.7 Fancy Headers 219

Note that \firstrightmark is empty in the above example. This is

caused by the fact that \section commands set both marks, leaving the
right one empty.
You may have noticed that section titles are typeset in uppercase when
provided by -mark commands. To disable this use the \nouppercase
command inside the \fancyhf command.

\fancyhead[R]{% 1 Today
\nouppercase{\firstleftmark}%
} 1 Today
is opposite day.
\section{Today}
is opposite day. 1

7.7.3 Advanced commands

If you want even more control over section titles, you can redefine the
\sectionmark.9 The command receives the section title as its first
argument, while the section number is available as \thesection.

\fancyhead[R]{\firstleftmark} Section no. 1: Person

\RenewDocumentCommand{\sectionmark}{m}{%
\markboth{% 1 Person
Section no.\,\thesection: #1}{}%
} There exists a per-
son such that if they
\section{Person} are reading this then
There exists a person such that everybody is reading
if they are reading this then this.
everybody is reading this. 1

If you only want to change the right mark, use the \markright command.
By default, the field in the centre of the header or footer will expand
equally to the left and right. This is usually the desired behaviour, but
in some cases it may overlap with either left or right text, while still
having some space on the other side.

\fancyhead[L]{\thepage} 1 1 SECTION
Jane Doe
\fancyhead[C]{\firstleftmark}
\fancyhead[R]{Jane Doe} 1 Section
Section by Jane Doe
\section{Section}
Section by Jane Doe 1

9
Or \chaptermark, \subsectionmark …
220 Customising LATEX

In this situation you may want to use the

\fancycenter[〈distance〉][〈stretch〉]{〈left〉}{〈centre〉}{〈right〉}

command, which automatically shifts the centre toward the shorter text.
The 〈distance〉 is the minimum distance by which the elements are always
surrounded (1em, by default). The 〈stretch〉 controls the preference for
shifting the 〈centre〉; 1 means shift only when and as much as necessary.
Higher numbers will start shifting sooner and more aggressively. The
default is 3. This command writes over the whole header/footer space
so it should only be put in one place (typically C) and other places (L,R)
should be empty.

\fancyhead[L,R]{}
\fancyhead[C]{%
\fancycenter% 1 1 SECTION Jane Doe
{\thepage}%
{\firstleftmark}% 1 Section
{Jane Doe}%
Section by Jane Doe
}
1
\section{Section}
Section by Jane Doe

You may want to present different headers or footers when the corre-
sponding page starts with a float or ends with a footnote. The fancyhdr
package defines four commands that let you achieve this.

\iftopfloat{〈true branch〉}{〈false branch〉}

\ifbotfloat{〈true branch〉}{〈false branch〉}
\iffloatpage{〈true branch〉}{〈false branch〉}
\iffootnote{〈true branch〉}{〈false branch〉}

Commands \iftopfloat and \ifbotfloat execute their 〈true branch〉

if a float sits at the top or bottom of the page (respectively).
Similarly, \iffloatpage checks whether the page is a special float-
only page, while \iffootnote checks for a footnote at the bottom of the
7.7 Fancy Headers 221

page.

\fancyhead[C]{%
\iftopfloat{%
A float is below me%
} {} Ignore this footnote.1
}
\fancyfoot[C]{%
\iffootnote{%
A footnote is above me%
1 Read this.
} {%
\thepage% A footnote is above me
}%
} A float is below me

Ignore this footnote.%

\footnote{Read this.} A floating float.
\begin{figure}[t]
\centering Figure 1: Hmm
A floating float.
\caption{Hmm}
2
\end{figure}

The ruled lines in headers and footers are created by invoking

\headrule and \footrule commands. If you want finer control over
the lines, consider redefining these macros. Use \headruleskip and
\footruleskip to raise or lower them, if necessary.

\RenewDocumentCommand{\headrule}{}{
\rule{0.05\headwidth}{0.2cm}%
\rule[0.1cm]{0.9\headwidth}{\headrulewidth}%
My age is the
\rule{0.05\headwidth}{0.2cm}%
first number
}
not nameable
in under twenty
\RenewDocumentCommand{\headruleskip}{}{-0.2cm}
words.
My age is the first number not
nameable in under twenty words. 1

While working on a longer document, you may want to have several

page styles for different occasions. You may also notice that some
commands (\chapter and \maketitle, for example) change the page
style to plain. The solution to both of these problems is the

\fancypagestyle{〈name〉}{〈code〉}

command. The 〈name〉 is the name of page style to (re)define, while the
〈code〉 is the code to set the page style. All page styles declared this way
222 Customising LATEX

use the fancy page style as their basis, so if empty 〈code〉 is given they
will match fancy exactly.

\fancypagestyle{mine}{ My style
\fancyhead[L]{My style}
} You may be disappointed.
\pagestyle{mine}

Were you expecting a paradox here? 1

7.8 Boxes
LATEX builds up its pages by pushing around boxes. At first, each letter
is a little box, which is then glued to other letters to form words. These
are again glued to other words, but with special glue, which is elastic so
that a series of words can be squeezed or stretched as to exactly fill a
line on the page.
I admit, this is a very simplistic version of what really happens, but
the point is that TEX operates on glue and boxes. Letters are not the
only things that can be boxes. You can put virtually everything into a
box, including other boxes. Each box will then be handled by LATEX as
if it were a single letter.
In earlier chapters you encountered some boxes, although I did not
tell you. The tabular environment and the \includegraphics, for
example, both produce a box. This means that you can easily arrange
two tables or images side by side. You just have to make sure that their
combined width is not larger than the text width.
You can also pack a paragraph of your choice into a box with either
the

\parbox[pos]{width}{text}

command or the

\begin{minipage}[pos]{width} text \end{minipage}

environment. The pos parameter can take one of the letters c, t or b to

control the vertical alignment of the box, relative to the baseline of the
surrounding text. width takes a length argument specifying the width
of the box. The main difference between a minipage and a \parbox is
that you cannot use all commands and environments inside a parbox,
while almost anything is possible in a minipage.
While \parbox packs up a whole paragraph doing line breaking and
everything, there is also a class of boxing commands that operates only
7.8 Boxes 223

on horizontally aligned material. We already know one of them; it’s

called \mbox. It simply packs up a series of boxes into another one,
and can be used to prevent LATEX from breaking two words. As boxes
can be put inside boxes, these horizontal box packers give you ultimate
flexibility.

\makebox[width][pos]{text}

width defines the width of the resulting box as seen from the outside.10
Besides the length expressions, you can also use \width, \height, \depth,
and \totalheight in the width parameter. They are set from values
obtained by measuring the typeset text. The pos parameter takes a one
letter value: center, flushleft, flushright, or spread the text to fill the
box.
The command \framebox works exactly the same as \makebox, but
it draws a box around the text.
The following example shows you some things you could do with the
\makebox and \framebox commands.

\makebox[\textwidth]{%
c e n t r a l}\par
\makebox[\textwidth][s]{% central
s p r e a d}\par
s p r e a d
\framebox[1.1\width]{Guess I'm
framed now!} \par Guess I’m framed now!
\framebox[0.8\width][r]{Bummer, Bummer, I am too wide
I am too wide} \par
never Can
mind,you
so read
am I this?
\framebox[1cm][l]{never
mind, so am I}
Can you read this?

Now that we control the horizontal, the obvious next step is to go

for the vertical.11 No problem for LATEX. The

\raisebox{lift}[extend-above-baseline][extend-below-baseline]{text}

command lets you define the vertical properties of a box. You can use
10
This means it can be smaller than the material inside the box. You can even set
the width to 0pt so that the text inside the box will be typeset without influencing
the surrounding boxes.
11
Total control is only to be obtained by controlling both the horizontal and the
vertical …
224 Customising LATEX

\width, \height, \depth, and \totalheight in the first three parame-

ters, in order to act upon the size of the box inside the text argument.

\raisebox{0pt}[0pt][0pt]{\Large%
\textbf{Aaaa\raisebox{-0.3ex}{a}%
\raisebox{-0.7ex}{aa}% Aaaaaaa she shouted,
\raisebox{-1.2ex}{r}% r
but not even gthe next one in
\raisebox{-2.2ex}{g}%
\raisebox{-4.5ex}{h}}} h something
line noticed that
she shouted, but not even the next terrible had happened to her.
one in line noticed that something
terrible had happened to her.

7.9 Rules
A few pages back you may have noticed the command

\rule[lift]{width}{height}

In normal use it produces a simple black box.

\rule{3mm}{.1pt}%
\rule[-1mm]{5mm}{1cm}%
\rule{3mm}{.1pt}%
\rule[1mm]{1cm}{5mm}%
\rule{3mm}{.1pt}

This is useful for drawing vertical and horizontal lines. The line on the
title page, for example, has been created with a \rule command.

The End.
Appendix A

Installing LATEX

Knuth published the source to TEX back in a time when nobody knew about
Open Source and/or Free Software. The license that comes with TEX lets
you do whatever you want with the source, but you can only call the result of
your work TEX if the program passes a set of tests Knuth has also provided.
This has led to a situation where we have free TEX implementations for
almost every Operating System under the sun. This chapter will give some
hints on what to install on Linux, macOS and Windows, to get a working
TEX setup.

A.1 What to Install

To use LATEX on any computer system, you need multiple programs.
1. The TEX/LATEX program for processing your LATEX source files into
typeset PDF documents.
2. A text editor for editing your LATEX source files. Some products
even let you start the LATEX program from within the editor.
3. A PDF viewer program for previewing and printing your documents.
4. A program to handle PostScript files and images for inclusion
into your documents.
For every platform there are several programs that fit the requirements
above. Here we just tell about the ones we know, like and have some
experience with.

A.2 Cross Platform Editor

While TEX is available on many computing platforms, LATEX editors have
long been highly platform specific.
226 Installing LATEX

Over the past few years I have come to like Texmaker quite a lot.
Apart from being very a useful editor with integrated pdf-preview and
syntax high-lighting, it has the advantage of running on Windows, Mac,
and Unix/Linux equally well. See [6] for further information. There is
also a forked version of Texmaker called TeXstudio [87]. It also seems
well maintained and is also available for all three major platforms.
You will find some platform specific editor suggestions in the OS
sections below.

A.3 TEX on macOS

A.3.1 TEX Distribution
Just download MacTeX [21]. It is a pre-compiled LATEX distribution for
macOS. MacTeX provides a full LATEX installation plus a number of
additional tools.

A.3.2 macOS TEX Editor

If you are not happy with our cross-platform suggestion Texmaker (Sec-
tion A.2).
The most popular open source editor for LATEX on the mac seems to
be TEXshop [2]. It is also contained in the MacTeX distribution.
Recent TEXLive distributions contain the TEXworks editor [32] which
is a multi-platform editor based on the TEXShop design. Since TEXworks
uses the Qt toolkit, it is available on any platform supported by this
toolkit (macOS, Windows, Linux).

A.3.3 Treat yourself to PDFView

Use PDFView [4] for viewing PDF files generated by LATEX, it integrates
tightly with your LATEX text editor. After installing, open PDFViews
preferences dialog and make sure that the automatically reload documents
option is enabled and that PDFSync support is set appropriately.

A.4 TEX on Windows

A.4.1 Getting TEX
First, get a copy of the excellent MiKTEX [65] distribution. It contains
all the basic programs and files required to compile LATEX documents.
The coolest feature in my eyes, is that MiKTEX will download missing
LATEX packages on the fly and install them magically while compiling a
document. Alternatively you can also use the TEXLive [5] distribution
A.5 TEX on Linux 227

which exists for Windows, Unix, and Mac OS to get your base setup
going.

A.4.2 A LATEX editor

If you are not happy with our cross-platform suggestion Texmaker (Sec-
tion A.2).
TeXnicCenter [77] uses many concepts from the programming-world
to provide a nice and efficient LATEX writing environment in Windows.
TeXnicCenter integrates nicely with MiKTeX.
Recent TEXLive distributions contain the TEXworks Editor [32]. It
supports Unicode and requires at least Windows XP.

A.4.3 Document Preview

You will most likely be using Yap for DVI preview as it gets installed
with MikTeX. For PDF you may want to look at Sumatra PDF [41].
I mention Sumatra PDF because it lets you jump from any position
in the PDF document back into corresponding position in your source
document.

A.4.4 Working with graphics

Working with high quality graphics in LATEX means that you have to
use Encapsulated PostScript (eps) or PDF as your picture format.
The program that helps you deal with this is called GhostScript [16]. It
comes with its own front-end GhostView.
If you deal with bitmap graphics (photos and scanned material),
you may want to have a look at the open source Photoshop alternative
Gimp [36].

A.5 TEX on Linux

If you work with Linux, chances are high that LATEX is already installed
on your system, or at least available on the installation source you used
to setup. Use your package manager to install the following packages:

• texlive — the base TEX/LATEX setup.

• emacs (with AUCTeX) — an editor that integrates tightly with

LATEX through the add-on AUCTeX package.

• ghostscript — a PostScript preview program.

• xpdf and acrobat — a PDF preview program.

228 Installing LATEX

• imagemagick — a free program for converting bitmap images.

• gimp — a free Photoshop look-a-like.

• inkscape — a free illustrator/corel draw look-a-like.

If you are looking for a more windows like graphical editing environ-
ment, check out Texmaker. See Section A.2.
Most Linux distros insist on splitting up their TEX environments into
many optional packages, so if something is missing after your first install,
go check again.
Appendix B

Things You Shouldn’t Use

LATEX has been around for well over 30 years now. And it has remained
largely backward compatible. This means you can easily steal snippets from
a friends document written ten years ago and use them in your document
today. In many instances this work without any problem. But even though
LATEX seems happy with the old code, you still should not do it. Have a
look!

B.1 … for Display Math

Instead of Use
$$ \[, \]
\begin{equation*}
\begin{displaymath}
(All with the amsmath package.)
$$ is plain TEX syntax and it cannot be modified. The displaymath
and \[ are LATEX commands that are a bit better in terms of spacing and
features, but most importantly they can be redefined. With amsmath,
both of them are redefined to be synonyms for the equation* which
produces optimal and consistent spacing.

$$ 2 + 2 = 4 $$ ⟶ \[ 2 + 2 = 4 \]

B.2 … for Inline Math

Instead of Use
$ \(, \)
Like Section B.1, $ is also plain TEX syntax and it cannot be redefined.
Currently, there are no visual differences between $ and the new version,
230 Things You Shouldn’t Use

but it may become an issue if you want to modify the command yourself.
Also, the \(, \) commands can detect math mode nesting and produce
an error if it happens.

$ 2 + 2 = 4 $ ⟶ \( 2 + 2 = 4 \)

B.3 … for Typesetting Math

Instead of Use
\over \frac
\choose \binom (amsmath)
\overwithdelims \genfrac (amsmath)
\atop
\atopwithdelims
\above
\abovewithdelims
These are plain TEX commands for producing fractions, binomial coef-
ficients and related structures. Due to their unusual syntax, their use
may lead to ambiguous code. It’s better to use the commands described
in Section 3.11.

{a \over b} ⟶ \frac{a}{b}

{a \choose b} ⟶ \usepackage{amsmath}\obeyedline% ...\obeye

B.4 … for Defining New Commands

Instead of Use
\newcommand \NewDocumentCommand
\renewcommand \RenewDocumentCommand
\def \DeclareDocumentCommand
Both \newcommand and \renewcommand are LATEX 2𝜀 macros. They are
not as expressive as ...DocumentCommand family described in subsec-
tion 7.1.1. Their syntax only allows a single optional argument with
default value (specified as second optional argument) followed by few
mandatory ones (specified as number in first optional argument).

\newcommand{\foo}[4][bar]{ ... }

\NewDocumentCommand{\foo}{O{bar}mmmm}{ ... }
B.5 … for Copying Commands 231

The \def command is a plain TEX primitive. It always defines the

command, even if it was already defined. This is usually not desirable,
but if it’s needed you can use \DeclareDocumentCommand.

\def\foo#1#2#3{ ... }

\NewDocumentCommand{\foo}{mmm}{ ... }

B.5 … for Copying Commands

Instead of Use
\let \NewCommandCopy
\RenewCommandCopy
\DeclareCommandCopy

Like Section B.4, \let is also a plain TEX primitive that does not guard
against accidental redefinition. Moreover it does not work correctly
with some LATEX commands. Use \NewCommandCopy as described in
subsection 7.1.3.

\let\foo\bar ⟶ \NewCommandCopy\foo\bar

B.6 … for Aligning Equations

Instead of Use
\begin{eqnarray} \begin{align}
\begin{eqnarray*} \begin{align*}
(Both in amsmath.)

eqnarray and eqnarray* are LATEX environments that allow aligning

equations. However spacing around the binary operators in these envi-
ronments is far from ideal. Therefore, it is recommended to always use
the align environments from amsmath or IEEEeqnarray as described in
subsection 3.4.3.

\begin{eqnarray}\obeyedline ⟶
f(x) & \usepackage{amsmath}\obeyedline%
= & 1 + 2 \\\obeyedline g(x) & ...\obeyedline\beg
> & 52\obeyedline\
232 Things You Shouldn’t Use

B.7 … for Changing Fonts

Instead of Use
\bf \bfseries
\rm \rmfamily
\sf \sffamily
\tt \ttfamily
\it \itshape
\sc \scshape
\sl \slshape
These are plain TEX commands. Each of them resets the font to normal
before changing it, so for example bold italics cannot be achieved using
them. Use newer commands as described in Section 7.2.

{\bf foo} ⟶ \textbf{foo}

{\bf foo} ⟶ {\bfseries foo}

B.8 … for Changing Text Alignment

Instead of Use
\begin{flushleft} \begin{FlushLeft}
\begin{flushright} \begin{FlushRight}
\begin{center} \begin{Center}
(ragged2e)
The default LATEX 2𝜀 environments for changing text alignment make
it nearly impossible to hyphenate words inside them. Therefore, it is
recommended to use the ragged2e equivalents, as described in Section 2.15,
that make the text less ‘ragged’ than it should be.

\begin{center}\obeyedline text\obeyedline\end{center}
⟶ \usepackage{ragged2e}\obeyedline% ...\obey

B.9 … for Typesetting Quotations

Instead of Use
`` \enquote
,, \enquote*
<<
>>
''
B.10 … for Printing Verbatim 233

The TEX version of entering quotes was to rely on ligatures for the
given quotation mark. This method is not context aware and cannot be
customized. Using csquotes package as described in Section 2.16 allows
greater control over the typesetting of the quotations.

``quote'' ⟶ \usepackage{csquotes}\obeyedline% ...\obeyedline\en

B.10 … for Printing Verbatim

Instead of Use
verbatim verbatim (from the verbatim pack-
age)
LATEX comes with a verbatim environment built into the core, however
there are problems with it. Firstly, due to the way delimiting is handled
you cannot put spaces between \end and {verbatim}. The second
and more important problem is that it reads the whole input at once
which risks overflowing TEX’s memory. The verbatim package described
in subsection 2.17.1 solves both of these problems.

\begin{verbatim}\obeyedline ⟶
code\obeyedline\end{verbatim}
\usepackage{verbatim}\obeyedline% ...\obeyedline\be

B.11 … for Adding a Bibliography

Instead of Use
natbib and bibtex biblatex and biber

As was already mentioned in the Chapter 4 before biber there was

bibtex. It used the natbib package for typesetting the bibliography
itself. Both are no longer maintained and don’t handle UTF-8 input, so
they should be avoided. However, the natbib styles (.bst files) don’t
work with biblatex, so if you are forced to use such a bibliograph style,
you don’t have a choice.

\usepackage{natbib} ⟶ \usepackage{biblatex}

B.12 … for Creating Relations and Operators

Instead of Use
\stackrel \overset
\stackbin
234 Things You Shouldn’t Use

The commands are primitives that always define the underlying symbol
to be either a relation or binary operator. The \overset detects this
based on the symbol that is overset. See subsection 3.3.6 for an example
of usage.

\stackrel{f}{=} ⟶ \overset{f}{=}

\stackbin{f}{+} ⟶ \overset{f}{+}

B.13 … for Changing Math Font

Instead of Use
\mathrm \symrm
\mathit \symit
\mathbf \symbf
\mathcal \symcal
\mathscr \symscr
\mathbb \symbb
\mathfrak \symfrak
(unicode-math package)

When LATEX typesets operators it uses \math... commands to typeset

their name, usually \mathrm. This uses a different font compared to the
symbols used in mathematics.

\(\mathit{ffi}\) vs.\
\(\symit{ffi}\)
ffi vs. 𝑓𝑓𝑖

These commands should not be used for changing the font for symbols.
For historical reasons, some of the \math... commands are actually just
synonyms for the symbol versions. For example there is no \mathscr
version for math operators, so it is just a synonym for \symscr. For
operators it is better to use the \DeclareMathOperator command.

\(\mathrm{foo}(\mathcal{F})\)

\DeclareMathOperator{\foo}{foo}\obeyedline% ...\obeyedline\(\foo(\symcal{F})\)
B.14 … for Spacing 235

B.14 … for Spacing

Instead of Use
\vskip \vspace
\hskip \hspace
\mskip \mspace (amsmath package)
\kern
\mkern
These commands are TEX primitives that use non-standard syntax, which
may lead to weird errors. It is preferable to use the LATEX equivalents,
which use the standard syntax. The \kern primitive acts as a vertical
space when used between two paragraphs, and as a horizontal space
when used inside a paragraph.

\vskip 1cm ⟶ \vspace{1cm}

\mskip 1mu ⟶ \mspace{1mu}

Appendix C

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC

LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007

Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. https://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this

license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for

software and other kinds of works.
The licenses for most software and other practical works are
designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works.
By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guaran-
tee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program–to
make sure it remains free software for all its users. We, the Free
Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for most
of our software; it applies also to any other work released this way
by its authors. You can apply it to your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom,
not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure
that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and
charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can
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of it in new free programs, and that you know you can do these
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To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying
you these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore,
you have certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the
software, or if you modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom
of others.
238 GNU General Public License, Version 3

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether

gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same
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Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with
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Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or
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To “modify” a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the
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 239

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240 GNU General Public License, Version 3

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 241

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 243

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clude a requirement to continue to provide support service, warranty,
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recipient, or for the User Product in which it has been modified or
installed. Access to a network may be denied when the modification
itself materially and adversely affects the operation of the network
or violates the rules and protocols for communication across the
network.
Corresponding Source conveyed, and Installation Information pro-
vided, in accord with this section must be in a format that is
publicly documented (and with an implementation available to the
public in source code form), and must require no special password
or key for unpacking, reading or copying.

7. Additional Terms.
“Additional permissions” are terms that supplement the terms of
this License by making exceptions from one or more of its conditions.
Additional permissions that are applicable to the entire Program
shall be treated as though they were included in this License, to
the extent that they are valid under applicable law. If additional
permissions apply only to part of the Program, that part may be
used separately under those permissions, but the entire Program
remains governed by this License without regard to the additional
permissions.
When you convey a copy of a covered work, you may at your option
remove any additional permissions from that copy, or from any
part of it. (Additional permissions may be written to require their
own removal in certain cases when you modify the work.) You
may place additional permissions on material, added by you to a
covered work, for which you have or can give appropriate copyright
permission.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, for material
you add to a covered work, you may (if authorized by the copyright
holders of that material) supplement the terms of this License with
 245

terms:

(a) Disclaiming warranty or limiting liability differently from the

terms of sections 15 and 16 of this License; or
(b) Requiring preservation of specified reasonable legal notices
or author attributions in that material or in the Appropriate
Legal Notices displayed by works containing it; or
(c) Prohibiting misrepresentation of the origin of that material,
or requiring that modified versions of such material be marked
in reasonable ways as different from the original version; or
(d) Limiting the use for publicity purposes of names of licensors
or authors of the material; or
(e) Declining to grant rights under trademark law for use of some
trade names, trademarks, or service marks; or
(f) Requiring indemnification of licensors and authors of that
material by anyone who conveys the material (or modified
versions of it) with contractual assumptions of liability to the
recipient, for any liability that these contractual assumptions
directly impose on those licensors and authors.

All other non-permissive additional terms are considered “further

restrictions” within the meaning of section 10. If the Program
as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating
that it is governed by this License along with a term that is
a further restriction, you may remove that term. If a license
document contains a further restriction but permits relicensing
or conveying under this License, you may add to a covered work
material governed by the terms of that license document, provided
that the further restriction does not survive such relicensing or
conveying.
If you add terms to a covered work in accord with this section,
you must place, in the relevant source files, a statement of the
additional terms that apply to those files, or a notice indicating
where to find the applicable terms.
Additional terms, permissive or non-permissive, may be stated in
the form of a separately written license, or stated as exceptions;
the above requirements apply either way.

8. Termination.
You may not propagate or modify a covered work except as expressly
provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate
or modify it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights
246 GNU General Public License, Version 3

under this License (including any patent licenses granted under the
third paragraph of section 11).
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license
from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally,
unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally termi-
nates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder
fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior
to 60 days after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is re-
instated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the
violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have
received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that
copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after
your receipt of the notice.
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate
the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you
under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not
permanently reinstated, you do not qualify to receive new licenses
for the same material under section 10.

9. Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies.

You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or
run a copy of the Program. Ancillary propagation of a covered work
occurring solely as a consequence of using peer-to-peer transmission
to receive a copy likewise does not require acceptance. However,
nothing other than this License grants you permission to propagate
or modify any covered work. These actions infringe copyright if you
do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating
a covered work, you indicate your acceptance of this License to do
so.

10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.

Each time you convey a covered work, the recipient automatically
receives a license from the original licensors, to run, modify and
propagate that work, subject to this License. You are not responsi-
ble for enforcing compliance by third parties with this License.
An “entity transaction” is a transaction transferring control of
an organization, or substantially all assets of one, or subdividing
an organization, or merging organizations. If propagation of a
covered work results from an entity transaction, each party to that
transaction who receives a copy of the work also receives whatever
licenses to the work the party’s predecessor in interest had or could
 247

give under the previous paragraph, plus a right to possession of the

Corresponding Source of the work from the predecessor in interest,
if the predecessor has it or can get it with reasonable efforts.
You may not impose any further restrictions on the exercise of the
rights granted or affirmed under this License. For example, you
may not impose a license fee, royalty, or other charge for exercise
of rights granted under this License, and you may not initiate
litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit)
alleging that any patent claim is infringed by making, using, selling,
offering for sale, or importing the Program or any portion of it.

11. Patents.
A “contributor” is a copyright holder who authorizes use under this
License of the Program or a work on which the Program is based.
The work thus licensed is called the contributor’s “contributor
version”.
A contributor’s “essential patent claims” are all patent claims
owned or controlled by the contributor, whether already acquired
or hereafter acquired, that would be infringed by some manner,
permitted by this License, of making, using, or selling its contributor
version, but do not include claims that would be infringed only as
a consequence of further modification of the contributor version.
For purposes of this definition, “control” includes the right to grant
patent sublicenses in a manner consistent with the requirements of
this License.
Each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-
free patent license under the contributor’s essential patent claims,
to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise run, modify
and propagate the contents of its contributor version.
In the following three paragraphs, a “patent license” is any express
agreement or commitment, however denominated, not to enforce
a patent (such as an express permission to practice a patent or
covenant not to sue for patent infringement). To “grant” such a
patent license to a party means to make such an agreement or
commitment not to enforce a patent against the party.
If you convey a covered work, knowingly relying on a patent license,
and the Corresponding Source of the work is not available for anyone
to copy, free of charge and under the terms of this License, through
a publicly available network server or other readily accessible means,
then you must either (1) cause the Corresponding Source to be
so available, or (2) arrange to deprive yourself of the benefit of
the patent license for this particular work, or (3) arrange, in a
248 GNU General Public License, Version 3

manner consistent with the requirements of this License, to extend

the patent license to downstream recipients. “Knowingly relying”
means you have actual knowledge that, but for the patent license,
your conveying the covered work in a country, or your recipient’s
use of the covered work in a country, would infringe one or more
identifiable patents in that country that you have reason to believe
are valid.
If, pursuant to or in connection with a single transaction or ar-
rangement, you convey, or propagate by procuring conveyance of,
a covered work, and grant a patent license to some of the parties
receiving the covered work authorizing them to use, propagate,
modify or convey a specific copy of the covered work, then the
patent license you grant is automatically extended to all recipients
of the covered work and works based on it.
A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within
the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned
on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically
granted under this License. You may not convey a covered work
if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is
in the business of distributing software, under which you make
payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of
conveying the work, and under which the third party grants, to
any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a
discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the
covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those copies),
or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or
compilations that contain the covered work, unless you entered
into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to
28 March 2007.
Nothing in this License shall be construed as excluding or limiting
any implied license or other defenses to infringement that may
otherwise be available to you under applicable patent law.

12. No Surrender of Others’ Freedom.

If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement
or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they
do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you
cannot convey a covered work so as to satisfy simultaneously your
obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations,
then as a consequence you may not convey it at all. For example, if
you agree to terms that obligate you to collect a royalty for further
conveying from those to whom you convey the Program, the only
 249

way you could satisfy both those terms and this License would be
to refrain entirely from conveying the Program.

13. Use with the GNU Affero General Public License.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have
permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed
under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License into
a single combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The
terms of this License will continue to apply to the part which is
the covered work, but the special requirements of the GNU Affero
General Public License, section 13, concerning interaction through
a network will apply to the combination as such.

14. Revised Versions of this License.

The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
versions of the GNU General Public License from time to time.
Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version,
but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the
Program specifies that a certain numbered version of the GNU
General Public License “or any later version” applies to it, you
have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that
numbered version or of any later version published by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version
number of the GNU General Public License, you may choose any
version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
If the Program specifies that a proxy can decide which future
versions of the GNU General Public License can be used, that
proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a version permanently
authorizes you to choose that version for the Program.
Later license versions may give you additional or different per-
missions. However, no additional obligations are imposed on any
author or copyright holder as a result of your choosing to follow a
later version.

15. Disclaimer of Warranty.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE
EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT
WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPY-
RIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE
THE PROGRAM “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
250 GNU General Public License, Version 3

NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MER-

CHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
POSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PER-
FORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD
THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE
COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR COR-
RECTION.

16. Limitation of Liability.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW
OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER,
OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CON-
VEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPE-
CIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARIS-
ING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRO-
GRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA
OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES
SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE
OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PRO-
GRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS
BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.

If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided
above cannot be given local legal effect according to their terms,
reviewing courts shall apply local law that most closely approxi-
mates an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with the
Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies
a copy of the Program in return for a fee.

End of Terms and Conditions

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest

possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free
software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to
attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively state the
exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the “copyright”
line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
 251

Copyright (C) <textyear> <name of author>

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper

mail.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short
notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

<program> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands show w and show c should show the ap-
propriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program’s
commands might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an
“about box”.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer)
or school, if any, to sign a “copyright disclaimer” for the program, if
necessary. For more information on this, and how to apply and follow
the GNU GPL, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your
program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine
library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. But first,
please read https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html.
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https://github.com/font-store/font-IranNastaliq.
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 Index

Symbols ~, 98
", 37 \], 76, 229
\(, 76, 229, 230
\), 76, 229, 230 A
\,, 114 A4 paper, 208
-, 22 A5 paper, 208
\-, 21 å, 25
\above, 230
–, 22
\abovewithdelims, 230
—, 22
abstract, 24
., 89, 98
accent, 25
., space after, 33
acute, 25
…, 23
\acute, 87
\/, 186
\addbibresource, 129
\:, 93, 114
\addtolength, 205
\;, 93, 114
\addvspace command, 204
\[, 76, 77, 229
\adots, 121
$, 229 advantages of LATEX, 4
$$, 229 æ, 25
%, 6, 31, 183 \alert, 147
&, 53, 92 align, 92, 93, 95, 231
\, 20 align*, 231
^, 78, 79 \Alpha, 81
_, 78 \alpha, 81
\\, 61 American Mathematical Society, 75
articleclass, 8, 154, 208 amsmath, 15, 75, 90, 95, 107, 122,
beamerclass, 8, 145, 147, 153 147, 229–231, 235
bookclass, 8, 208 amsmath, 95
letterclass, 8 amsthm, 116, 118
memoirclass, 209 \and, 34
procclass, 8 \ang, 103
reportclass, 8, 208 \appendix, 35
slidesclass, 145 Arabic, 30
{, 7 arabxetex, 30
}, 7 \arccos, 84
~, 33, 183 \arcsin, 84
 INDEX 261

\arctan, 84 \blockquote, 38
\arg, 84 Bmatrix, 111
array, 53, 63 bmatrix, 111
array, 112 bold face, 186
asymptote, 158 booktabs, 15, 53, 54
\atop, 230 booktabs, 55
\atopwithdelims, 230 \BooleanFalse, 182
\author, 34, 146 \BooleanTrue, 182
\autocite, 134 \bot, 112, 113
\autopageref, 142 \bottomrule, 54
\autoref, 142
C
B \cap, 81
B5 paper, 208 \caption, 70, 71, 73
babel, 24 cases, 111
\backmatter, 35 \cdot, 78
backslash, 7 \cdots, 120
\bar, 87 Center, 37, 232
base font size, 208 center, 232
\baselineskip, 211 \cfrac, 122
beamer, 15, 145, 147, 149, 150, 152–155
\chapter, 33, 132, 221
beamerarticle, 154 \chapter*, 132
\begin, 13, 179 \chaptermark, 219
\Beta, 81 chemformula, 115
\beta, 81 \Chi, 81
\bf, 232 \chi, 81
\bfseries, 186, 232 Chinese, 30
biber, 126 \choose, 230
\bibitem, 125 \cite, 125, 133, 134
biblatex, vii, 15, 125–127, 130, 131, \citeauthor, 134
133 \citedate, 134
biblatex, 233 \citetitle, 134
bibliography, 125 \citeurl, 134
bidi, 29 \citeyear, 134
\Big, 90 \cleardoublepage, 71
\big, 90 \clearpage, 71
\bigcap, 113 \cline, 64
\Bigg, 90 \cmidrule, 56, 58
\bigg, 90 \colon, 81, 113
\bigskip, 204 \coloneq, 76
\bigwedge, 85 \Coloneqq, 76
binary relations, 88 \coloneqq, 76
\binom, 122, 230 \color, 195, 199
block, 147 \colorbox, 199
262 INDEX

\colorlet, 198 \Beta, 81

coloured text, 14 \beta, 81
colours, 194 \bf, 232
comma, 23 \bfseries, 186, 232
commands, 7 \bibitem, 125
\(, 76, 229, 230 \Big, 90
\), 76, 229, 230 \big, 90
\,, 114 \bigcap, 113
\-, 21 \Bigg, 90
\/, 186 \bigg, 90
\:, 93, 114 \bigskip, 204
\;, 93, 114 \bigwedge, 85
\[, 76, 77, 229 \binom, 122, 230
\, 20 \blockquote, 38
\\, 61 \BooleanFalse, 182
\], 76, 229 \BooleanTrue, 182
\above, 230 \bot, 112, 113
\abovewithdelims, 230 \bottomrule, 54
\acute, 87 \cap, 81
\addbibresource, 129 \caption, 70, 71, 73
\addtolength, 205 \cdot, 78
\addvspace command, 204 \cdots, 120
\adots, 121 \cfrac, 122
\alert, 147 \chapter, 33, 132, 221
\Alpha, 81 \chapter*, 132
\alpha, 81 \chaptermark, 219
\and, 34 \Chi, 81
\ang, 103 \chi, 81
\appendix, 35 \choose, 230
\arccos, 84 \cite, 125, 133, 134
\arcsin, 84 \citeauthor, 134
\arctan, 84 \citedate, 134
\arg, 84 \citetitle, 134
\atop, 230 \citeurl, 134
\atopwithdelims, 230 \citeyear, 134
\author, 34, 146 \cleardoublepage, 71
\autocite, 134 \clearpage, 71
\autopageref, 142 \cline, 64
\autoref, 142 \cmidrule, 56, 58
\backmatter, 35 \colon, 81, 113
\bar, 87 \coloneq, 76
\baselineskip, 211 \Coloneqq, 76
\begin, 13, 179 \coloneqq, 76
INDEX 263

\color, 195, 199 \divslash, 78

\colorbox, 199 \documentclass, 8, 17, 20, 68,
\colorlet, 198 206
\complexnum, 104 \dots, 120
\complexqty, 104 \dotsb, 120
\coordinate, 161 \dotsc, 120
\cos, 84 \dotsi, 120
\cosh, 84 \dotsm, 120
\cot, 84 \dotso, 120
\coth, 84 \doublespacing, 211
\csc, 84 \draw, 158, 159, 163
\csi, 175 \dum, 175, 176
\cup, 81 \emph, 12, 13, 175, 181, 182
\date, 34, 146 \emptyset, 81
\dbinom, 122 \end, 13, 179
\dblcolon, 76 \endfirsthead, 61
\ddot, 87 \endfoot, 61
\ddots, 121 \endhead, 61
\DeclareCommandCopy, 231 \endlastfoot, 61
\DeclareDocumentCommand, 178, \enquote, 37, 232
230, 231 \enquote*, 232
\DeclareFloatingEnvironment, \Epsilon, 81
71 \epsilon, 81
\DeclareMathOperator, 84, 85, \eqqcolon, 76
234 \eqref, 77, 92
\DeclarePairedDelimiter, 89, \Eta, 81
90 \eta, 81
\DeclarePairedDelimiterX, 90 \exists, 80
\DeclareSIPower, 105 \exp, 84
\DeclareSIPrefix, 105 \extramarks, 217
\DeclareSIQualifier, 105 \fancycenter, 220
\DeclareSIUnit, 104 \fancyf, 217
\def, 230, 231 \fancyfoot, 216
\definecolor, 198 \fancyfootoffset, 217
\deg, 84 \fancyhead, 216
\Delta, 81 \fancyheadoffset, 217
\delta, 81 \fancyhf, 215, 217, 219
\depth, 223, 224 \fancyhfoffset, 217
\det, 84 \fancypagestyle, 221
\dfrac, 121, 122 \fcolorbox, 199
\dim, 84 \firstleftmark, 218
\displaystyle, 119, 121 \firstleftxmark, 217
\div, 78 \firstrightmark, 218, 219
264 INDEX

\firstrightxmark, 217 \hyperref, 141, 142

\fontsize, 187, 199, 209 \hypersetup, 142
\footcite, 134 \hyphenation, 21
\footnote, 36 \IEEEeqnarraymulticol, 96
\footnotesize, 186, 187 \IEEEeqnarraynumspace, 96
\footrule, 221 \IEEEyesnumber, 96
\footruleskip, 221 \IEEEyessubnumber, 96
\footrulewidth, 216 \IfBooleanF, 178
\forall, 80 \IfBooleanT, 178
\foreach, 170 \IfBooleanTF, 178, 182
\foreignblockquote, 39 \ifbotfloat, 220
\foreignquote, 39 \iff, 80
\foreigntextquote, 39 \iffloatpage, 220
\frac, 80, 119, 121, 122, 230 \iffootnote, 220
\framebox, 223 \IfNoValueF, 178
\framesubtitle, 146 \IfNoValueT, 178
\frametitle, 146 \IfNoValueTF, 178
\frenchspacing, 33 \iftopfloat, 220
\frontmatter, 35 \IfValueF, 177
\fussy, 21 \IfValueT, 177
\Gamma, 81 \IfValueTF, 177, 178
\gamma, 81 \iiiint, 86
\gcd, 84 \iiint, 86
\genfrac, 122, 123, 230 \iint, 86
\geq, 78 \impliedBy, 80
\geqslant, 78 \implies, 80
\gram, 99 \in, 80
\grave, 87 \include, 73
\hat, 87 \includegraphics, 65, 67, 222
\headrule, 221 \includeonly, 73
\headruleskip, 221 \indent, 212
\headrulewidth, 216 \index, 137, 138
\height, 223, 224 \inf, 84
\hfill, 203 \input, 73
\highlight, 100 \inputminted, 49
\hline, 64 \institute, 146
\hom, 84 \Iota, 81
\hphantom, 115 \iota, 81
\href, 141 \it, 232
\hskip, 235 \item, 36
\hspace, 56, 201, 235 \itshape, 185, 186, 232
\Huge, 186–188 \Kappa, 81
\huge, 186, 187 \kappa, 81
INDEX 265

\ker, 84 \maketitle, 34, 146, 221

\kern, 235 \markboth, 218
\kilo, 99 \markright, 219
\L, 31 \mathbb, 234
\label, 35, 48, 71, 92 \mathbf, 234
\Lambda, 81 \mathbin, 113
\lambda, 81 \mathcal, 234
\land, 80 \mathclose, 113
\LARGE, 186, 187 \mathcolor, 195
\Large, 186, 187 \mathfrak, 234
\large, 186, 187 \mathit, 234
\lastleftmark, 218 \mathop, 113
\lastleftxmark, 217 \mathopen, 113
\lastrightmark, 218 \mathord, 113
\lastrightxmark, 217 \mathpunct, 113
\LaTeX, 22, 31 \mathrel, 112, 113
\LaTeXe, 22 \mathrm, 234
\lBrack, 113 \mathscr, 234
\ldots, 23, 120 \max, 84
\left, 88, 89 \mbox, 22, 223
\leq, 78 \mdseries, 186
\leqslant, 78 \medskip, 204
\let, 231 \medskipamount, 204
\lg, 84 \medspace, 114
\lim, 84 \midrule, 54
\liminf, 84 \min, 84
\limsup, 84 \mintinline, 49
\linebreak, 20 \mkern, 235
\linespread, 211 \mskip, 235
\linewidth, 206 \mspace, 113, 115, 235
\listoffigures, 70 \Mu, 81
\listoftables, 70, 73 \mu, 81
\ln, 84 \multicol, 107
\lnot, 80 \multicolumn, 56–58, 61
\log, 84 \multirow, 56, 58, 59, 61, 107
\lor, 80 \negmedspace, 97, 114
\lstinline, 43 \negmedspace, 97
\lstinputlisting, 43 \negthickspace, 114
\lstset, 44 \negthinspace, 114
\lvert, 112 \neq, 78
\mainmatter, 35 \newcolumntype, 64
\makebox, 223 \newcommand, 230
\makeindex, 137 \NewCommandCopy, 181, 198, 231
266 INDEX

\NewDocumentCommand, 31, 32, \par, 183, 187

176, 178, 179, 181, 188, 198, \paragraph, 33
230 \parbox, 222
\NewDocumentEnvironment, 179–181\parencite, 134
\newfontfamily, 27, 191, 193 \parindent, 212
\newlength, 205 \parskip, 212
\newline, 19 \part, 33
\NewNegationCommand, 194 \path, 159
\newpage, 20 \pause, 148–150, 153
\newtheorem, 116 \pdfstringdefDisableCommands,
\nobreakspace, 183 144
\nocite, 131 \per, 99
\node, 160, 161 \perp, 112
\noindent, 212 \phantom, 93, 94, 97, 115
\nolinebreak, 20 \Phi, 81
\nopagebreak, 20 \phi, 81
\nopagecolor, 199 \Pi, 81
\normalfont, 186 \pi, 81
\normalsize, 186–188 \pic, 170
\not, 78, 194 \Pr, 84
\notag, 92, 96 \prescript, 115
\nouppercase, 219 \printbibliography, 129, 131,
\Nu, 81 132
\nu, 81 \printindex, 138
\num, 98 \prod, 85
\numlist, 103 \providecolor, 198
\of, 99 \ProvideDocumentCommand, 178
\Omega, 81 \providefontfamily, 193
\omega, 81 \ProvidesExplPackage, 183
\Omicron, 81 \Psi, 81
\omicron, 81 \psi, 81
\onslide, 148, 149 \qedhere, 118
\over, 230 \qedsymbol, 118
\overbrace, 87 \qquad, 114
\overbracket, 76 \qty, 98
\overline, 87 \quad, 114
\overset, 88, 233, 234 \raisebox, 223
\overwithdelims, 230 \rBrack, 113
\pagebreak, 20 \ref, 35, 71, 142
\pagecolor, 199 \renewcommand, 230
\pagenumbering, xiii, 209, 210 \RenewCommandCopy, 231
\pageref, 35, 142 \RenewDocumentCommand, 32, 178,
\pagestyle, 209 181, 230
INDEX 267

\RenewDocumentEnvironment, 181 \Sigma, 81

\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand, \sigma, 81
144 \sin, 84
\renewfontfamily, 193 \sinh, 84
\Rho, 81 \sisetup, 101
\rho, 81 \sl, 232
\right, 88, 89, 111 \slash, 23
\rm, 232 \sloppy, 21
\rmfamily, 185, 186, 191, 232 \slshape, 186, 232
\rule, 224 \small, 186, 187
\rvert, 112 \smallskip, 204
\sc, 232 \smartcite, 134
\scriptscriptstyle, 119 \smash, 119, 120
\scriptsize, 186, 187 \sqrt, 79
\scriptstyle, 119 \stackbin, 233
\scshape, 186, 232 \stackrel, 233
\sec, 84 \stretch, 203, 204
\section, 29, 33, 132, 147, 175, \subparagraph, 33
218, 219 \subsection, 33, 218
\section*, 132 \subsectionmark, 219
\sectionmark, 219 \subset, 81
\selectfont, 187, 211 \subseteq, 81
\setbeamercolor, 151 \subsetneq, 81
\setbeamercovered, 149 \substack, 85
\setbeamerfont, 151 \subsubsection, 33
\setdefaultlanguage, 26 \subtitle, 146
\setlength, 205 \succeq, 113
\setmainfont, 29, 189 \sum, 84, 113
\setmathfont, 193, 194 \sup, 84
\setminted, 52 \supset, 81
\setminus, 81 \supseteq, 81
\setmonofont, 29, 189 \supsetneq, 81
\setotherlanguage, 26 \swshape, 186
\setsansfont, 29, 189 \symbb, 82, 83, 234
\settodepth, 205 \symbbit, 83
\settoheight, 205 \symbf, 234
\settowidth, 205 \symbffrak, 83
\sf, 232 \symbfit, 83
\sffamily, 186, 191, 232 \symbfscr, 83
\sfrac, 121 \symbfsfit, 83
\shoveleft, 91 \symbfsfup, 83
\shoveright, 91 \symbfup, 83
\sideset, 86 \symcal, 194, 234
268 INDEX

\symfrak, 83, 234 \theoremstyle, 116

\symit, 83, 234 \thepage, 217
\symrm, 84, 234 \thesection, 219
\symscr, 83, 194, 234 \Theta, 81
\symsfit, 83 \theta, 81
\symsfup, 83 \thickspace, 114
\symtt, 83 \thinspace, 114
\symup, 83 \thispagestyle, 209
\tablenum, 107, 110 \tikz, 158
\tableofcontents, 34, 70, 140, \tikzset, 166
147 \tilde, 87
\tag, 77, 92 \times, 78, 113
\tan, 84 \tiny, 186–188
\tanh, 84 \title, 34, 146
\Tau, 81 \titlegraphic, 146
\tau, 81 \tnss, 176
\tbinom, 122 \today, 22, 27
\TeX, 22 \toprule, 54
\texorpdfstring, 144 \totalheight, 223, 224
\text, 78, 93 \tothe, 99
\textbackslash, 6 \tracingcolors, 198
\textbackslash*, 61 \tt, 232
\textbf, 184, 186, 188 \ttfamily, 186, 232
\textcite, 134 \uncover, 149
\textcolor, 195 \underbrace, 87
\textit, 185, 186 \underbracket, 76
\textlang, 27 \underset, 88
\textmd, 184, 186 \unit, 98
\textnormal, 185, 186 \upshape, 186
\textquote, 38, 39 \Upsilon, 81
\textrm, 184–186 \upsilon, 81
\textsc, 185, 186 \url, 141
\textsf, 184, 186 \useasboundingbox, 160
\textsl, 185, 186 \usecolortheme, 150
\textssc, 185 \usefonttheme, 151
\textstyle, 119, 121 \usepackage, 8, 14, 17, 127,
\textsw, 185, 186 183
\texttt, 184, 186 \usetheme, 150
\textulc, 185 \usetikzlibrary, 172
\textup, 185, 186 \varepsilon, 81, 82
\text«language», 27 \varkappa, 82
\tfrac, 121, 122 \varphi, 82
\the, 205 \varpi, 82
 INDEX 269

\varrho, 82 \DeclareDocumentCommand, 178, 230,

\varsigma, 82 231
\varTheta, 82 \DeclareFloatingEnvironment, 71
\vartheta, 82 \DeclareMathOperator, 84, 85, 234
\vdots, 121 \DeclarePairedDelimiter, 89, 90
\veebar, 80 \DeclarePairedDelimiterX, 90
\verb, 41–43, 179 \DeclareSIPower, 105
\verbatiminput, 42, 43 \DeclareSIPrefix, 105
\verbatiminput*, 42 \DeclareSIQualifier, 105
\vfill, 204 \DeclareSIUnit, 104
\vphantom, 115 \def, 230, 231
\vskip, 235 \definecolor, 198
\vspace, 203, 235 \deg, 84
\widehat, 87 delimiters, 88
\width, 223, 224 \Delta, 81
\Xi, 81 \delta, 81
\xi, 81 \depth, 223, 224
\Zeta, 81 description, 36
\zeta, 81
\det, 84
comments, 6
\dfrac, 121, 122
commutative-diagrams, 158
\dim, 84
\complexnum, 104
dimensions, 199
\complexqty, 104
display style, 76
\coordinate, 161
displaymath, 229
\cos, 84
displayquote, 38
\cosh, 84
\displaystyle, 119, 121
\cot, 84
\coth, 84 \div, 78
cross-references, 35 \divslash, 78
\csc, 84 document font size, 208
\csi, 175 document title, 208
csquotes, 37, 39, 40, 233 \documentclass, 8, 17, 20, 68, 206
\cup, 81 dotless ı and ȷ, 25
\dots, 120
D \dotsb, 120
dash, 22 \dotsc, 120
\date, 34, 146 \dotsi, 120
\dbinom, 122 \dotsm, 120
\dblcolon, 76 \dotso, 120
\ddot, 87 double sided, 208
\ddots, 121 \doublespacing, 211
decimal alignment, 105 \draw, 158, 159, 163
\DeclareCommandCopy, 231 \dum, 175, 176
270 INDEX

E FlushRight, 37, 232

ellipsis, 23 flushright, 232
em, 13 foreigndisplayquote, 39
em-dash, 22 frame, 145, 146
\emph, 12, 13, 175, 181, 182 gather, 92
empty, 209 gather*, 92
\emptyset, 81 german, 26
en-dash, 22 IEEEeqnarray, 95, 231
Encapsulated PostScript, 227 itemize, 36
\end, 13, 179 lang, 26
\endfirsthead, 61 listing, 47
\endfoot, 61 listings, vi, 43
\endhead, 61 longtable, vi, 59–62, 73, 74
\endlastfoot, 61 lscommand, 175, 176
\enquote, 37, 232 lstlisting, 43
\enquote*, 232 matrix, 107, 111, 112
enumerate, 36 minipage, 222
environments minted, 49
abstract, 24 multline, 91
align, 92, 93, 95, 231 multline*, 91
align*, 231 natbib, 233
amsmath, 95 parbox, 222
array, 112 picture, 158
biblatex, 233 pmatrix, 111
block, 147 proof, 118, 147
Bmatrix, 111 quotation, 40
bmatrix, 111 scope, 169
booktabs, 55 smallmatrix, 111
cases, 111 table, 68, 70, 71
Center, 37, 232 tabular, 53, 56, 59, 105, 222
center, 232 thebibliography, vii, 125, 131
description, 36 theorem, 147
displaymath, 229 tikzpicture, 158
displayquote, 38 verbatim, 42, 43, 233
em, 13 verbatim environment, 43
enumerate, 36 verse, 40
eqnarray, 231 Vmatrix, 111
eqnarray*, 231 vmatrix, 111
equation, 76 \Epsilon, 81
equation*, 77, 91, 229 \epsilon, 81
figure, 68, 70–72 eqnarray, 231
FlushLeft, 37, 232 eqnarray*, 231
flushleft, 232 \eqqcolon, 76
 INDEX 271

\eqref, 77, 92 fancyhdr, 15, 215–218, 220

equation \fancyhead, 216
multiple, 91 \fancyheadoffset, 217
equation, 76 \fancyhf, 215, 217, 219
equation*, 77, 91, 229 \fancyhfoffset, 217
\Eta, 81 \fancypagestyle, 221
\eta, 81 fancyvrb, 43
executive paper, 208 \fcolorbox, 199
\exists, 80 figure, 68, 70–72
\exp, 84 file types, 17
exponent, 79 \firstleftmark, 218
extension, 17 \firstleftxmark, 217
.aux, 18 \firstrightmark, 218, 219
.bib, 127–129, 135 \firstrightxmark, 217
.bst, 233 floating bodies, 68
.cls, 17 FlushLeft, 37, 232
.dtx, 17 flushleft, 232
.dvi, 2, 140 FlushRight, 37, 232
.fd, 17 flushright, 232
.idx, 18, 138 font, 183
.ilg, 18 font size, 183, 186
.ind, 18, 138 \fontsize, 187, 199, 209
.ins, 17 fontspec, viii, 27, 188–193
.jb2, 65 \footcite, 134
.jbig2, 65 footer, 209
.jpeg, 65
\footnote, 36
.jpg, 65
\footnotesize, 186, 187
.lof, 18
\footrule, 221
.log, 14, 18, 183
\footruleskip, 221
.lot, 18
\footrulewidth, 216
.mps, 65
\forall, 80
.pdf, 9, 65
\foreach, 170
.png, 65
\foreignblockquote, 39
.sty, 17, 139
foreigndisplayquote, 39
.tex, 9, 17
\foreignquote, 39
.toc, 18
\foreigntextquote, 39
extramarks, 217, 218
\frac, 80, 119, 121, 122, 230
\extramarks, 217
frame, 145, 146
F \framebox, 223
\fancycenter, 220 \framesubtitle, 146
\fancyf, 217 \frametitle, 146
\fancyfoot, 216 \frenchspacing, 33
\fancyfootoffset, 217 \frontmatter, 35
 272 INDEX

\fussy, 21 \hyperref, 141, 142

\hypersetup, 142
G hyphen, 22
\Gamma, 81 hyphenat, 139
\gamma, 81 \hyphenation, 21
gather, 92
gather*, 92 I
\gcd, 84 IEEEeqnarray, 95, 231
\genfrac, 122, 123, 230 \IEEEeqnarraymulticol, 96
geometry, 139, 213, 214 \IEEEeqnarraynumspace, 96
\geq, 78 IEEEtrantools, 95, 96
\geqslant, 78 \IEEEyesnumber, 96
german, 26 \IEEEyessubnumber, 96
GhostScript, 227 \IfBooleanF, 178
GhostView, 227 \IfBooleanT, 178
Gimp, 227 \IfBooleanTF, 178, 182
\gram, 99 \ifbotfloat, 220
graphics, 14 \iff, 80
graphicx, 65 \iffloatpage, 220
grave, 25 \iffootnote, 220
\grave, 87 \IfNoValueF, 178
\IfNoValueT, 178
H \IfNoValueTF, 178
\hat, 87 \iftopfloat, 220
header, 209 \IfValueF, 177
headings, 209 \IfValueT, 177
\headrule, 221 \IfValueTF, 177, 178
\headruleskip, 221 \iiiint, 86
\headrulewidth, 216 \iiint, 86
Hebrew, 30 \iint, 86
\height, 223, 224 \impliedBy, 80
\hfill, 203 \implies, 80
\highlight, 100 \in, 80
\hline, 64 \include, 73
\hom, 84 \includegraphics, 65, 67, 222
horizontal \includeonly, 73
space, 201 \indent, 212
\hphantom, 115 indentfirst, 212
\href, 141 index, 137
\hskip, 235 \index, 137, 138
\hspace, 56, 201, 235 \inf, 84
\Huge, 186–188 \input, 73
\huge, 186, 187 input file, 9
hyperref, 29, 138, 140–144 \inputminted, 49
 INDEX 273

\institute, 146 \LaTeX, 22, 31

international, 24 \LaTeXe, 22
\Iota, 81 \lBrack, 113
\iota, 81 \ldots, 23, 120
\it, 232 \left, 88, 89
italic, 186 left-aligned, 37
italic correction, 186 legal paper, 208
\item, 36 length
itemize, 36 rigid, 201
\itshape, 185, 186, 232 rubber, 201
\leq, 78
J \leqslant, 78
Japanese, 30 \let, 231
Jawi, 30 letter paper, 208
\lg, 84
K
ligature, 23
\Kappa, 81
\lim, 84
\kappa, 81
\liminf, 84
kashida, 30
\limsup, 84
Kashmiri, 30
line break, 19
\ker, 84
line spacing, 209
\kern, 235
\linebreak, 20
\kilo, 99
Knuth, Donald E., 1 \linespread, 211
koma-script, 209 \linewidth, 206
Korean, 30 listing, 47
Kurdish, 30 listings, 43, 46, 48–51
listings, vi, 43
L \listoffigures, 70
\L, 31 \listoftables, 70, 73
\label, 35, 48, 71, 92 \ln, 84
\Lambda, 81 \lnot, 80
\lambda, 81 \log, 84
Lamport, Leslie, 2 long equations, 90
\land, 80 longtable, 53, 59, 68, 73
lang, 26 longtable, vi, 59–62, 73, 74
language, 24 \lor, 80
\LARGE, 186, 187 lscommand, 175, 176
\Large, 186, 187 \lstinline, 43
\large, 186, 187 \lstinputlisting, 43
\lastleftmark, 218 lstlisting, 43
\lastleftxmark, 217 \lstset, 44
\lastrightmark, 218 luabidi, 29
\lastrightxmark, 217 \lvert, 112
 274 INDEX

M mhchem, 115
MacTeX, 226 \midrule, 54
\mainmatter, 35 MiKTEX, 226
\makebox, 223 \min, 84
makeidx, 15, 137 minipage, 222
makeidx package, 137 minted, vi, 49, 50
\makeindex, 137 minted, 49
makeindex program, 137 \mintinline, 49
\maketitle, 34, 146, 221 \mkern, 235
Malay, 30 \mskip, 235
margins, 212 \mspace, 113, 115, 235
\markboth, 218 \Mu, 81
\markright, 219 \mu, 81
math mode, 77 \multicol, 107
math spacing, 112 \multicolumn, 56–58, 61
\mathbb, 234 multirow, 53, 56
\mathbf, 234 \multirow, 56, 58, 59, 61, 107
\mathbin, 113 multline, 91
\mathcal, 234 multline*, 91
\mathclose, 113 mwe, 65
\mathcolor, 195 N
mathematical natbib, 233
accents, 87 \negmedspace, 97, 114
\mathfrak, 234 \negmedspace, 97
\mathit, 234 \negthickspace, 114
\mathop, 113 \negthinspace, 114
\mathopen, 113 \neq, 78
\mathord, 113 \newcolumntype, 64
\mathpunct, 113 \newcommand, 230
\mathrel, 112, 113 \NewCommandCopy, 181, 198, 231
\mathrm, 234 \NewDocumentCommand, 31, 32, 176,
\mathscr, 234 178, 179, 181, 188, 198, 230
mathtools, 75, 76, 90, 115 \NewDocumentEnvironment, 179–181
matrix, 107 newfloat, 71
matrix, 107, 111, 112 \newfontfamily, 27, 191, 193
\max, 84 \newlength, 205
\mbox, 22, 223 \newline, 19
\mdseries, 186 \NewNegationCommand, 194
\medskip, 204 \newpage, 20
\medskipamount, 204 \newtheorem, 116
\medspace, 114 \nobreakspace, 183
memoir, 209 \nocite, 131
metapost, 158 \node, 160, 161
 INDEX 275

\noindent, 212 beamer, 15, 145, 147, 149, 150,

\nolinebreak, 20 152–155
\nopagebreak, 20 beamerarticle, 154
\nopagecolor, 199 biber, 126
\normalfont, 186 biblatex, vii, 15, 125–127, 130,
\normalsize, 186–188 131, 133
\not, 78, 194 bidi, 29
\notag, 92, 96 booktabs, 15, 53, 54
\nouppercase, 219 chemformula, 115
ntheorem, 118 commutative-diagrams, 158
\Nu, 81 csquotes, 37, 39, 40, 233
\nu, 81 extramarks, 217, 218
\num, 98 fancyhdr, 15, 215–218, 220
\numlist, 103 fancyvrb, 43
fontspec, viii, 27, 188–193
O geometry, 139, 213, 214
ocgx2, 141
graphicx, 65
œ, 25
hyperref, 29, 138, 140–144
\of, 99
hyphenat, 139
\Omega, 81
IEEEtrantools, 95, 96
\omega, 81
indentfirst, 212
\Omicron, 81
koma-script, 209
\omicron, 81
listings, 43, 46, 48–51
one column, 208
longtable, 53, 59, 68, 73
\onslide, 148, 149
luabidi, 29
Ottoman, 30
makeidx, 15, 137
\over, 230
mathtools, 75, 76, 90, 115
\overbrace, 87
memoir, 209
\overbracket, 76
metapost, 158
overfull hbox, 20
\overline, 87 mhchem, 115
\overset, 88, 233, 234 minted, vi, 49, 50
\overwithdelims, 230 multirow, 53, 56
mwe, 65
P newfloat, 71
package, 8, 13 ntheorem, 118
packages ocgx2, 141
amsmath, 15, 75, 90, 95, 107, pgf, 158, 172
122, 147, 229–231, 235 pgfplots, 158
amsthm, 116, 118 polyglossia, 15, 21, 24, 26, 27,
arabxetex, 30 29, 30, 33, 39, 103, 190
array, 53, 63 powerdot, 145
asymptote, 158 ragged2e, 37, 232
babel, 24 setspace, 211
 276 INDEX

showidx, 138 pgfplots, 158

siunitx, vii, 97, 98, 101–103, 105–109
\phantom, 93, 94, 97, 115
syntonly, 74 \Phi, 81
unicode-math, 75, 76, 193, 234 \phi, 81
verbatim, 42, 233 \Pi, 81
xcolor, xiii, 142, 143, 194, 196, \pi, 81
198 \pic, 170
xeCJK, 30 picture, 158
xepersian, 29, 30 piecewise function, 111
xfrac, 121 placement specifier, 70
xypic, 158 plain, 209
page style pmatrix, 111
empty, 209 polyglossia, 15, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29,
headings, 209 30, 33, 39, 103, 190
page style, 209 PostScript, 4, 225, 227
plain, 209 Encapsulated, 227
\pagebreak, 20 powerdot, 145
\pagecolor, 199 \Pr, 84
\pagenumbering, xiii, 209, 210 preamble, 8
\pageref, 35, 142 \prescript, 115
\pagestyle, 209 \printbibliography, 129, 131, 132
paper size, 208 \printindex, 138
paper size, 212 \prod, 85
\par, 183, 187 proof, 118, 147
paragraph, 14 \providecolor, 198
\paragraph, 33 \ProvideDocumentCommand, 178
\parbox, 222 \providefontfamily, 193
parbox, 222 \ProvidesExplPackage, 183
\parencite, 134 \Psi, 81
\parindent, 212 \psi, 81
\parskip, 212 Q
\part, 33 \qedhere, 118
Pashto, 30 \qedsymbol, 118
\path, 159 \qquad, 114
\pause, 148–150, 153 \qty, 98
PDF, 140 \quad, 114
\pdfstringdefDisableCommands, 144Queen of Swash, 186
PDFView, 226 quotation, 40
\per, 99 quotation marks, 37
period, 23
\perp, 112 R
Persian, 29, 30 ragged2e, 37, 232
pgf, 158, 172 \raisebox, 223
 INDEX 277

\rBrack, 113 \setmathfont, 193, 194

\ref, 35, 71, 142 \setminted, 52
\renewcommand, 230 \setminus, 81
\RenewCommandCopy, 231 \setmonofont, 29, 189
\RenewDocumentCommand, 32, 178, 181, \setotherlanguage, 26
230 \setsansfont, 29, 189
\RenewDocumentEnvironment, 181 setspace, 211
\RenewExpandableDocumentCommand, \settodepth, 205
144 \settoheight, 205
\renewfontfamily, 193 \settowidth, 205
reserved characters, 6 \sf, 232
\Rho, 81 \sffamily, 186, 191, 232
\rho, 81 \sfrac, 121
\right, 88, 89, 111 \shoveleft, 91
right-aligned, 37 \shoveright, 91
rigid length, 201 showidx, 138
\rm, 232 SI, 97
\rmfamily, 185, 186, 191, 232 \sideset, 86
roman, 186 \Sigma, 81
rubber length, 201 \sigma, 81
\rule, 224 \sin, 84
\rvert, 112 Sindhi, 30
S single sided, 208
sans serif, 186 \sinh, 84
\sc, 232 \sisetup, 101
Scandinavian letters, 25 siunitx, vii, 97, 98, 101–103, 105–109
scope, 169 \sl, 232
\scriptscriptstyle, 119 slanted, 186
\scriptsize, 186, 187 Slash, 23
\scriptstyle, 119 \slash, 23
\scshape, 186, 232 \sloppy, 21
\sec, 84 \slshape, 186, 232
\section, 29, 33, 132, 147, 175, 218, \small, 186, 187
219 Small Caps, 186
\section*, 132 smallmatrix, 111
\sectionmark, 219 \smallskip, 204
\selectfont, 187, 211 \smartcite, 134
\setbeamercolor, 151 \smash, 119, 120
\setbeamercovered, 149 space, 5
\setbeamerfont, 151 special character, 25
\setdefaultlanguage, 26 \sqrt, 79
\setlength, 205 square root, 79
\setmainfont, 29, 189 \stackbin, 233
 278 INDEX

\stackrel, 233 \tablenum, 107, 110

\stretch, 203, 204 \tableofcontents, 34, 70, 140, 147
structure, 8 tabular, 53, 56, 59, 105, 222
\subparagraph, 33 \tag, 77, 92
subscript, 78 \tan, 84
\subsection, 33, 218 \tanh, 84
\subsectionmark, 219 \Tau, 81
\subset, 81 \tau, 81
\subseteq, 81 \tbinom, 122
\subsetneq, 81 \TeX, 22
\substack, 85 TeXnicCenter, 227
\subsubsection, 33 \texorpdfstring, 144
\subtitle, 146 \text, 78, 93
\succeq, 113 text style, 76
\sum, 84, 113 \textbackslash, 6
\sup, 84 \textbackslash*, 61
superscript, 78 \textbf, 184, 186, 188
\supset, 81 \textcite, 134
\supseteq, 81 \textcolor, 195
\supsetneq, 81 \textit, 185, 186
\swshape, 186 \textlang, 27
\symbb, 82, 83, 234 \textmd, 184, 186
\symbbit, 83 \textnormal, 185, 186
\symbf, 234 \textquote, 38, 39
\symbffrak, 83 \textrm, 184–186
\symbfit, 83
\textsc, 185, 186
\symbfscr, 83
\textsf, 184, 186
\symbfsfit, 83
\textsl, 185, 186
\symbfsfup, 83
\textssc, 185
\symbfup, 83
\textstyle, 119, 121
\symcal, 194, 234
\textsw, 185, 186
\symfrak, 83, 234
\texttt, 184, 186
\symit, 83, 234
\textulc, 185
\symrm, 84, 234
\textup, 185, 186
\symscr, 83, 194, 234
\text«language», 27
\symsfit, 83
\tfrac, 121, 122
\symsfup, 83
\the, 205
\symtt, 83
\symup, 83 thebibliography, vii, 125, 131
syntonly, 74 theorem, 147
\theoremstyle, 116
T \thepage, 217
table, 68, 70, 71 \thesection, 219
table of contents, 34 \Theta, 81
 INDEX 279

\theta, 81 \useasboundingbox, 160

\thickspace, 114 \usecolortheme, 150
\thinspace, 114 \usefonttheme, 151
\thispagestyle, 209 \usepackage, 8, 14, 17, 127, 183
\tikz, 158 \usetheme, 150
tikzpicture, 158 \usetikzlibrary, 172
\tikzset, 166
\tilde, 87 V
tilde (~), 33 \varepsilon, 81, 82
\times, 78, 113 \varkappa, 82
\tiny, 186–188 \varphi, 82
title, 34, 208 \varpi, 82
\title, 34, 146 \varrho, 82
\titlegraphic, 146 \varsigma, 82
\tnss, 176 \varTheta, 82
\today, 22, 27 \vartheta, 82
\toprule, 54 \vdots, 121
\totalheight, 223, 224 \veebar, 80
\tothe, 99 \verb, 41–43, 179
\tracingcolors, 198 verbatim, 42, 233
\tt, 232 verbatim, 42, 43, 233
\ttfamily, 186, 232 verbatim environment, 43
Turkish, 30 \verbatiminput, 42, 43
two column, 208 \verbatiminput*, 42
verse, 40
U vertical space, 204
Uighur, 30 \vfill, 204
umlaut, 25 Vmatrix, 111
\uncover, 149 vmatrix, 111
\underbrace, 87 \vphantom, 115
\underbracket, 76 \vskip, 235
underfull hbox, 21 \vspace, 203, 235
\underset, 88
unicode-math, 75, 76, 193, 234 W
\unit, 98 whitespace, 5
units, 200 at the start of a line, 5
units (TEX), 199 \widehat, 87
units (SI), 97 \width, 223, 224
upright, 186 Word, 138
\upshape, 186 WYSIWYG, 3, 4
\Upsilon, 81
\upsilon, 81 X
Urdu, 30 xcolor, xiii, 142, 143, 194, 196, 198
\url, 141 xeCJK, 30
 280 INDEX

xepersian, 29, 30
xfrac, 121
\Xi, 81
\xi, 81
xypic, 158

Z
\Zeta, 81
\zeta, 81