Publishing Documents using LaTeX

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. Scientists write research papers full of formulas that look perfectly printed. They often do not use a word processor at all. They use LaTeX. Your Class twelve Computer Studies syllabus teaches it, and today we will write and publish our first LaTeX document.

Here is the map of this topic. First, what LaTeX is and why people use it. Next, the structure of every LaTeX document. Then commands for the title, sections and text formatting. After that, lists, tables and mathematical formulas. Finally, how the source file becomes a PDF that you can publish.

LaTeX is a document preparation system, and it does typesetting. Typesetting means arranging text neatly on a page, as a printing press does. In LaTeX, you type plain text with commands, instead of clicking buttons to format. It is free and open source, and it works on Linux, Windows and macOS. Scientists, maths teachers and book writers love it because formulas come out beautiful.

Let us compare LaTeX with a word processor. A word processor is WYSIWYG, which means what you see is what you get, while LaTeX uses markup commands. In a word processor you see the final look as you type, but in LaTeX you see the source text. Formulas are hard to type in a word processor but neat and easy in LaTeX. LaTeX sets the layout automatically, like numbering and spacing. The trade off is that a word processor is easier at the start, and LaTeX needs practice.

LaTeX has a few rules of writing. A command always starts with a backslash, like backslash section. Anything the command works on goes inside curly braces, called the argument. An environment is a block with a begin and an end, like begin document and end document. A percent sign starts a comment, which LaTeX ignores and never prints.

Here is a complete, small LaTeX file. Backslash document class, with article in braces, says the document is an article. The part before begin document is called the preamble, and here it sets the title and the author. The body sits between begin document and end document. Backslash make title prints the title and author at the top. The normal sentence is printed as a paragraph.

Inside the body, we organise and format text. Backslash section creates a numbered heading, like one, Introduction. Backslash subsection creates a smaller heading, numbered one point one. Backslash text b f makes text bold, and backslash text i t makes it italic. Backslash underline draws a line under the text. Two backslashes together break the line.

LaTeX has two common list environments. The itemize environment makes a bulleted list, where order does not matter. Each point starts with backslash item. The enumerate environment makes a numbered list, where order matters, like steps of a morning routine. LaTeX adds the bullets and numbers for you.

Maths is where LaTeX shines. Text between single dollar signs is maths inside a sentence, and here it prints A equals pi r squared. The caret makes a power, and backslash pi prints the Greek letter pi. Backslash square bracket puts a formula on its own centred line, and backslash frac makes a fraction. The underscore makes a subscript, so H, subscript two, O prints the formula of water.

Tables use the tabular environment. The letters in braces set the columns, where l means left aligned and c means centred, and the vertical bars draw column lines. Backslash h line draws a horizontal line. The ampersand separates one cell from the next. Two backslashes end a row, and here each row is followed by a line. This small table shows the subject Maths with ninety two marks.

Now let us publish the document. First, type the source in an editor, such as TeXworks or Texmaker, and save it with the dot tex extension. Next, compile it, which means converting the source into a finished document, using the pdflatex program or the editor's typeset button. LaTeX then checks, are there any errors, like a missing brace? If yes, read the error line, fix the source and compile again. If no, open the PDF file and share or print it.

Pause and predict. A student types backslash text b f, opens the curly brace, but forgets to close it. What happens when the file is compiled? LaTeX stops with an error, often called a runaway argument, because the brace was never closed. Always close every brace you open.

Let us revise what we learned today. LaTeX is a free typesetting system that uses commands. Commands start with a backslash, and arguments go inside curly braces. A document has a preamble, then the body between begin document and end document. We used section, text b f, itemize, tabular and dollar signs for maths. Finally, save the file as dot tex, compile it with pdflatex, and you get a PDF. Type the school trip example yourself and compile it today.