TeX (and Variations) for Writing Math

TeX is a progenitor of math typesetting software. It can be used for precise placement of text on a page, or for document organization concepts like title, author, abstract and section.

The TeX language is written in plain ASCII text, so it can be written with basic text editors and formatted later by TeX. The basic "write-render" workflow can be augmented with programming editors (like emacs, kate, vi) or with TeX editing environments (kile, TeXshop, etc.).

Equations written in TeX's math mode can be exchanged over low-fidelity media like plain-email and instant-messaging.

TeX output can be dvi, ps or pdf.

CTAN has an online catalog of TeX resources.

LaTex Source Editing with Kile, a TeX IDE.

Pdf LaTeX output can be indexed by search engines.

HTML can also be generated from TeX.

TeX Resources

Why LaTeX? from the American Mathematical Society
TeX User Group (TUG)
Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2e
Math Mode Examples from Meta-Wiki

The PracTeX Journal - TUG's online journal on practical TeX use.
TUGboat - A print journal for TUG members, posted online roughly a year after print.

HyperTeX BibTeX - A TeX based file format for storing citations and generating bibliographies

TeX4ht can convert latex files to web pages.

TeX Software

If you have other TeX software installed and added to this list, let the computer staff know.

Software listed as "TeX Editor" typically has a one-click, or one-command way to render TeX to dvi, ps or pdf.

TeX Distributions

The easiest way to set up TeX is with a 500MB TeX distribution that includes many current TeX tools. The TeX distribution to download depends on what operating system you run. All three distributions are hosted by the TeX User Group (TUG.org).

• Windows - proTeXt is an installer for MikTeX, Ghostview and some extra software.
• Linux, Windows - TeXLive is included as a package in most versions of Linux.
• Mac OS X - MacTeX is a TeXLive installer for Mac.

Windows, Mac and Linux

Texmaker TeX Editor
TexMaths Equation Editor for the LibreOffice which contains Impress for making presentation slides.

Linux

Applications/Publications
  acroread Adobe Acroread
  ggv Gnome Ghostview
  ghostscript Postscript Utilities
  gpdf Gnome Pdf
  gv Ghostview
  jadetex TeX Without Limits
  kile TeX Editor
  passivetex XML to TeX
  psutils Postscript Utilities
  tetex TeX Utilities
  tetex-xdvi # An X viewer for DVI files.
  texinfo TeX Variation for Documentation
  xmltex Namespace-aware XML parser written in TeX.
  xpdf A PDF file viewer for the X Window System.

Applications/Multimedia
  kdegraphics - /usr/bin/kpdf
  transfig Utilities for creating TeX documents with portable graphics.
  xfig An X Window System tool for drawing basic vector graphics.   Inkscape Desktop illustration software for making vector graphics.

Applications/Systems
  lyx Quasi-WYSWIG LaTeX editor

Macintosh

  MacGhostview Postscript Viewer
  OzTeX Tex to Dvi to Postscript
  Preview Pdf Viewer
  Reader Pdf Viewer
  TeXShop TeX Editor
  Textures TeX Editor and Live Render

Windows

TeX Tools
  MikTex TeX Utilities
  TeXnic Center TeX Editor, Open Source
  WinEdt TeX Editor, Shareware
  WinShell TeX Editor, Free Download

Previewers
  Ghostview Postscript Utilities
  Reader Pdf Viewer

Tips and Tricks

Inverse Search Between PDF and TeX Source

While proofreading TeX documents, it's helpful to go between matching points of the PDF/DVI and source versions of the document. The source is made before it's pdf, so to search from the source to the PDF is called a forward search. The opposite direction (from PDF/DVI to source) is called inverse or reverse searching.

The mechanism to perform forward or inverse searches depend what software is editing the TeX source, and what software is previewing the PDF/DVI. Some key and mouse combinations to do searches are in the table below.

Editor	OS	Forward Search	Inverse Search
Kile+KDVI	Linux	Forward Search Button	Middle Click
Kile+Okular	Linux	Forward Search Not Implemented	Shift Click
TeXShop	Mac OS X	?	Command+Click
Vim/xdvi	Linux	_g	Ctrl Click
Emacs/xdvi	Linux	*	Ctrl Click
WinEdt	Windows	DVI Search Button	Double Click

*   Shortcut commands in Emacs and Vim are user chosen.

TeX Inputs

LaTeX can include other files using the \input{} command. By default LaTeX searches the directory the main TeX file is in, but can search other directories if they are listed in the TEXINPUTS environment variable.

Environment variables like TEXINPUTS are used by command line shells (sh, csh, zsh, bash) to define behavior. Details for how to set environment variables differ for different shells, bash is the default shell on Linux and Mac OS X.

To set up a TEXINPUTS directory you can do the following steps.

1. Make a directory called TEXINPUTS in your home directory with the following command.

   mkdir ~/TEXINPUTS

2. Add the following lines to the bash configuration file ~/.bashrc using an editor like emacs, gedit, or vi.

   TEXINPUTS=.:$HOME/TEXINPUTS:/usr/share/texmf/tex/latex//
   export TEXINPUTS

   The double slash causes bash to recurses through the system texmf library for the TEXINPUTS environment variable.
3. Close the shell and restart it, or log out and log back in.
4. Verify TEXINPUTS is set by running echo $TEXINPUTS in the shell. You should see the directories that were set in the ~/.bashrc file.

Figures with XFig and Inkscape

Many people have used xfig to make illustrations for LaTeX papers. Xfig is illustration software that's been around since 1985, though Xfig may no longer under development.

Inkscape is another illustration package, and it can load xfig files. Inkscape's user interface is a much closer match to other desktop software people may have used. LaTeX text can be set using the menu Effects->Render->LaTeX Formula.

For bulk figure conversion from fig to eps or svg, fig2vect is available, but not included in the default Fedora distro. To convert a single figure, use Xfig to export as SVG (available in xfig 3.2.5alpha5).