TeX for Bard Students
Ethan D. Bloch
TeX is the state-of-the-art typesetting program used by many mathematicians and computer scientists, some scientists and social scientists, and most publishers of mathematics books and journals. TeX was originally developed by the well known computer scientist Donald Knuth. There are a variety of implementations of TeX available; at Bard we use TeXShop for Macs, PCTeX for PC's, and the standard implementation of TeX that is part of Linux. For further information about TeX, please contact any of the faculty members in mathematics or computer science.
LaTeX is the most widely used variety of TeX, and we recommend its use. Some introductory manuals for LaTeX, as well as style files for Bard senior projects and for homework, are available below.
For more about LaTeX, there is a lot of material available on the web (though a bit of care is needed, because some of it is out of date); a good place to start searching is the TeX site of the American Mathematical Society.
Contents
Free LaTex Implementations
There are a number of free implementations of LaTeX that can be downloaded from the web. We mention one for Windows and one for Macs. For both of these implementations, be sure to follows the downloading and installation instructions carefully, because each implementation consists of a number of components that need to be installed.
A Brief Introduction to LaTeX for Bard Students
For a basic introduction to LaTeX, especially for Bard senior projects, we have available a manual entitled "A Brief Introduction to LaTeX for Bard Students." (This manual is based on the out-of-date but widely available "An introduction to TeX and friends" by Gavin Maltby, but has been updated and revised, and includes some useful mathematical commands from AmSLaTeX.) The manual is available in both LaTeX and PDF formats. Click below to download these files.
Additional LaTeX Manuals
A more detailed introduction to LaTeX is "The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e" by Tobias Oetiker, Hubert Partl, Irene Hyna and Elisabeth Schlegl; this manual is up-to-date with regards to LaTeX, though it does not discuss the mathematical commands of AmSLaTeX. A very thorough manual for the mathematical commands of AmSLaTeX is "Short Math Guide for LaTeX" by Michael Downes. These manuals are available in PDF formats. Click below to download these files.
Bard Senior Project Style
We have available a style file for use with Bard senior projects; there is also a template for Bard senior projects, and a brief manual for this style file (available in both LaTeX and PDF formats). Click below to download these files.
Bard Poster Style
We have available a style file for making posters for the Bard Senior Projects Poster Session; there is also a template for the making posters, a brief manual for this style file (available in both LaTeX and PDF formats), and a sample poster (available in both LaTeX and PDF formats). Click below to download these files.
Bard Homework Style
We have available a style file for use with homework assignments; there is also a template for homework assignments, and a brief manual for this style file (available in both LaTeX and PDF formats). Click below to download these files.
Various Useful LaTeX Packages
There exist a large number of LaTeX packages for various purposes that can be downloaded. Available below are a few of the packages that I have found particularly useful. A good place to look for more packages is at the TeX site of the American Mathematical Society listed above.