Getting Started

The Process

As we have already noted there are several steps needed to create a document in TEX .

Figure: The TEX process

1. Create the input file document.tex with a text editor. If you use a word processor, then you must be sure to save the document as plain text.

2. Run TEX on the input file. This will produce a DeVice Independent (DVI) file document.dvi. The DVI file is not human readable.

3. Run a DVI driver on your DVI file to either translate it to a readable form, preview it on screen, or print it.

Your first TEX document

We will now create a simple TEX document, by entering in the following text to a file called perfect.tex.

\parskip=\baselineskip \parindent=0pt \hsize=5in
\hoffset=.75in 
\centerline{\bf Unsolved Problems} \vskip 15pt

A number is said to be {\bf perfect} if it is the
sum of its divisors.  For example, $6$ is perfect
because $1+2+3=6$, and $1$, $2$ and $3$ are the
only numbers that divide evenly into $6$ (apart
from $6$ itself).

It has been shown that all even perfect numbers
have the form $$2^{p-1}(2^p-1)$$ where $p$ and $q$
are both prime.

The existence of {\it odd\/} perfect numbers is an
open question. \bye

Save the file and run TEX on it with tex perfect.tex:

rob@random:~$ tex perfect.tex
This is TeX, Version 3.14159 (Web2C 7.3)
(perfect.tex [1] )
Output written on perfect.dvi (1 page, 892 bytes).
Transcript written on perfect.log.
rob@random:~$

The output file is called perfect.dvi. We may preview this file by running the command xdvi perfect.dvi:

TEX syntax

Commands

Commands (or control sequences) are usually a backslash followed by a sequence of letters. They are case sensitive, e.g. \vskip. Control sequences end with the first non-letter. Thus \vskip2in says skip 2 inches vertically.

Arguments

Arguments to a command may be enclosed in braces to make it clear what the argument is--if the argument has spaces, then you will definitely need braces. For example in

\centerline{\bf Unsolved Problems},

the argument to \centerline is \bf Unsolved Problems.

Braces

Braces are used to enclose an argument, but also to delimit the scope of a command. For example \bf makes all the following text bold. If you only want a small amount of text bold, then you enclose the text in braces: {\bf perfect}

Special Characters

TEX has the following special or reserved characters:

Symbol	Meaning	Typeset with
#	Parameter definition	\#
$	Toggles math mode	\$
%	A comment	\%
&	Column separator	\&
~	Unbreakable space or accent	\~{\ }
^	Superscript or accent	\^{\ }
_	Subscript	\_
$\backslash$	Begins a control sequence	$\backslash$
{	Begin group	\{
}	End group	\}
$\vert$	em-dash (|)	$|$
$<$	Upside down ! (<)	$<$
$>$	Upside down ? (>)	$>$
"	No meaning	\verb+"+
``	Open double quote	``
''	Close double quote	''

Mathematics

Mathematics is written in single dollar signs for inline, and double dollar signs for displayed math: $x^2+y^2=1$ gives $x^2+y^2=1$, while $$x^2+y^2=1$$ gives

$$x^2+y^2=1 \ .$$

Accents and special characters

TEX can produce a wide range of accents and other spceial characters used in text. A few examples of these are given below.

Character	Typeset	Appearance
tilde	\~n	cañon
acute	\'e	résumé
circumflex	\^o	l'Hôpital
grave	\`a	á la mode
umlaut	\"e	Noël
cedilla	\c c	garçon (gar\c con)
	\ae \AE	Ægean, ægean (\AE gean)
	\ss	Weierstraß
	\AA	Ångstrom (\AA ngstrom)
	<Si!	<Si!
	>Que?	>Que?

Other special symbols

Dashes

TEX understands three types of dash.

• Hyphens between parts of words, e.g. ``anti-alias'', are produced with a single dash, anti-alias
• Ranges of numbers, e.g. ``5-10'', are produced with a double dash, 5--10
• Interword dashes--between words are produced with three dashes, ... dashes--between...

Ellipses

These are the dots you can use when you run out of things to say... They can be used with \ldots

Quotes

Single and double quotes, ``He said, `Go away!' so I left.'' are written with ` and ' characters:

``He said, `Go away!' so I left.''