The Big LaTeX discussion

Although it is perfectly acceptable to handwrite your TMAs at the beginning of every course someone starts the "Big Latex Discussion" again.

It's usually a nerd that starts off by listing the irrelevant but impressive specs of his ( not often her ) hardware, or bloats how much computing know how he has ( part-time math students often work in IT ). He then announces that he 'is going to make his TMAs in LaTeX.

Wow. Jaws dropping. Not.

Not often he also provides us with a list of software artefacts required, version numbers included. Nerdy but deep in the autistic spectrum.

I haven't decided how I'll produce my TMAs this time. I see three options. Hand-written, LaTeX typeset or (new!) handwritten but digitally stored in vector graphics format.

LaTeX became a problem ( pita ) for me in the past when I had to add drawings and stuff. Making and including mathematical drawings in LaTeX is not trivial. Besides it is a major distraction, while you should be thinking about math you are figuring out how some latex drawing package works. Serious waste of time.

Since you can draw on a tablet, store it in SVG and thus manipulate it any way you want, doing the formulas in LaTeX and the drawings 'by hand' is probably the route I take.

Since I do Android work Eclipse became more or less my IDE of (only) choice so I'll give TeXlipse with PDF4Eclipse a try.

TeXnicCenter 2.0 Alpha 4

TeXnicCenter have released Alpha 4 of TeXnicCenter, the LaTeX IDE for Windows.

More at: http://www.texniccenter.org/

LaTeXDraw

Although typesetting mathematics has somewhat of a learning curve you will get used to it and after a while it will become your only option for writing mathematics. If you aren't using LaTeX yet, there will come a day when it is hard to understand you could do ever without it. Like the Internet, for example.

Typesetting mathematics is one thing. Typesetting pictures, or drawings is an entirely different ballgame. Where LaTeX is built upon Don Knuth's original TeX, the community created tons of add-on packages for LaTeX. For the typesetting of graphics there are two major options: PSTricks and TikZ/PGF. Although the possibilities of creating professional graphics in your documents seems limitless, creating them by hand, i.e. through code, is hard. Again, the community came with a solution by creating IDEs for these packages.

( As I blogged before ) M381 TMA01 requires the inclusion of a flowchart. What is simpler to draw than a flowchart? Well, it is the lines, arrows, text insertions, fonts and all that which makes it a challenge. I decided to install the IDE for PSTricks called LaTeXDraw and I must say that the first results are hopeful. LaTeXDraw is a graphical drawing editor for LaTeX and can be used to generate PSTricks code. LaTeXDraw is developed in Java and thus runs on top of Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. The LaTeXDraw GUI consists of two panels, a left panel drawbord and a right panel code editor. The panels remain in-sync while either graphically modifying the drawing or via code. Using the mouse you can drag and drop template figures and draw them, basically like as in any drawing tool. The PSTricks commands for LaTeX are instantly generated in the code-editor. When you are done a simple copy and paste into your document completes the process.

It looks as though LaTeXDraw becomes part of my basic software toolkit. I'll keep you posted.

LaTeXDraw

Investigating LaTeX graphics ( M381 TMA due soon )

M381 TMA01 consists of nine questions, 5 about number theory and 4 about mathematical logic. Question 6b asks us to draw a flowchart of a URM program. Since I typeset my TMA's ( instead of using a pen or worse: using a word processor ) I need to insert the flowchart as a graphic. Although almost any graphic can be inserted in a document ( including scans from manually drawn stuff ) I want to give the TMA a professional look and feel ( no: it won't add a single point, but are you transforming yourself into a knowledgeable mathematician or are you only interested in the grades? ). I investigated what the possibilities are for producing high-quality graphics with LaTeX.

It was as if I entered a new world entirely. I looked at PS-Tricks before but got overwhelmed with its possibilities ( and possible steep learning curve ), this time I had a better look. And I looked at PGF/TikZ as well. Both look very impressive and have the support of third-party editors. Both seem to have an established and satisfied user-base. I might have overlooked something but it seems that PS Tricks and PGF/TikZ are the competing 'standards' for native LaTeX graphics.

My next step is installing and as a test trying to create the flow-chart graphic for the M381 TMA.

PS Tricks graphic example

Links:
- PS Tricks
- PGF/TikZ (TikZ ist kein Zeichenprogramm)

[TIP] - LaTeX for OpenOffice

I copied this pic from the site of OOLatex, which is a LaTeX extension for the Open Office Suite.

Click to enlarge

To be frank I have only just begun with exploring the possibilities to produce texts with ( LaTeX -) mathematics on Powerpoint ( or Impress ) format. - I have learned many times over that I shouldn't write with the presentation in mind. I have only recently implemented this simple rule here on this blog and the effort slowly begins to pay off. But that's another issue.

[TIP] - Copy MathJax LaTeX source

If you see mathematical equations in this blog then they are created using MathJax. If you move your mouse cursor over the equation and then right-click a little MathJax menu appears. You can for example copy the LaTeX source of the equation and use it in another application.

[News] - Springer.com releases LaTeX Search

The Springer LaTeX search lets you search through over 2,660,787 LaTeX code snippets to find the equation you need.

Try it here: http://www.latexsearch.com/

TeXnicCenter 2.0 Alpha 3 is available

A third Alpha version of the new TeXnicCenter 2.0 has been released. I have issued MT365-TMA01 in handwritten format btw, but that's an exception.

UPDATE:
Tested with done TMA's and template for mathematics book Springer style. No bugs or issues found. Decided to use this version for the next M208 TMA.

Latex in HTML

Until 2008 or so texts like $\zeta(2) = \int_0^1 \int_0^1 \frac{dx dy}{1-x y} = \frac{\pi^2}{6}$ where produced by inserting image files in the HTML. Thanks to Ajax technology we can simply type Latex in HTML. Amazing as current technology seemed impossible only a decade ago. - What I still can't do - in a flexible, simple, manner is producing graphs, dwawings and the likes.

I wanted to write about graph theory as I am studying Graphs-2 of MST365, but even drawing one nice and clear graphs image is close to impossible. Even in Mathematica it takes tons of code. - The topic I wanted to discuss is really, really interesting. About some deep connection between graph theory and number theory via unlabelled trees and integer-partitions. Well, maybe another time.

MathJax

Yesterday I found MathJax. Thanks to Twitter, btw. Twitter can be very helpful in the process of collecting valuable information from the web.

MathJax in brief:
High-quality display of LaTeX and MathML math notation in HTML pages
Supported in most browsers with no plug-ins, extra fonts or special setup for the reader
Easy for authors, flexible for publishers, extensible for developers
Supports math accessibility, cut and paste interoperability and other advanced functionality
Powerful API for integration with other web applications

We are now able to write math on the web.
\[\sum_{k=0}^{n} {n \choose k} = 2^n \]

No plugins needed. Use simple Latex. If you don't know Latex let Mathematica write it for you.

( testing ... LaTeX )

The probability of getting \(k\) heads when flipping \(n\) coins is:

\[\sum_{k=0}^{n} {n \choose k} = 2^n \]
\[P(E) = {n \choose k} p^k (1-p)^{ n-k} \]

An Identity of Ramanujan

\[ \frac{1}{(\sqrt{\phi \sqrt{5}}-\phi) e^{\frac25 \pi}} =

1+\frac{e^{-2\pi}} {1+\frac{e^{-4\pi}} {1+\frac{e^{-6\pi}}

{1+\frac{e^{-8\pi}} {1+\ldots} } } } \]

( ... more later !!! )

Software TIPS

I made two software 'discoveries' today. Must have stuff, really.
- 1. Asymptote. A graphics programming language really, directly includable in Latex. Sort of a steep learning curve but so has Latex and that was an investment that paid off for everyone who learned it. That is I never heard of someone who regrets to have learned Latex.
- 2. Dropbox. The definitive solution for sharing data between your computers ( desktop(s), laptop and phone ). Free up to 2GB. It creates an extra folder on all your systems. I am setting it up right now.

External Links:
http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/,
http://www.dropbox.com/

Dropbox is ideal for syncing your iTunes Library file over your PC, Laptop and iPhone.

Bad news about TeXnicCenter 2.0 alpha

I compiled some TMA's and the result was -not- as expected. Problems with /figure. The included graphics files were not included. I created a new document and included a figure with the wizard, which is a new feature in version 2. The file was included but major problems this time with the size of the pic. Since it is an alpha release I decided to let go. Hopefully better next time. TeXnicCenter has an Office 2007 look and feel. ( Would they have seen the again new l&f of office 2010? Even better than 2007 imho ). - So it remains version 1 for me, I suppose. Does not matter. It did the job, the marks came back home.

Breaking news ( I missed ): TeXnicCenter 2.0 alpha released

Last October TeXnicCenter 2.0 ( alpha 1 ) was released. I just read about it and immediately had to make a note of it in my blog. How could I have missed it? October had a lot of things going on for me, including the MS221 exam ( results expected on the 18th ), suppose that must be the reason. Since I am not working actively on TMA's at the moment I don't use TXC a lot right now.

To the point: the new version. It is really great news that the developers took the time to upgrade TXC. Although near perfect already new technologies in IDEs became standard in recent years which aren't in TXC 1. Cold folding is one of them and it has been implemented in TXC 2 according to the website. Cold-folding is really a must-have nowadays. I recently blew TXC and started to use an Eclipse based TeX IDE. After only one TMA I returned to TXC which simply works best for me.

I will install and test the version of TeXniCCenter 2.0 alpha and report my findings here.

TexNicCenter

Layed the foundation for new TMA's

Layed foundation for MS221-TMA02, MST121-TMA04. That is I prepared two latex docs in Texlipse and added all chapters, headings, toc stuff. All I have to do now is do the math. May is an busy month in all areas.

TeXnicCenter or Texclipse as a LaTeX IDE ??

Currently I have both IDE's installed, both do the job of compiling my in TeX written TMAs to .pdf documents. The TMA sets I sent in were close to 20 pages and contained several TeX and external images.

I haven't decided yet, here are some preliminary thoughts.

TeXnicCenter is modelled after Visual Studio ( I suppose ) while Texclipse is a plugin for the Eclipse platform.

Both applications are free.

No major new functionalities seem to be planned for Texclipse. The last bugfix-only release was in mid 2008. It looks as though Texclipse will be abondoned soon. The platform Eclipse is updated regularly.

For TeXnicCenter work on release 2.0 has been started.

TeXnicCenter is closed source, while Texclipse is open source Java.

Sofar about comparing the two. More on functionality after I have completed my next TMA. I´ll prepare the TMA with Texclipse.

More later.

Latex for Blogger

Try it at Equation Editor

PSTricks

( This morning I asked the account manager what his gut feeling was about the job for which I was interviewed last week. He had an 80% feeling about it. I was more worried because the relationship between the prospect and us was very thin. All we had done was acting upon a request which had been sent to probably every IT company in the country. My position is still 'idle' )

Eventually I want to be able to write mathematics of my own. Besides being able in math, writing math requires some special computer skills. Mathematics is usually not written with a word processor although Word has a nice formula editor nowadays. Writing beautiful mathematics is possible but at the cost of a steep learning curve. The tools to know are MiKTeX and TeXnicCenter. But what about illustrations? For that I discovered an amazing set of tools. PSTricks and LaTeXDraw. PSTricks is a set of commands to include graphics into TeX. LaTeXDraw is a wysyiwig graphics to PSTricks converter. Seeing is believing. This toolset makes it possible to add professional looking graphics to your documents. I think it is worth the steep learning curve. For common graphics a wealth of examples is available anyway.

LaTeX IDE's: shortlist

I have been looking at various LaTeX editors. The cycle of producing mathematics documents is very similar to producing (Java) software so LaTeX editors are in fact complete IDE's. That's why both NetBeans and Eclipse, popular Java IDE's have a LaTeX module ( NetBeans) or plug-in(s) ( Eclipse ).
I have looked at
* Lyx
* TeXnicCenter
* LaTeX for NetBeans
* TeXlipse (Eclipse plug-in)
* LEd

Lyx tries to be wysiwyg, and therefore does not work for high level math. TeXnicCenter is the tool I have been using from the beginning. Excellent, really, but it lacks features like code-folding. LaTeX for NetBeans. It would be extremely cool to be able to produce math in NetBeans. It can be done but the feature set does not even come close to TeXnicCenter, although it has code-folding. TeXlipse is worse than LaTeX for NetBeans. The document structure viewer does not even support multiple file documents. There is something like the Full LaTeX view but it does not work in many cases. LEd. Excellent stuff but it is not very friendly to projects created with other tools. I was not able to import an existing set of tex files.

My choice is TeXnicCenter.

TeXnicCenter

As far as mathematics is concerned I am more or less illiterate. I can read a bit but when it comes to writing I freeze entirely. What to write? I just can't formulate my thoughts in a mathematical correct manner. What is worse? Well, I can't even reproduce a text from some math book. Look at me, on my age, learning to type. It is depressing. Look at the bright side, I have TeXnicCenter. That's a start. You can't write a letter without a pen either.