LaTeX (pronounced “LAY-tech” or “LAH-tech”) is a typesetting system widely used for scientific documents, research papers, technical writing, and academic publishing. Unlike WYSIWYG editors (like Microsoft Word), LaTeX uses markup commands to format documents, making it ideal for:
- Mathematical Equations
- Scientific Publications
- Professional Formatting
- Automated Bibliographies (via BibTeX)
- Large Document Management (Books, Theses, Reports)
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- High-Quality Output: Ideal for math-heavy and structured documents.
- Professional Typesetting: Handles complex formatting better than Word.
- Cross-Platform: Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Automated Numbering & Referencing: Handles citations, equations, figures, and tables automatically.
- Open-Source & Free: No licensing costs.
Disadvantages
- Learning Curve: Requires familiarity with commands.
- No Real-Time Visual Editing: Unlike Word, you don’t see the final document until compiled. (Even though there are some real time compilers but they are very performance heavy)
- Debugging Errors Can Be Hard: Syntax errors can be tricky.
Basic Structure
\documentclass{article} % Document type
\usepackage{amsmath} % Import package for math
\begin{document} % Start content
\title{Introduction to LaTeX}
\author{John Doe}
\date{\today}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
LaTeX is a powerful typesetting system for scientific writing.
\section{Mathematics}
We can write equations like this:
\begin{equation}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
\end{document}