LaTeX Start Learning LaTex for Physics Forum: Easier Than It Seems

AI Thread Summary
To start using LaTeX on the physics forum, learning the basic coding is essential, but it is not as daunting as it seems. MiKTeX is a suitable software for LaTeX, but it does not automatically generate syntax for you. Users can easily learn to create equations in LaTeX within about 30 minutes. Key points include wrapping LaTeX code in specific tags, using a backslash for symbols, and employing superscripts and subscripts with ^ and _ respectively. For assistance with commands, searching online for specific LaTeX syntax is effective. While initially intimidating, mastering LaTeX can be achieved in a few days, and once familiar, it becomes intuitive.
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If I want to start using LaTex on the physics forum, is the best way to do it just to learn all the coding? This seems like quite a task for me (I've never learned any computer language thing). I downloaded MiKtex (LaTex software) and was hoping that it would somehow write up the proper syntax for me and I could just paste it onto here... Idk I'm not that computer savy. Is there software that will write LaTex format for me that I can download to my computer and then paste onto Physics Forums easily?
 
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It's just not that hard to learn. I'm sure you could be making equations in 30 min or so if you try it.
A few simple things:
(1) You wrap
Code:
[tex] [/tex]
around the latex stuff.
(2) the latex symbols are preceded by a backslash \, so greek letters, for example are \alpha.
(3) ^ makes a superscript, and _ makes a subscript.
(4) You can look at the tex code in an equation by right-clicking on it and then selecting Show Math as - tex commands
(5) When you can't remember a command, like "what was the tex for an integral?", you just google: latex - integral and it will show you.

So for example the tex for

\alpha^2

is just:
Code:
[tex]\alpha^2[/tex]

Try it!

Note that I wrapped CODE tags around the latex stuff you you could see what they look like - you don't want to do tht if you want latex to implement it.
 
I used to be afraid of trying to learn LaTeX so I copy-pasted all the symbols I needed by googling them.Let me just say that this was a stupid approach in retrospective.LaTeX takes a couple of days to get used to , so it's really not that hard.You just have to get started and once you're there it will just flow.
 

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