# Best way to learn LaTeX

1. Jan 13, 2006

### qtp

can someone please help me. i have never used latex and i don't have tex either but it seems like a really great program to have for math/phys type apps. can anyone tell me where to get it or how to get it and maybe a good way to learn to use it? any help is much appreciated.

thank you
Preston :)

2. Jan 13, 2006

### rachmaninoff

Windows user, I presume?

Start here:
http://www.miktex.org/

Then learn LaTeXing from any of these
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Misc/LaTeX-Tutorial/LaTeX-Home.html
https://www.physicsforums.com/misc/howtolatex.pdf
http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~dunbar/docs/amsldoc.pdf [Broken]

and you can ask us questions in this subforum

On this particular forum, you can embed Tex with [ tex ] [ /tex ] delimiters. You don't need any extra software to do this! Click on any embedded TeX to see its source code:

$$\Gamma(z)=\int_0^{\infty}t^{z-1}\, e^{-t} \, dt \quad \mbox{(Click on me!!!)}$$

Or if you're trying to make a document (such as a paper or article), you create a text file containing your LaTeX code, save it as a .tex, and, using your LaTeX compiler (windows users use MikTeX - I give the link above) to create a readable DVI document:

latex filename.tex

and then you read/print/export-to-pdf the resulting document, "filename.dvi".

Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2017
3. Jan 13, 2006

### qtp

ty vm :) hmm 10 chars

4. Jan 14, 2006

### Sting

I wish I could give you a detailed explanation but I have to go pretty soon...but here's a LaTeX document I wrote:

\documentclass[onecolumn, 10pt]{article}
\title{Quantum Mechanics II: Homework}
\maketitle
\begin{document}
4.26 (a) Check that the spin matrices

S_{z} = \frac{\hbar}{2}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}
1 & 0 \\
0 & -1 \end{array} \right)

\newline

S_{x} = \frac{\hbar}{2}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}
0 & 1 \\
1 & 0 \end{array} \right)

\newline

S_{y} = \frac{\hbar}{2}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}
0 & -i \\
i & 0 \end{array} \right)

\newline
obey the fundamental communtation relations for angular momentum:

[S_{x}, S_{y}] = i\hbar S_{z}

\newline

[S_{y}, S_{z}] = i\hbar S_{x}

\newline

[S_{z}, S_{x}] = i\hbar S_{y}

(b) Show that the Pauli spin matrices

\sigma_{x} = \left(\begin{array}{ccc}
0 & 1 \\
1 & 0 \end{array} \right)

\newline

\sigma_{y} = \left(\begin{array}{ccc}
0 & -i \\
i & 0 \end{array} \right)

\newline

\sigma_{z} = \left(\begin{array}{ccc}
1 & 0 \\
0 & -1 \end{array} \right)

\newline
satisfy the product rule

\sigma _{j}\sigma _{k} = \delta _{jk} + i\sum_{l}\epsilon _{jkl}\sigma _{l}

\newpage
4.29) (a) Find the eigenvalues and eigenspinors of $S_{y}$ \newline
(b) If you measure $S_{y}$ on a particle in the general state $\chi$ where

\chi = \left(\begin{array}{ccc} a\\b\end{array}\right) = \left(a\chi _{+} + b\chi _{-}\right)

\newline
what values might you get, and what is the probability of each? $a$ and $b$ need not be real and check that the probabilities add up to 1 \newline
(c) If you measured $S^{2}_{y}$ what values might you get and with what probabilities?\newline

4.30) Construct the matrix $S_{r}$ representing the component of spin angular momentum along the arbitrary direction $\widehat{r}$

\widehat{r} = \sin \theta \cos \phi \widehat{i} + \sin \theta \sin \phi \widehat{j} + \cos \theta \widehat{k}

Find the eigenvalues and (normalized) eigenspinors of $S_{r}$ \newline
\newline
4.33) An electron is at rest in an oscillating magnetic field \newline

\widehat{B} = \widehat{B}_{0} \cos \left(\omega t \right) \widehat{k}

where $\widehat{B}_{0}$ and $\omega$ are constants. \newline
(a) Construct the Hamitonian matrix directly for this system.\newline
(b) The electron starts out (at \textit{t} = 0) in the spin up state with respect to the \textit{x} axis (that is: $\chi(\theta) = \chi^{x}_{+}$)\newline
Determine $\chi \left(t\right)$ at any subsequent time. \newline
(c) Find the probability of getting $\frac{-\hbar}{2}$ if you measure $S_{x}$\newline
(d) What is the minimum field required to force a complete flip in $S_{x}$?

\end{document}

5. Jan 14, 2006

### Sting

Copy and paste into an editor and see what happens...if you have any questions about it, feel free to send me an IM or email and I'll get back to you ASAP.

And if time permits, I'll try to give you a better explanation of LaTeX.

6. Jan 14, 2006

### ComputerGeek

Windows, use MikTex for your Tex distribution, and texnicenter for your editor. texnicenter has all your documents for reference right there and it has many good IDE features to help you create documents quickly

7. Jan 14, 2006

### Tx

I installed MikTex and TeXniccentre and I am just learning how to use LaTeX, whenever I try to convert to PDF there is this odd error box comes up, It said that the file dosen't exist that I am trying to preview in PDF. Someone help!

8. Apr 18, 2007

### tunainbrine

Hi

I want to repeat an equation in my latex document but I want it to keep the same number as its original. I have tried to use eqnref.sty but cannot work out how to do it. Can anyone help me please?

9. Apr 18, 2007

### cristo

Staff Emeritus
I've always wondered how to do that. I gave up trying to find out and just didn't give the second equation a number, so the reader can refer to the original; however I would still like to know how to do this (if there's a simple way, anyway!)