# Diagrams -> LaTex

1. Mar 29, 2009

### kbaumen

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum but I think that mathematicians often work with LaTex and should be able to answer.

Could you please recommend me any kind of software for creating diagrams (plotting functions, drawing vectors, writing down matrices, etc) and then converting these diagrams into LaTex code. Btw, I work with Linux Ubuntu and I won't use Wine, so, please, only software for Linux.

2. Mar 29, 2009

### rochfor1

Learn LaTeX.

3. Mar 29, 2009

### matt grime

LaTeX itself typesets most mathematical objects you need. It is not a great graphical tool, but see the LaTeX Graphics companion for more.

If you want to draw graphs, then look at R (which is entirely free in all senses), xv or xfig, and create graphics in eps format for inclusion into a LaTeX document (other formats work too). Other options (which aren't necessarily free) are maple, mathematica or matlab.

4. Mar 29, 2009

### kbaumen

Thank you!

5. Mar 29, 2009

You can also try the free software Sage - it is a nice little front end to some math packages, but it has a "sagetex" style for use with latex that allows sage code to be embedded inside
latex files.
there is a similar feature with R.

if you need "one off" graphics - diagrams, etc,, both the PS-Tricks (post-script tricks) packages and the pdg/tikz packages for latex are highly recommended. I found tikz easier to learn, but PS-Tricks can do many things tikz can't.

6. Mar 29, 2009

### isabelle

I find that plots in PDF or postscript are best for LaTeX, and a simple free tool for generating professional quality plots of this kind is gnuplot.

7. Mar 29, 2009

If you intend to learn latex, even if you already know it, you can find (almost) no end of
very good advice on the web.

A good starting point is

www.tug.org

(tug = Tex Users' Group)

8. Mar 29, 2009

### qntty

asymtote is what I use to draw graphs, geometric diagrams, etc.

9. Mar 30, 2009

### kbaumen

Wow, thank you guys for all the advice.

10. Mar 30, 2009

### Santa1

Asymptote! You can also use the "inhouse" graphics environment in your basic TeX package.

11. Mar 30, 2009

### kbaumen

So I installed Tex Live and am now using just Gedit to write .tex files which I can than turn into neat .pdf documents. Of course I just started reading a manual on LaTeX and still don't know much about it but I'm quite amazed by the possibilities that are offered by LaTeX. Ok, gotta go, read the manual.

Thank you all for the advice to learn LaTeX.