What program do you guys use to write a paper?

[l-1j-cho]

Hi

I use word 2007 for my extended essay in mathe but I can't use subscript in any fraction or function. What program do you gus use to write a paper?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I don't write many papers often anymore, but I am still kicking Office 2003 or sometimes Google Docs.

 

[l-1j-cho]

i can somehow type superscripts by typing x^(a) but how do I type subscripts?

 

[turbo]

Use whatever software is compatible with that of the journal to which you are submitting. Springer asked for MS Word, so that was an easy condition to satisfy. I believe that they accepted some other formats, as well, but the functionality of shared-access edits in Word, etc, made that one a no-brainer.

 

[cristo]

Use whatever software is compatible with that of the journal to which you are submitting. Springer asked for MS Word, so that was an easy condition to satisfy. I believe that they accepted some other formats, as well, but the functionality of shared-access edits in Word, etc, made that one a no-brainer.

This isn't really the case. Latex is the preferred software, and most journals will provide latex templates for you to use. Word might be accepted in the case where authors do not have access to latex.

 

[Topher925]

I mostly use MS Word 10 but people more "professional" than myself use Latex. Latex certainly has its advantages as it gives you a lot more control over formatting and in many cases be a lot easier to use. I'll get around to learning it eventually.

 

[MATLABdude]

In Word 2007, you can go in through the format menu, or use keyboard shortcuts to do subscripts / superscripts (and go back to normal mode):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/word-help/make-text-superscript-or-subscript-HP005189455.aspx

If you have Equation Editor installed (I'm not sure if it's still installed by default), you can use that to make "prettier" equations:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/insert-an-equation-using-equation-editor-HP005190247.aspx

But if you have the time, LaTeX makes things look really nice--it's the standard for typesetting many scientific journals. Since it's a mark-up language (like HTML) you may find LyX more accessible since it's WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) like Word, Pages, etc.:
http://www.lyx.org/

Note that LyX still requires a LaTeX install. There're some getting started guides and tutorials at the LyX website that will help, if you choose to go that route:
http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/Tutorials

 

[l-1j-cho]

wow that's a lot of information. Thank you all!

 

[l-1j-cho]

so I checked Latex
http://www.latex-project.org/ftp.html
but it is too complex!
I downloaded protext, including miketex, which seems like the window version for latex
but I cannot find latex in the package

 

[MATLABdude]

The whole thing is \LaTeX! You need to use an editor, such as TeXWorks or Texniccenter (both of which should be included in the MikTeX distribution).

I'd suggest reading through the absolute beginner's guide:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Absolute_Beginners

As well as the TeXWorks manual:
http://ftp.ctex.org/pub/tex/tools/editors/TeXworks/manual.pdf

Barring that, as I mentioned in my previous post, you can use LyX.

 

[l-1j-cho]

cheers!

 

[l-1j-cho]

p.s.
Is there a certain format? I have the abstract, introduction and the main body but it does look good as the ones on Arxiv.
(this is not a math paper, but just an extended essay. I will not submit this on Arxiv but I just want my essay to look pretty!)

 

[l-1j-cho]

just out of curiosity, what programme do you use? I downloaded all of Texniccenter, lyx, texmaker, and stuff but I want to go with the most popular one

 

[jhae2.718]

You should try them and use what you like best. I use Texmaker a lot since I can have the same interface on both Linux and Windows, but I also use gedit on Linux and TeXniCenter on Win.

 

[MATLABdude]

just out of curiosity, what programme do you use? I downloaded all of Texniccenter, lyx, texmaker, and stuff but I want to go with the most popular one

Like jhae2.718 says, it doesn't really matter what you use to write your LaTeX code in, so long as it works, and you can "compile" your LaTeX into a document--there's no harm in trying a few and seeing which you like best (or just using one, figuring out its idiosyncrasies, and sticking with it). I use TeXworks because it came with MikTeX and MacTeX by default, and allows me to use these on the two platforms I work on most.

 

[Chronos]

I like OpenOffice, mainly because it is free and works on my printer.

 

[l-1j-cho]

hmm I am getting like 36 errors and bad boxes occasionally. Is it normal to have several errors?

 

[jhae2.718]

What errors? You shouldn't be getting that many errors; in most cases you should have none.

 

[l-1j-cho]

I am using texniccenter. In the little box below, it says 26 errors, 0 warning, 2 bad boxes, 2 pages and stuff like that

 

[jhae2.718]

Does it specify the errors?

 

[l-1j-cho]

yes it does but I have no idea what they are saying. Do I have to fix all the errors? I have no problem with converting tex to pdf but just in case

 

[jhae2.718]

Would you mind posting/PMing them? I'll try and look it over.

 

[l-1j-cho]

well I haven't finished it but
\documentclass[10pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\author{Author}
\begin{document}
Prove \begin{math}4^{k}+5}end{math} is divisible by 3\end{math}
\begin{equation} 4^{k}+5 \\
=2^{2k}-1+6\\
Here we introduce a lemma

Lemma 1
if n is not divisible by 3, then n^{2}-1 is divisible by 3
Proof
if n is divisible by 3,
\implies \begin{equation} n\equiv \pm 1 \pmod 3\\
\implies n^{2}\equiv 1 \pmod 3\\
\implies n^{2} - 1 \equiv 0 \pmod 3\\
\end{document}

Thank you

 

[MATLABdude]

Please post the stuff inside the error box (copy and paste). Also, do you get an output file? I'm assuming you're using pdflatex and not just pslatex or something else.

 

[l-1j-cho]

Somehow I can't copy the stuff in the error box?

Well I really appreciate to all of you but it is kind of hard to communicate online and there are too much stuff to ask. Ill just ask my computer geek friend to work this out

Again, thank you

 

[jhae2.718]

[B]\documentclass[/B][10pt,a4paper]{article}
[B]\usepackage[/B][latin1]{inputenc}
[B]\usepackage[/B]{amsmath}
[B]\usepackage[/B]{amsfonts}
[B]\usepackage[/B]{amssymb}
[B]\author[/B]{Author}

[B]\newtheorem[/B]{theorem}{Theorem}[section]
[B]\newtheorem[/B]{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma}
[B]\newenvironment[/B]{proof}[1][Proof]{[B]\begin[/B]{trivlist}
[B]\item[/B][[B]\hskip \labelsep[/B] {[B]\bfseries[/B] #1}]}{[B]\end[/B]{trivlist}}

[B]\begin[/B]{document}
Prove $4^k+5$ is divisible by 3. [I]% Use $...$ for inline math. It's not necessary to put a single character in braces for (super|sub)scripts.[/I]
[B]\begin[/B]{equation*}
4^{k}+5 =2^{2k}-1+6 [I]% Newlines (\\) don't work in the equation environment. Use align. Asterisks suppress numbering.[/I]
[B]\end[/B]{equation*}
Here we introduce a lemma

[B]\begin[/B]{lemma}
If $n$ is not divisible by 3, then $n^2-1$ is divisible by 3.
[B]\end[/B]{lemma}

[B]\begin[/B]{proof}
if $n$ is divisible by 3, 
[B]\begin[/B]{align*} [I]% This is the align environment. Use it for multiline equations/etc. The ampersand is the alignment position.[/I]
&[B]\implies[/B] n[B]\equiv[/B][B] \pm[/B] 1 [B]\pmod[/B] [B]3\\[/B]
&[B]\implies[/B] n^2[B]\equiv[/B] 1 [B]\pmod[/B] 3[B]\\[/B]
&[B]\implies[/B] n^2 - 1 [B]\equiv[/B] 0 [B]\pmod[/B] 3
[B]\end[/B]{align*}
[B]\end[/B]{proof}
[B]\end[/B]{document}

Does this work better? I borrowed the custom theorems and environments from http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/Theorems.html.

 

[l-1j-cho]

it works without any error! thanks

 

[TylerH]

To insert an equation in OpenOffice/StarOffice, go to Insert->Object->Formula. Then you can do all (or all within reasonable limits) you can do with LaTeX.

 

[Hepth]

I use LED as a Windows based latex editor

 

[jhae2.718]

Personally, I couldn't imagine using anything but LaTeX for writing a paper.

 

[l-1j-cho]

Hi again

How do we skip a line in latex and move on to next paragraph?
I tried \\ and \newline command but it gives me bad boxes
I also tried \vspace{30mm} command but it is inconsistent every time I do my homework.
Is ther a better way?

 

[MATLABdude]

You just need to leave one or more blank lines to define a paragraph break:
http://www.emerson.emory.edu/services/latex/latex_112.html

Based on some of your questions, I strongly recommend the Not-So-Short Introduction to Latex (your question is answered in section 1.3.1, page 4, for instance):
http://tobi.oetiker.ch/lshort/lshort.pdf

 

[Timo]

I'm not understanding why "\\" does not work. Anyways, the normal way to start a new paragraph in tex is an empty line between the paragraphs.

 

[MATLABdude]

I'm not understanding why "\\" does not work. Anyways, the normal way to start a new paragraph in tex is an empty line between the paragraphs.

That's just a line break. I don't know if you can use it multiple times to leave white space.