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<!doctype html>
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This single-page template is used for each learning module.
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<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
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<meta name="description" content="LaTeX101 landing page">
<title>LaTeX101 Learning Module</title>
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<body>
<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-md navbar-dark fixed-top bg-dark">
<a class="navbar-brand" href="..">dmackinnon1.github.io</a>
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<li class="nav-item dropdown">
<a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown01" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Modules</a>
<div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdown01">
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module0.html">0: What is LaTeX?</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module1.html">1: Getting Started</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module2.html">2: Essential LaTeX Commands</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module3.html">3: LaTeX on Various Platforms</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module4.html">4: Cloud-based LaTeX Environments</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./module5.html">5: LaTeX as a Digital Literacy</a>
</div>
</li>
<li class="nav-item dropdown">
<a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdown02" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Utilities</a>
<div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdown02">
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./quiz.html">Command Quiz</a>
<a class="dropdown-item" href="./simpleLaTeX.html">LaTeX Tester</a>
</div>
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</nav>
<main role="main">
<div id='top_padding'>
<br/><br/><br/>
</div>
<div class="container">
<!-- Row 1 introduction -->
<h1> Module 0: What is LaTeX? </h1>
<div class="row" id="contents">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#goals">Learning Goals</a></li>
<li><a href="#before">Before You Start</a></li>
<li><a href="#main">Introducing LaTeX</a></li>
<li><a href="#more">Learn More</a></li>
<li><a href="#check">Checklist</a></li>
<li><a href="#references">References</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="goals">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Learning Goals</h2>
<p> The learning goals for this module include:
<ul>
<li>Reflecting on how you include mathematics in digital documents.</li>
<li>Learning how simple expressions, like polynomials, are written in LaTeX.</li>
<li>Learning about the basic structure of LaTeX commands.</li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="before">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Before You Start</h2>
<p>Before learning about what LaTeX is, spend a few minutes thinking about
the problem of writing mathematics for digital documents. How do you do this
today? Do you avoid using word-processors when creating resources and
assessments because it is hard to include mathematical notation and get
the formatting right? Do you use equation editors, or hand-write the
mathematics and paste it in when photocopying? Teachers use many strategies to overcome the difficulties of communicating mathematics in digital environments. </p>
<p> Consider these questions:
<ol>
<li> What makes writing mathematics in digital documents difficult? </li>
<li> How do you avoid those problems, or solve them, when you teach a math class? </li>
</ol>
<p> At a minimum, LaTeX can be another arrow in your quiver of
mathematical communication strategies. Depending on
how you apply it and what kind of documents you create and
platforms you use, you may find that knowing a little
LaTeX can be a great benefit - improving the quality of your
communication and expanding the number of new platforms you can use in your teaching.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="main">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Introducing LaTeX</h2>
<p>
One way to think about LaTeX is as a programming language
for writing mathematics.
You type in commands, and the LaTeX processor
converts it into the kind of math notation that we expect to see in printed documents.
For example, you type:
<div class="dm-code">
<pre>
\frac{x^2-2x+1}{x-1}
</pre>
</div>
And LaTeX will generate:
\[ \frac{x^2-2x+1}{x-1} \]
</p>
<p> As you may notice from the example above, writing LaTeX involves
a combination some standard
conventions for writing digital mathematics,
like using the carrot (^) symbol
for exponents,
regular text,
and some special commands like
the "\frac{}{}" to create a fraction.
</p>
<p> In the modules that follow this one, you'll learn some of the conventions
and commands used
in LaTeX, and also how to use LaTeX
on various platforms. One example of LaTeX use are web-pages like the one you
are reading now, where the formulas shown are rendered using
LaTeX by integrating a special
JavaScript library called <strong>MathJaX</strong>.
</p>
<p>
The most powerful and widely used system for creating equations and
mathematical documents is not a new technology. The TeX formatting system was
originally created by Donald Knuth in 1978, and an easier to use software layer,
LaTex, was added to TeX by Leslie Lamport in 1980.
By web-standards, this is old technology:
it has been used by mathematicians and scientists around the world for decades,
and is very widely used today (LaTeX, 2019).
</p>
<p>
So what is new? There are two relatively new developments that make it
very useful for math teachers to learn how to use LaTeX:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
In recent years many platforms have adopted LaTeX as the means by which they
display equations. Knowing the basics of LaTeX commands will allow you to quickly
add equations in a consistent way to wikis, webpages, platforms like
<strong>Brightspace</strong>, <strong>Google Docs</strong>, and programs
like <strong>GeoGebra</strong>. We will take a look at some of these in module 3.
</li>
<br/>
<li>
Running a complete LaTeX processor on your own computer used to require some
technical skill and a willingness to muck around with installing components and
adjusting configuration - the setup was not always straightforward. Now there are
cloud-based LaTeX offerings (like <strong>Overleaf</strong>) which make it
easier to produce complete LaTex documents. We will take a look at a cloud-based LaTeX
environment in module 4.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
LaTeX, and TeX the system it is based on, are computer languages, not applications
or plugins. Although software is required to render anything written in these
languages into nice mathematics (just like your browser is required to render HTML),
you don’t need any special software to write LaTeX (Notepad, Sublime, vi, or any text
editor will do).
</p>
<p>
LaTeX resembles HTML or Markdown in how it allows a plain text document to be
enhanced with formatting instructions.
When an entire document is created using LaTeX, a simple text file is created that
has some commands that
instruct the LaTeX processor.
</p>
<div class="dm-code">
<pre>
%This is a simple LaTeX file
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\title{An example of \LaTeX}
\author{Dan MacKinnon}
\date{March 2019}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
Here is a rational expression:
\[
\frac{x^2-2x+1}{x-1}
\]
\end{document}
</pre>
</div>
<p> In the example above, we can see comments demarcated by percent signs (%), directives about how to structure the document, and a simple example of a displayed equation,
and some other LaTeX commands.
</p>
<p> When processed by LaTeX, a text file containing the commands shown above will produce a postscript or
pdf file resembling the image below.
</p>
<br/>
<div>
<img src="./imgs/latex_document_example.png"
alt="LaTeX full document example"
style="width:100%;height:100%;padding:1px;border:thin solid black;">
</div>
<br/>
<br/>
<p>
Although you can format an entire document using LaTeX, it is often used only where needed within a document to provide the mathematics - with many platforms allowing you to insert LaTeX commands where required.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="more">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Learn More</h2>
<p>
For a very brief overview of what LaTeX is, read the LaTeX project <a href="https://www.latex-project.org/about/" target=”_blank”>'about' page</a>
(LaTeX Project, 2019), and the introduction to LaTeX in the
<a href=" https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=LaTeX/Introduction&oldid=3514336" target=”_blank”>LaTeX wikibook</a> (LaTeX/Introduction, 2019).
</p>
<p>
Donald Knuth, the creator of TeX upon which LaTeX is based, is a prolific mathematician and computer scientist who has made many
interesting contributions to both disciplines. Leslie Lamport, who built upon TeX to create LaTeX, is an award winning computer science
pioneer. Take a moment to read their online biographies and learn about what motivated them to tackle the challenge of
typesetting digital mathematics.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="check">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>Learning Checklist</h2>
<p>
Before moving on to the next module, take a moment to review the learning checklist.
</p>
<p>
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" value="" id="defaultCheck1">
<label class="form-check-label" for="defaultCheck1">
I reflected the problems
that I need to overcome when I include mathematics in electronic documents.
</label><br>
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" value="" id="defaultCheck2">
<label class="form-check-label" for="defaultCheck2">
I noted in the example how LaTeX provides a language for describing displayed mathematics.
</label><br>
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" value="" id="defaultCheck3">
<label class="form-check-label" for="defaultCheck3">
I learned that LaTeX can be used to create entire documents, or can be used within other applications
and document types.
</label><br>
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" value="" id="defaultCheck4">
<label class="form-check-label" for="defaultCheck4">
I did some research on LaTeX and the people who originally designed it.
</label><br>
</div>
</p>
<p> If there were any items in the checklist that you did not complete,
consider reviewing this page again before moving on.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="row" id="references">
<div class="col-md-8">
<h2>References</h2>
<p>
D2L Corporation. (2019). Brightspace Learning Platform, Retrieved on March 18, 2019 from <a href="https://www.d2l.com/" target=”_blank”>https://www.d2l.com/</a>
</p>
<p>
GeoGebra Group. (2018). GeoGebra Online Math Applications, Retrieved on March 18, 2019 from <a href="https://www.geogebra.org/?lang=en" target="_blank">https://www.geogebra.org/?lang=en</a>
</p>
<p>
Google Corp. (2019). Google Docs, G-Suite Application, Retrieved on March 18, 2019 from <a href="https://www.google.com/docs/about">https://www.google.com/docs/about/</a>
</p>
<p>
LaTeX Project. (2019) <em>An introduction to LaTeX</em>. Webpage. Retrieved February 27, 2019 from <a href="https://www.latex-project.org/about/" target="_blank">https://www.latex-project.org/about/</a>
</p>
<p>
LaTeX/Introduction. (2019, February 4). Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project. Retrieved March 15, 2019 from <a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=LaTeX/Introduction&oldid=3514336" target="_blank">https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=LaTeX/Introduction&oldid=3514336</a>.
</p>
<p>
MathJax Consortium. (2019). MathJax JavaScript Library. Retrieved on March 18, 2019 from
<a href="https://www.mathjax.org/" target="_blank">https://www.mathjax.org/</a>
</p>
<p>
Overleaf Inc. (2019). Overleaf Cloud-based LaTeX Document Preparation Software. Retrieved on March 18, 2019 from
<a href="https://www.overleaf.com/about" target="_blank">https://www.overleaf.com/about</a>
</p>
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