Math 581: Topics in Graph Theory: Fall 2008
Graphs and Geometry
Tips on LaTeX for Course Notes



Index


File Names

All file names should begin with the date and (preferably) your name, in the form

MMDDname (2008, spring 2009) or YYYYMMDDname (summer 2009, 2010).
This is tremendously helpful in keeping track of all the parts of the project.

Similarly, all labels should have the date (see below). That will prevent duplicate labels.

Writing

  1. Write text to explain what's going on and to tie things together. Math writing is in many ways a kind of narrative.

  2. I see too much reliance on itemized lists. When you get to a depth of 3 in itemized lists in an exposition (as distinct from an outline), something is very wrong! Even a depth of 2 should almost never appear. How to get around it?
    1. You don't need to bullet everything. You might shoot yourself in the foot! For instance, you can have paragraphs in an \item; that obviates the use of a sublist (see several examples in the notes).
    2. You can use subsections (the \subsection* command so they won't be numbered) for topical subdivisions (see the notes, again).
    3. You can just use paragraphs in the old-fashioned way!

  3. Use the word "that" often. E.g., you wrote "Notice in the above graph ...". That's grammatically incorrect. "Notice" takes a noun as its object (technical term for what follows "notice"). "in the above" is not a noun. You have a clause (embedded sentence) as the object of "notice" and to make that work you must (not optional) have "that" before your clause.

  4. Revising notes: I don't want you to spend too much time on it. I'll do a lot of revision and improvement. You might look to get ideas for better (or worse) writing.

General LaTeX Guidelines

Header

  1. I have a standard Latex header adapted for our class, which I ask you to use. This will help make the daily notes consistent.

  2. You can add any necessary new commands after the header.

Figures

  1. Figures can be prepared at the office using xfig (I'll show anyone how to use it), or anywhere using whatever you have.

  2. Please make sure to provide PDF figures. EPS is also necessary (for the PS form of the notes), but I need the PDF because my home Apple can't deal with PostScript. Thanks.

Specifics About LaTeX

Formatting

  1. Please use chapter and section headers following the on-line outline.

  2. \displaystyle is different from a displayed formula. \displaystyle and \textstyle are Latex commands that affect how a formula appears. A displayed formula is something that appears outside your text, as opposed to an inline formula. You can make a displayed formula appear in \textstyle and vice versa, and sometimes this is a good idea, though not usually.

  3. Naming declarations:

  4. Referring to a declaration: To get the right number, type "Theorem \ref{T:MMDD NAME}" (or similarly for anything else). (See YYYY note.)

  5. Referring to an equation: Inside the equation environment type \mylabel{E:MMDD NAME}. When referring to an equation, type \eqref{E:MMDD NAME} (this will automatically insert parentheses around the equation number) or \ref{E:MMDD NAME} (this will not insert parentheses). (See YYYY note.)

Special characters

  1. Abbreviated commands. They are optional, but very convenient. Here are examples:
    •   \cA for \mathcal A
        \fA for \mathfrak A
        \bbR for \mathbb R
      I defined these in my header for the more common letters; feel free to add more, or not to use them.

    •   \bgr{} for the biased-graph angle brackets.

    •   \full for the dot used to indicate a full biased graph.

    • Multiletter symbols are similar to \sin, \max, \lim, but not defined in Latex or AMSLatex. I provide many of them, such as:
        \inv (for the superscript inverse, ^{-1}),
        \transpose (for a matrix transpose),
        \codim (codimension),
        \sgn (sign of a real number),
      and see the header for more, or make your own. See the header for models for making such a symbol using \operatorname.

    • \iff and \implies give the double-line arrows you would expect.

Typography

  1. When defining a change of type face, as with \emph, don't leave spaces inside at the ends. Wrong: \emph{ this is emphasized }. Right: \emph{this is emphasized.} (The wrong way makes extra interword space.)

  2. \text{TEXT} gives you text inside a formula. This is especially necessary in displayed formulas. If you want space around the text, you'll need \text{ TEXT }. Try it to see how it works.

  3. For primed math symbols, $V'$. For starred ones, $V^*$. (You'll get used to it.)

  4. For defining a symbol, use :=, not \equiv. (We'll have other uses for \equiv.) E.g., $n := |V|$.