How to write your homework using LaTeX

Get the (free) Homework Template ► www.overleaf.com/read/pycnqvv.... This template is on Overleaf, my thanks to Overleaf for sponsoring today's video. Overleaf is a cloud-based LaTeX editor that makes it particularly easy (and free!) to get started learning LaTeX.
The LaTeX full playlist ► • LaTeX Tutorials
0:00 Intro to LaTeX
1:14 Getting started using Overleaf
2:00 Changing the header
2:58 Basic equations
5:00 Making new problems
7:39 Tables
10:35 Matrices
11:15 Graphics
12:47 Aligned equations
13:50 Enumerated Lists
15:25 History
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[@beatoriche7301]

As a triple major in math, English, and Latin, I got into LaTeX through my math studies, and I have been doing _everything_ in LaTeX ever since. LaTeX just offers so many options for customizing, say, the layout of books, typesetting poems and drama, adding annotations that don't disturb the reading flow, creating simple illustrations, and so much more. Whenever I try something new, I feel incompetent for like half an hour as I google some examples and try to piece together something nice-looking out of it, but in general, I wouldn't want to miss the sheer creative freedom LaTeX offers in creating wonderfully appealing documents, be they homework assignments, worksheets for students I tutor, or even entire books.

[@elteammate]

just wait till they find out about typst ;)

[@beatoriche7301]

​@@elteammate I wouldn't know - I don't use it. Do you like it better than LaTeX?

[@elteammate]

@@beatoriche7301 You can check out for yourself! (sorry I have written a better response a second ago, but I think it got deleted/flagged/something like that)

[@DrTrefor]

cool, thanks for sharing!

[@upolpi3171]

​@@beatoriche7301I haven't seriously used LaTeX but I do use Typst. It's less flexible than LaTeX but requires a __lot__ less Googling.

[@davezhu7651]

Please keep uploading this serie. You are the best LaTeX tutor I can find. As a chemistry student I find LaTeX really useful and that you videos got me through the pain of learning LaTeX.

[@StephenClarkOsu]

I was literally JUST about to look up one of your LaTeX videos to get some inspiration for designing a new math/computer science homework template, and this popped up on my feed uploaded 2 hours ago! Thank you for gracing my recommended with more informative content professor!!

[@NithinJune]

Senior year of high school in my AP Calc BC class I started doing all of my in-class notes in LaTeX. It was a complete game changer. My notes were incredibly elegant, readable, searchable, and my favorite part-Shareable. People came to me for my notes.

[@laincoubert7236]

latex is such a godsend. i studied CS and the 300 students in my year would collaborate on several documents to summarize math lectures in a single place. it basically became a tradition on my program. doing homework in latex was so satisfying as well, eventually i even went fully paperless. i used overleaf as well and in combination with a couple books on how to use latex, and it was enough for me. it seems difficult at first, and it is when you're looking at a blank page, but once you adapt you never turn back. also helps that there's a ton of information about it online

[@thomasplatt7329]

I feel lucky that you will be teaching me linear algebra in the new year. I’ll make sure I learn Latex!

[@DrTrefor]

Oh fun! The TAs will definitely appreciate it - ha:D

[@thomasplatt7329]

@@DrTrefor I will be bugging you for a game of chess at some point!

[@nWestie]

Appreciate this! I am gradually learning latex, although mostly using it in jupyter notebooks and word at this point. Still, knowing the notation better is handy. I'm an engineer so not sure I'll ever switch to a full latex editor, but nice to see how it works!

[@TheLaxOne]

Funnily enough I started this semester doing my homework for my one math course in LaTeX, but I found that I always spent time being so particular with the formating that I ended up handwriting my last two assignments just to save time 😅 But I did use overleaf for the assignments and found it pretty convenient

[@spacelem]

I'm a month away from 42. I really wish OverLeaf had been around when I was doing my undergraduate maths! I did all my postgrad assignments in LaTeX, and my PhD thesis, but there was still a lot of fiddling (especially to get references to work correctly).

[@STEAMerBear]

I’m currently 16 years past 42 and I just wanted to warn you that the rumors about it being The Answer* are quite oversold among those in the STEM fields. (*search for “42, Douglass Adams” for a better understanding of why)

[@vivekm.s8819]

You are my inspiration to take mathematics as my major thank you sir.❤

[@DrTrefor]

that's so sweet to hear, thank you!

[@tcmxiyw]

At my university we have a two hour “Mathematical Software” class that covers LaTeX, Maple or Mathematica, and spreadsheets. Students are expected to be able to use these tools. I believe that LaTeX forces much greater clarity In conveying a proof than do pencil and paper.

[@n0mad385]

Honestly been using Word for my physics homeworks as that's what they come in. All I do is Alt + Enter to go into the equation mode, which supports LaTeX where I write away.

[@DrTrefor]

I don't hate it, I do appreciate microsoft's equation editor is much better today than it was in years past (basically inept), and so learning basic tex commands from the equation mode editor isn't bad at all. However, I do think as you go on in a stem career making the transition is a good choice for lots of people, depending on your interests.

[@thenumnums]

​@@DrTreforWhat would the benefits be?

[@DrTrefor]

My general case for LaTeX is that it gives you a) complete control over the look and feel of every equation etc in the document b) makes a lot of things much easier such as internal referencing moving things around everything like numbering happens automatically and c) you can write just the math and adjust everything else like formatting all in one go. Finally, in many STEM fields -math in particular - it is just the industry standard so good to know regardless. On the flip side though, it takes longer to learn and even after you learn it still there are annoying things that take up time vs something like microsoft word. So it really depends on the person whether it is worth it or not. @@thenumnums

[@thenumnums]

@@DrTrefor yeah, since I'm a physics student, the convenience of Microsoft equation typing is real nice for live lecture note-taking. Being able to see my equations immediately is really convenient, especially for troubleshooting when the program doesn't behave as expected, which I find is a nightmare when I use LaTeX! 😭 Also the digital pen integration is what keeps me using Microsoft. If I were able to do my Tikz diagrams fast enough to keep up with my professors, or at least be faster than I am drawing by hand, I think I would switch to using LaTeX fully. Maybe for fun you could do a video where you challenge yourself to see how fast you can reproduce math and physics graphs and diagrams with the only prompt being the images? 😜 Cheers

[@samueldeandrade8535]

I am not subscribed to this channel, for some reason, but this video, I have to say, is great. Yes, LaTeX is absolutely amazing.

[@DrTrefor]

Welcome aboard!

[@jewpcabra666]

god i wish these existed 10 years ago - what a great resource!

[@prakhars962]

I generally use H for float placement to ignore all Latex ruler. However, this requires the float package

[@maths-solns]

Thanks alot Dr. Could you please make a video explaining how we can navigate the enumerate, itemize and description options are capable of.

[@HunsterMonter]

Me, watching this video while procrastinating typing up my quantum homework in LaTeX

[@BitwiseMobile]

I wrote a React program like 2 years ago that allows you to enter your equations using either direct markup or using the toolbox to insert constructs. It was very similar to Overleaf, with more features IMHO :D.

[@ajov6638]

Thank you sir!

[@DrTrefor]

You are welcome!

[@masterblazx]

L'math is pretty great. Really simple and easy to use.

[@wjrasmussen666]

More LaTeX!!!!

[@katarixy]

I remember teaching myself how to do this and then forcing myself to take notes on latex during class. Insane that I did this on graph theory while using tikz to do the diagrams my teacher would write. Every time he drew something my heart would sink. Although at the end of that semester I could type latex like a madman. It’s been 10 years since then and looking back I can only conclude I was so foolish but I’m thankful lol

[@Javy_Chand]

You madman--- You even made your graphics on tikz!

[@andyneeman4378]

I’ve got to say, while LaTeX is great, the writing can become a bit cumbersome, especially when writing long documents. For my own homework/assignments for the last 3 and a half I’ve been using Lyx, which just like overleaf is based on the LaTeX syntax. The difference between Lyx and Overleaf is how the language is used. As stated in the video, Overleaf is very convenient because you can see in real time how your document will end up, with a very short and convenient way to compile any code quickly. However, this requires you to type out complete lines. Lyx on the other hand, is a graphical user interface for LaTeX. This means that as you write your document, you just see, well, mathematical symbols and numbers. Once you insert a command somewhere (i.e. \int) the symbol of an integral replaces the text of the “\int”. The cones of Lyx are that it can be somewhat janky at times, especially if your are not writing in English (and even more of a problem if your language is written right to left), but this is very much fixable. It is also a bit more difficult to learn how to make different formats of documents, like documents with two side by side columns of text (like many academic papers are written), but again, once you learn how to do it once you just know how to do it again, and you slowly master all of the software small quirks. However, the biggest pro of Lyx in my opinion is the ability to create keyboard shortcuts and macros. They both allow you do to the same things, but inputted differently. Let’s say you use the integral from 0 to infinity many many times in your studies. You can type again and again the command: \int_0^\inf Which generates this integral, it’s far easier to assign this to a certain macro or keyboard shortcut, and all of the sudden you become much much faster. I am aware that Overleaf also has macros (but not keyboard shortcuts), but I still find Lyx so much more convenient, and I really do recommend it.

[@laincoubert7236]

don't know anything about Lyx but long documents isn't really a problem, you can create separate files for every chapter/section/etc and compile them into one full doc

[@SciDiFuoco13]

What do you think of typst? I started using it recently and I found it to be as powerful as latex while being much more intuitive.

[@IulianYT]

Well, easy peasy I remember when I was a student - I was doing it mostly the "hardcore way", without GUI, just vim, and pdflatex (which I discovered later, before that I was using some three steps process to convert to ps, dvi, and then to pdf (not sure about the order)). But when you write a couple of lab reports - it is easy to write even without graphical interface with live compiling.

[@STEAMerBear]

I am an older math teacher who’s back to teaching after being out for 15 years. I used to use Scientific Notebook for all my production which included an integrated LaTeX editor. Thank you for this. I will be digging into your videos. At this point I need an effective starting place. Should I get the software you are using in this video? Is duplicating what you’ve done enough to get rolling (from basic editing to printing final material)?

[@keithdow8327]

Thanks!

[@DrTrefor]

Thank you so much!

[@davidmorley4455]

If you get more serious in using LaTex for homework, etc, I'd recommend using vscode with tex workshop for noncollaborative work. Compile times are much much closer to instantaneous than with overleaf, and all the functionality/ui is pretty much the same, with the convenience of a more conventional text editor.

[@HyperFocusMarshmallow]

I wonder if typst will be the next big game in town after latex. I hope so. It looks pretty good.

[@macmos1]

I did all my math homework in LaTeX and it took FOREVER.

[@jasonshih3633]

Yo Thanks so much for this. My discrete math professor only wants us to write in LaTeX and I was so confused how it works.

[@trongtue8384]

Can you make a video about Lean Proof Assistant and how to use it to prove a theorem

[@LucaskrillHC]

Little hint: if you write a formula on Desmos (an online graphic calculator) and copy it, it can be pasted on LaTeX

[@DrTrefor]

Oh fun

[@JohnLee-dp8ey]

Got exposed to Latex during my undergrad, and would wish my university offered a complementary course in learning Latex, as I basically figured how to use on my own, and basically struggled to do my assignment with it. For some context, I used Latex in 2016, and back then there was NO visual editor, so I basically refreshed the document every time I wrote new Latex code, which made it a VERY unpleasant experience to code in Latex.

[@airman122469]

This feels more like an Overleaf tutorial. Am I the only one that prefers local LaTex compilation to Overleaf?

[@akrammohamed8374]

Any chance we could get a fourier transform and fast fourier transform video soon?

[@zacharytaylor9244]

I did all my calc homework in latex up until the end of calc 2… resin being that the grader thought my printed latex homework was the answer sheet and graded everyone’s homework off of mine. Only realized it when I was the only one not getting my homework back, and had no grades after the midterms. Stopped using it after that to save myself time, and any confusion for the professor/graders

[@enamulhoque2019]

Once you have created your desired worksheet can you generate multiple worksheet of the same problems with different generated numbers.

[@unflexian]

this is really interesting, can i take notes in latex? does the code editor allow you to write fast enough to note take for math and physics?

[@4sety]

You _may_ be fast enough to take notes as long as you don't stop to format stuff in the moment. Maybe if you just write normally and leave comments for how to format it later (ESPECIALLY if it's a rather complex formula or requires commands that you're not familiar with) it could work? You could try formatting on the fly as well but I personally am not fast enough with LaTeX to make it work.

[@dhwaneel]

If I wanted to add a number to an equation to the very end of a solving section, how could I do that? I've tried onumber but it doesn't seem to get it right always

[@carwyn3691]

7:20 is there a way to have it so that, if the question is several lines long, the question's left margin aligns with the colon in "Question 1:", but the answer's margin goes all the way to the beginning of the page? I can only move the margin of the whole block as a whole (I'm currently 3 days into learning LaTeX so I don't really know what i'm doing)

[@samchau3476]

I am sorry if this is a dumb query but I tried using the homework template you provided but I can't seem to make any edits at all. The description says it's a free template but I am not sure why it's not usable on my end.

[@4sety]

Did you make sure to make a copy? (Menu -> Copy Project)

[@samchau3476]

@@4sety Thank you so much. Did what you mentioned and it worked!

[@4sety]

@@samchau3476 awesome, hope you have fun with it!

[@basm.n]

lanthanum, telurrium and xenon

[@Joaquim_Marcelo7197]

Hello guys, I ask for help. I accidentally deleted half of a code after updating, how could I recover the previous version with the code deleted in OVERLEAF?

[@jahdjs]

16:18 cool)))

[@gerard-nagle]

I use Mathtype, find its does everything I need, but cost a little bit.

[@Sg190th]

infinite sum being nearly equal with an integral is a nightmare

[@calfredo812]

👋

[@tcmxiyw]

You’re missing a parenthesis in line three of the f’ example.

[@sudjen]

Nice Video but at 12:37 there must be a better way for that. Imagine if i know rite more stuff before the image/question 6. Say that means that without the command ewpage, i already reach that new page, that would be very inneficient and not intuititve

[@zhiychen1626]

LaTeX is convenient except \frac

[@meofamily4]

I am, quite simply, lost. I don't feel so bad after going to the comments. Everyone commenting on this "Introduction to LATEX" -- already knows and uses it !! I went to overleaf, and promptly was lost. I don't have any idea what to do, even to log in, let alone start to use it. It's confusing as hell. For a start, I'm not doing homework (although, if I were, these instructions sure wouldn't have helped!) but a translation of a journal article from 1844. So, I went to "Journal Article Template". But, now what? Apparently I can do one of two things: either I can "Accept all cookies", or I can "Open as Template". I do that, and I get the message -- "Your project is near the time-out limit for our free plan." Really? Hey, how do I use LATEX on the Word Document that has all these equations? Do I import the text onto a LATEX page? What "free plan"? Am I supposed to pay to use LATEX, or not? Basically, sir, I am unable to navigate "Overleaf'.

[@DrTrefor]

I think my suggestion is to start on something small to learn the lay of the land before going to your big project. If you try the homework template I made, see if you can play around with writing basic equations and paragraphs. As you gain some familiarity, then you can go for the big project. For particularly long projects sometimes it can leave the free tier, but the free tier is pretty generous from my experience.

[@meofamily4]

I will persist in my effort, @@DrTrefor (and I ought, in fairness, to tell you I have enjoyed many of your videos on other math topics, such as calculus), and I feel confident of progressing. Many thanks for the advice that the free software package will allow me to write a single math journal article with equations in it. However, that video you made as an intro to LaTeX -- well, it was not helpful to me.

[@yorailevi6747]

NO I WANT THEM IN PYTHON

[@4sety]

what, are you using sympy or something lol? Or just making a jupyter notebook entirely with markdown cells?

[@yorailevi6747]

@@4sety NO

[@BENCHENA]

I want to modify the code to have the same distance the x and y unity . Y unity is a half of x unity in graphics after compiling . Thank you in advance \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1.5] \begin{axis}[xmin=0,xmax=8.3,ymin=0,ymax=103,xstep=1,ystep=5,axis lines=left,xtick={0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8},ytick={0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100},xmajorgrids=true,ymajorgrids=true,xlabel=Nombre de séances ,ylabel=Prix en \euro~\textbf{tarif A}] %\addplot[color=red,dashed,mark=*,samples=50]{x^2}; \addplot[very thick,color=red,samples=100,domain=0:7]{15*x}; \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture

[@Mau365PP]

I write it by hand and ask chatgpt to write it for me 😅

[@gavinvales8928]

Learn Typst!!

[@HyperFocusMarshmallow]

The way to stay ahead is to every now and then browse the list of new exciting rust projects, right =)

[@sentient1640]

But I feel comfortable in Microsoft Word. :)

[@ElCapitan88]

I don’t know man. The way for me to learn is by writing everything by hand.

[@Davs211]

I disagree, the problem is that it's very hacky and requires a research for anything that falls outside of the default format or looks. I do not think LaTex is good for most Homeworks (except for equations) unless you have a strict template that you have to use. It can definitely be efficient when you have a good setup: the formats, the macros, all the required packages configured correctly and if you have memorized everything so you don't have to look the documentation. For a thesis it's useful, but for a few exercices that you have to deliver fast it's not worth it. One clear example of why it's inefficient is shown in this video with the ewpage command. You don't like how it looks because you could not easily predict how it would look in this case. In general, you will change the code, you will compile again and now another thing might not look good. You try to read search in the internet for a way to give it the correct look by default. Then you find out how messy latex really is.

[@mayahuizar]

I have to say, I feel like you're overstating the degree to which its difficult to learn. From my experience, yes, there's an initial difficulty where you have to look everything up, but I quickly got past that, and to the point where I was comfortable with LaTeX, and could create most anything I would want or need without any help. And once there, life becomes good and everything is a breeze, and to be honest, typing math feels almost as natural as handwriting. Once you get to that point, you never go back.

[@Davs211]

@@mayahuizar Never said it was difficult to learn but I seriously doubt most people will memorize how to do everything they want or need. For a long term restricted use case it's fine. The issue here is productivity.

[@tolleythinking1058]

For me, I still go paper + phone scan to upload school math assignments. IIUC there is significant research about handwriting things improving retention, etc... so if homework is about the student learning, handwritten still seems a cut above to me.

[@Bcjekalalahw]

Skill issue

[@mykyar9142]

the main problem with LaTeX is that it supports only English language. And a small amount of letters of the Latin alphabet. Step aside creates a huge pain in some body parts. That is the main reason for unpopularity in the outer world.

[@theastuteangler9642]

Or just use pencil and paper.

[@zeKite]

Maybe a good video idea is how to make your word document look like written in LaTeX

[@lame_lexem]

wordTeX is a way

[@serra_edoardo]

You just committed LaTeX heresy right here XD

[@DrTrefor]

ha, I do make all my videos in powerpoint which uses the same equation editor that word does. But I just........can't:D LaTeX for life! ha:D

[@Able89535]

@@DrTreforthe equations just don’t look as good in Word / PowerPoint Even after I graduate, I still write equations in LaTex and screenshot it to paste into my work related documents 😂

[@musicworld5432]

Latex is very complicated bro. Its not so easy.

[@bobfake3831]

cute

[@pablosykes1508]

LaTeX is sooooo slooowww to write. SLOW AF

[@ahmed12op]

I'm sorry but I can't see that Latex is easy!, Microsoft word is much more intuitive

[@destruidor3003]

Why do you speak in a strange way?