Skills

latex

Installation
SKILL.md

LaTeX Skill

1. Overview

LaTeX is a markup language and typesetting system for producing high-quality documents. It excels at structured documents with complex formatting, mathematics, cross-references, and bibliographies.

When to use LaTeX:

  • Academic papers, journal submissions
  • Theses and dissertations
  • Technical documentation
  • CVs and résumés
  • Presentations (Beamer)
  • Books, reports, letters

Key concepts:

Concept Description
Preamble Everything before \begin{document} — class, packages, settings
Document body Content between \begin{document} and \end{document}
Commands Start with \, e.g. \textbf{bold}. Optional args in [], required in {}
Environments \begin{name}...\end{name} blocks for scoped formatting
Packages Extensions loaded with \usepackage{name} in the preamble

2. Document Structure

Document Classes

\documentclass[options]{class}
Class Use case
article Short documents, papers, assignments
report Longer documents with chapters
book Books (front/back matter, chapters)
beamer Presentations/slides
letter Formal letters
memoir Flexible — replaces article/report/book

Common Class Options

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,twocolumn,draft]{article}
Option Values
Font size 10pt, 11pt, 12pt
Paper a4paper, letterpaper, a5paper
Columns onecolumn, twocolumn
Sides oneside, twoside
Draft draft (shows overfull boxes, skips images)

Minimal Document

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article}

% === PREAMBLE ===
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{hyperref}

\title{My Document}
\author{Author Name}
\date{\today}

% === BODY ===
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents

\section{Introduction}
Content here.

\end{document}

3. Text Formatting

Style Commands

Command Result
\textbf{text} bold
\textit{text} italic
\underline{text} underlined
\emph{text} emphasis (italic, or upright if already italic)
\texttt{text} monospace
\textsc{text} SMALL CAPS
\textsf{text} sans-serif

Font Sizes

Smallest to largest:

\tiny  \scriptsize  \footnotesize  \small  \normalsize
\large  \Large  \LARGE  \huge  \Huge

Use as: {\large This text is large.} or as environment.

Font Families

Command Declaration Family
\textrm{} \rmfamily Serif (Roman)
\textsf{} \sffamily Sans-serif
\texttt{} \ttfamily Monospace

Alignment

\begin{center}    Centered text.    \end{center}
\begin{flushleft} Left-aligned.     \end{flushleft}
\begin{flushright} Right-aligned.   \end{flushright}

Or inline: \centering, \raggedright, \raggedleft

Spacing

\vspace{1cm}          % vertical space
\hspace{2em}          % horizontal space
\vfill                % stretch vertical
\hfill                % stretch horizontal
\\[0.5cm]             % line break with extra space
\setlength{\parskip}{0.5em}   % paragraph spacing
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}   % remove paragraph indent
\noindent             % suppress indent for one paragraph

Line spacing (requires setspace package):

\usepackage{setspace}
\onehalfspacing    % or \doublespacing, \singlespacing

Special Characters

These characters must be escaped:

Character LaTeX Character LaTeX
% \% $ \$
& \& # \#
_ \_ { \{
} \} ~ \textasciitilde
^ \textasciicircum \ \textbackslash

4. Document Organization

Sectioning

\part{Part Title}           % only in report/book
\chapter{Chapter Title}     % only in report/book
\section{Section}
\subsection{Subsection}
\subsubsection{Subsubsection}
\paragraph{Paragraph}
\paragraphsub{Subparagraph}

Starred versions (\section*{}) suppress numbering and TOC entry.

Table of Contents

\tableofcontents    % requires two compilations
\listoffigures
\listoftables

Lists

% Bulleted
\begin{itemize}
  \item First item
  \item Second item
\end{itemize}

% Numbered
\begin{enumerate}
  \item First
  \item Second
\end{enumerate}

% Labeled
\begin{description}
  \item[Term] Definition here.
\end{description}

Customize with enumitem package:

\usepackage{enumitem}
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*), start=1]

Cross-References

\section{Methods}\label{sec:methods}
See Section~\ref{sec:methods} on page~\pageref{sec:methods}.

With hyperref, use \autoref{sec:methods} for automatic "Section 2" text.

Rule: Always place \label after \caption (in floats) or after the sectioning command.

Footnotes

This has a footnote.\footnote{Footnote text here.}

5. Mathematics

Inline vs Display

Inline: $E = mc^2$ or \(E = mc^2\)

Display:
\[ E = mc^2 \]

% Numbered equation:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:einstein}
  E = mc^2
\end{equation}

Essential Packages

\usepackage{amsmath}    % align, cases, matrices, etc.
\usepackage{amssymb}    % extra symbols (ℝ, ℤ, etc.)
\usepackage{mathtools}  % extends amsmath (dcases, coloneqq, etc.)

Common Constructs

% Fractions
\frac{a}{b}          \dfrac{a}{b}  (display-size)

% Roots
\sqrt{x}             \sqrt[3]{x}

% Sub/superscripts
x_{i}   x^{2}   x_{i}^{2}   a_{i,j}

% Sums, products, integrals
\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i      \prod_{i=1}^{n} x_i
\int_{0}^{\infty} f(x)\,dx
\lim_{x \to \infty} f(x)

% Brackets (auto-sized)
\left( \frac{a}{b} \right)
\left[ ... \right]
\left\{ ... \right\}

Matrices

\begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix}   % (a b; c d)
\begin{bmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{bmatrix}   % [a b; c d]
\begin{vmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{vmatrix}   % |a b; c d| (determinant)
\begin{Bmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{Bmatrix}   % {a b; c d}

Aligned Equations

\begin{align}
  f(x) &= x^2 + 2x + 1 \label{eq:f} \\
  g(x) &= x^3 - 1       \label{eq:g}
\end{align}

% No numbering:
\begin{align*}
  a &= b + c \\
  d &= e + f
\end{align*}

Cases

f(x) = \begin{cases}
  x^2  & \text{if } x \geq 0 \\
  -x^2 & \text{if } x < 0
\end{cases}

Greek Letters

Lower Command Upper Command
α \alpha Α A
β \beta Β B
γ \gamma Γ \Gamma
δ \delta Δ \Delta
ε \epsilon, \varepsilon Ε E
θ \theta Θ \Theta
λ \lambda Λ \Lambda
μ \mu — —
π \pi Π \Pi
σ \sigma Σ \Sigma
φ \phi, \varphi Φ \Phi
ω \omega Ω \Omega

Common Math Symbols

Symbol Command Symbol Command
≤ \leq ≥ \geq
≠ \neq ≈ \approx
± \pm × \times
÷ \div · \cdot
∈ \in ∉ \notin
⊂ \subset ⊆ \subseteq
∪ \cup ∩ \cap
∞ \infty ∂ \partial
∇ \nabla ∀ \forall
∃ \exists → \to, \rightarrow
⇒ \Rightarrow ⇔ \Leftrightarrow
ℝ \mathbb{R} ℤ \mathbb{Z}
… \dots, \ldots, \cdots

6. Tables

Basic Table

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{Results summary}\label{tab:results}
  \begin{tabular}{lcrp{4cm}}
    \toprule
    Name & Count & Score & Description \\
    \midrule
    Alpha & 10 & 95.2 & First entry \\
    Beta  & 20 & 87.1 & Second entry \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}

Column Specifiers

Spec Alignment
l Left
c Center
r Right
p{width} Paragraph (top-aligned, fixed width)
m{width} Middle-aligned paragraph (requires array)
` `

Key Packages

\usepackage{booktabs}   % \toprule, \midrule, \bottomrule (professional rules)
\usepackage{multirow}   % \multirow{nrows}{width}{text}
\usepackage{longtable}  % tables spanning multiple pages
\usepackage{tabularx}   % auto-width X columns

Multi-column/row

\multicolumn{3}{c}{Spanning header} \\
\multirow{2}{*}{Tall cell}

7. Figures and Images

\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{images/photo.png}
  \caption{A descriptive caption.}\label{fig:photo}
\end{figure}

includegraphics Options

Option Example
width width=0.5\textwidth
height height=5cm
scale scale=0.75
angle angle=90
trim trim=1cm 2cm 1cm 2cm, clip (left bottom right top)

Float Placement

Specifier Meaning
h Here (approximately)
t Top of page
b Bottom of page
p Dedicated float page
! Override internal limits
H Exactly here (requires float package)

Subfigures

\usepackage{subcaption}

\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \begin{subfigure}[b]{0.48\textwidth}
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{img1.png}
    \caption{First}\label{fig:sub1}
  \end{subfigure}
  \hfill
  \begin{subfigure}[b]{0.48\textwidth}
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{img2.png}
    \caption{Second}\label{fig:sub2}
  \end{subfigure}
  \caption{Both images}\label{fig:both}
\end{figure}

8. Bibliographies and Citations

BibTeX Workflow

  1. Create references.bib:
@article{smith2023,
  author  = {Smith, John and Doe, Jane},
  title   = {An Important Paper},
  journal = {Journal of Examples},
  year    = {2023},
  volume  = {42},
  pages   = {1--15},
  doi     = {10.1234/example}
}

@book{knuth1984,
  author    = {Knuth, Donald E.},
  title     = {The {\TeX}book},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
  year      = {1984}
}
  1. In document:
\usepackage{natbib}  % or use biblatex
\bibliographystyle{plainnat}

As shown by \citet{smith2023}...  % Smith and Doe (2023)
This is known \citep{smith2023}.  % (Smith and Doe, 2023)

\bibliography{references}
  1. Compile: pdflatex → bibtex → pdflatex → pdflatex

BibLaTeX Workflow (Modern)

\usepackage[backend=biber, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

\textcite{smith2023}   % Smith and Doe (2023)
\parencite{smith2023}  % (Smith and Doe, 2023)

\printbibliography

Compile: pdflatex → biber → pdflatex → pdflatex

natbib vs biblatex

Feature natbib biblatex
Backend BibTeX Biber (recommended)
Flexibility Limited styles Highly customizable
Unicode Poor Full support
Recommendation Legacy projects New projects

9. Code Listings

verbatim

\begin{verbatim}
def hello():
    print("Hello, world!")
\end{verbatim}

Inline: \verb|some_code()|

listings Package

\usepackage{listings}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\lstdefinestyle{mystyle}{
  basicstyle=\ttfamily\small,
  keywordstyle=\color{blue},
  commentstyle=\color{gray},
  stringstyle=\color{red},
  numbers=left,
  numberstyle=\tiny,
  frame=single,
  breaklines=true
}

\begin{lstlisting}[language=Python, style=mystyle, caption={Example}]
def factorial(n):
    """Compute factorial."""
    if n <= 1:
        return 1
    return n * factorial(n - 1)
\end{lstlisting}

minted Package (Prettier, Requires Pygments)

\usepackage{minted}

\begin{minted}[linenos, frame=lines, fontsize=\small]{python}
def factorial(n):
    if n <= 1:
        return 1
    return n * factorial(n - 1)
\end{minted}

Compile with: pdflatex -shell-escape document.tex

10. Presentations (Beamer)

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{Madrid}          % or: Berlin, Warsaw, Metropolis, etc.
\usecolortheme{default}    % or: beaver, crane, dolphin, etc.

\title{My Presentation}
\author{Author}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
  \titlepage
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{Outline}
  \tableofcontents
\end{frame}

\section{Introduction}
\begin{frame}{Introduction}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item<1-> First point (appears on slide 1+)
    \item<2-> Second point (appears on slide 2+)
    \item<3-> Third point
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{With Columns}
  \begin{columns}
    \begin{column}{0.5\textwidth}
      Left content
    \end{column}
    \begin{column}{0.5\textwidth}
      Right content
    \end{column}
  \end{columns}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Popular themes: Madrid, Berlin, Metropolis (modern, clean), Warsaw, CambridgeUS

Overlay Commands

Command Effect
\pause Show content incrementally
\onslide<2>{text} Show on slide 2 only
\only<1>{text} Only on slide 1 (no space reserved)
\visible<2->{text} Visible from slide 2 onward
\alert<2>{text} Highlighted on slide 2

11. Page Layout

Margins (geometry)

\usepackage[margin=2.5cm]{geometry}
% or:
\usepackage[top=3cm, bottom=3cm, left=2cm, right=2cm]{geometry}

Headers and Footers (fancyhdr)

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}                          % clear all
\fancyhead[L]{Left Header}
\fancyhead[R]{\rightmark}          % current section
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage}            % page number center
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}

Page Numbering

\pagenumbering{roman}   % i, ii, iii (for front matter)
\pagenumbering{arabic}  % 1, 2, 3 (for main content)
\thispagestyle{empty}   % no number on this page

Multi-Column

\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{multicols}{2}
  Content in two columns...
\end{multicols}

12. Common Packages Reference

Package Purpose
amsmath Enhanced math environments
amssymb Extra math symbols (ℝ, ℤ, etc.)
mathtools Extensions to amsmath
graphicx Image inclusion
hyperref Clickable links, PDF metadata
geometry Page margins and dimensions
booktabs Professional table rules
multirow Multi-row table cells
longtable Multi-page tables
tabularx Auto-width table columns
xcolor Color support
listings Code listings
minted Syntax-highlighted code (needs Pygments)
tikz Programmatic graphics and diagrams
pgfplots Data plots (built on TikZ)
fancyhdr Custom headers/footers
setspace Line spacing
enumitem Customize list environments
subcaption Subfigures and subtables
float Extra float control ([H] placement)
babel Language/hyphenation support
inputenc Input encoding (utf8)
fontenc Font encoding (T1)
microtype Microtypographic enhancements
cleveref Smart cross-references (\cref)
siunitx SI units and number formatting
algorithm2e Algorithm pseudocode
natbib Citation management
biblatex Modern bibliography management
csquotes Context-sensitive quotation marks
url Typeset URLs
caption Customize caption formatting
appendix Appendix management

Load order tip: Load hyperref last (or near-last). Exceptions: cleveref goes after hyperref.

13. Compilation

Engines

Engine Use when
pdflatex Default. Most compatible. ASCII/Latin input.
xelatex System fonts (TTF/OTF), full Unicode
lualatex System fonts + Lua scripting, full Unicode

Compilation Sequence

# Basic document
pdflatex document.tex

# With bibliography (BibTeX)
pdflatex document.tex
bibtex document
pdflatex document.tex
pdflatex document.tex

# With bibliography (Biber/BibLaTeX)
pdflatex document.tex
biber document
pdflatex document.tex
pdflatex document.tex

# Automated (recommended)
latexmk -pdf document.tex           # pdflatex
latexmk -xelatex document.tex       # xelatex
latexmk -lualatex document.tex      # lualatex
latexmk -pdf -pvc document.tex      # continuous preview

Common Errors and Fixes

Error Cause Fix
Undefined control sequence Typo or missing package Check spelling; add \usepackage
Missing $ inserted Math symbol outside math mode Wrap in $...$
Missing \begin{document} Error in preamble Check preamble for typos
File not found Wrong path or missing file Check filename/path, check extension
Overfull \hbox Line too wide Rephrase, add \allowbreak, or use \sloppy
Undefined citation Missing bib entry or no bibtex run Run bibtex/biber, check .bib keys
Too many unprocessed floats Too many figures queued Add \clearpage or use [H]
Dimension too large Image scaling issue Check width/height values
Package clash Two packages conflict Load one, check docs for compatibility

Reading Log Files

  • Look at the .log file for full error context
  • Errors show as ! lines
  • Warnings show as LaTeX Warning: or Package xyz Warning:
  • Rerun to get cross-references right → compile again

14. Tips and Best Practices

  1. Multi-file projects: Use \input{chapters/intro} (inserts inline) or \include{chapters/intro} (adds \clearpage, enables \includeonly)
  2. Custom preamble: Move package loading to preamble.sty or preamble.tex, then \input{preamble}
  3. Label after caption: \caption{...}\label{fig:x} — never the reverse
  4. Non-breaking spaces: Figure~\ref{fig:x}, Section~\ref{sec:y} — prevents linebreak before number
  5. Draft mode: \documentclass[draft]{article} — speeds compilation, shows overfull boxes
  6. Use \centering not center inside floats (avoids extra vertical spacing)
  7. Avoid \\ for paragraph breaks — use blank lines instead
  8. Use booktabs — never \hline and vertical lines for professional tables
  9. Use microtype — improves typography with zero effort
  10. Use cleveref — \cref{fig:x} auto-generates "Figure 1" text
  11. Version control: LaTeX is plain text — use Git
  12. One sentence per line — makes diffs cleaner in version control

15. Quick Reference

Most Common Commands

Task Command
Bold \textbf{text}
Italic \textit{text}
Monospace \texttt{text}
Section \section{Title}
Reference \ref{label}
Citation \cite{key}
Footnote \footnote{text}
Image \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{file}
URL \url{https://...} or \href{url}{text}
List item \item
New page \newpage or \clearpage
Comment % comment
Math inline $E=mc^2$
Math display \[ E=mc^2 \]
Fraction \frac{a}{b}

Math Operators

Command Symbol Command Symbol
\sin sin \cos cos
\tan tan \log log
\ln ln \exp exp
\min min \max max
\lim lim \sum Σ
\prod Π \int ∫

Arrows

Command Symbol
\rightarrow, \to →
\leftarrow ←
\leftrightarrow ↔
\Rightarrow ⇒
\Leftarrow ⇐
\Leftrightarrow ⇔
\mapsto ↦
\uparrow ↑
\downarrow ↓

References

Related skills

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Installs
37
Repository
igbuend/grimbard
GitHub Stars
4
First Seen
Feb 15, 2026
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