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The fist time I got my hands on LATEX was the last year of my
undergraduate study. I was studying elementary analysis and
mathematical statistics at the University of Oregon.
I was trying to write a senior thesis on the proof of Brouwer's fixed point theorem. The project was not at all ambitious, as I was only meaning to write an exposition on the proof by way of Sperner's lemma, a combinatorial result popular among (mathematical) economists. Until I met LATEX, I was using Winword and Equation Editor, which was okay because I was assuming that the output's appearance was as good as a personal computer could offer at the time. I was wrong. My advisor was an expert in the use of computer in mathematics education, and a big-time Macintosh fan. I am not sure when Microsoft introduced the office suite to the Mac community, but does a real Mac guy use Winword? He introduced me to LATEX, and I got impressed by the beautiful output. I thank him for it. There was a catch, however. Soon I got frustrated because there were so many things to understand. LATEX is not easy, I admit, to a first-timer coming from Winword. It frustrates you when you try to do what you have been doing routinely with Winword: how can I change fonts, line-spacing, or paper margins? Nonetheless, I believe that investing time in learning LATEX is rewarding with its beautiful typesetting capability and powerful expandability. LATEX is a learning experience. There is no end to the rich world of LATEX. I am not an expert of LATEX, but I believe my experience of struggling with LATEX may be of some help for someone converting from Winword. Here, I'd like to share with you what I have learned about LATEX so far from the viewpoint of a novice. |