Why use LaTeX

Made in MS Word:


Made in LaTeX:


Put simply, LaTeX looks better. Instead of using crappy, elementary rules to deal with spacing between letters and words, LaTeX compiles it to look supremely professional automatically. For more details of these fine details, see here.

But here's the really good thing: I included no formatting in the LaTeX version. The font size and family is automatic. The date came up automatically. The text is justified automatically. I didn't have to indent the new paragraphs, I just left a blank space between each paragraph.

That's just for plain old text. If you have to write up technical/mathematical documents, LaTeX is so much quicker and cleaner and better. Have you ever noticed how bad the maths in a technical document looks when made in MS Word? Compare that to something made in, yeah, you guessed it. Math written in LaTeX is just pretty, and there's no fiddling around with those buttons when all you want is a fraction. Want to write "one half" in fraction form? No problem, the code is \frac{1}{2} (output = [latex]\frac{1}{2}[/latex]). Done. What about "x-squared"? Even easier, x^2 (output = [latex]x^2[/latex]) and you're done. What about something hard, like [latex]\exists x \not \in N[/latex]? Also easy: \exists x \not \in N.

Need to do a presentation? No problem. Compare these Powerpoints to these LaTeX (beamer) slides and make your own mind up.

Is it for everyone? No. If you appreciate the difference between the two essays posted above, it's for you. If you have to write technical documents, it's for you. If you're a bit of a computer nerd, it's for you.

And the point of this forum is to help get you there

(DeVore's full post, if you wish to read it, can be found here.)