# Difference between revisions of "LaTeX:About"

 LaTeX About - Getting Started - Diagrams - Symbols - Downloads - Basics - Math - Examples - Pictures - Layout - Commands - Packages - Help

Latex, or $\text{\LaTeX}$, (pronounced lah-TEK or lay-TEK) is a typesetting markup language that is useful to produce properly formatted mathematical and scientific expressions.

## Using LaTeX in the Community, the AoPSWiki, or the Classroom

If you are just learning $\text{\LaTeX}$ for use on the AoPS site, then go to the LaTeX on AoPS page. If you would like to produce full documents of your own, please follow the directions below.

## Getting Started with Writing Documents in LaTeX

1. The first step is to install the software to use LaTeX on your computer.
• For Windows, follow these instructions (in order):
• For Mac, visit this site and follow the directions.
• For Linux, follow these instructions (in order):
• Download and install TeX Live from the provided link. Or run "apt-get install texlive" in the terminal.
• For Google Docs, you can get AoPS syntax (math only) through these steps:
All of these packages are FREE. They are not developed or distributed by Art of Problem Solving. (You will also need a PDF viewer such as the free Adobe Reader; however this program is already installed on most computers.)
2. Work through the "Basics" pages:
• The First Document page walks you through creating your first LaTeX document.
• The Math page shows you how to typset mathematics in LaTeX.
• The Style section shows you how to control the basic appearance of your document.