POSTS

Some new 2019 Q3 ac.uk LaTeX pages

Introduction

As an experiment, I've decided to search for activity in the academia part of UK TeX user community. My research method is simple.

I use a custom web search (using Google), with:

  • Query: site:ac.uk latex
  • Date range: 1st July to 30 September 2019

I then visit the sites listed on the first page of search results. If the search returns more than one page for a site (Durham), I use only one.

Performing the research, and writing up, has just under two hours.

Google gave me 10 pages to look at, from 9 distinct sites. One of them is from the Victoria and Albert Museum. (It's about latex, not LaTeX.)

I classify the 9 sites as follows:

  • Closely associated with named individual: sites 1, 5, 6 and 7.
  • Resource pages: sites 2, 3, 9.
  • Training course: site 4.
  • False positive: site 8.

Because of the academic year, each quarter is likely to differ significantly from the others. Because of the start of the academic year, the third quarter might have more new (and changed) pages.

1. An Introduction to LaTeX – University of Warwick

Date: 4th July 2019

This website is designed to support the Introduction to LATEX classes ran by Andrew Brendon-Penn in 2016-2019.

The aim of classes is to introduce undergraduate mathematics students to LATEX in preparation for writing their second year essay or fourth year project. There are two types of class: beginners and intermediate. It is recommended that students take both classes. Both classes will make heavy use of examples, which are included on this website so that you can adapt the code for your own use.

Date: 17 September 2019

LaTeX is the de facto standard software to write mathematical reports. It is an add-on to the famous TeX program by Donald Knuth, and gives it a more friendly face. You can use LaTeX to produce book-quality printed technical material that looks infinitely better than things coming out of Word. It also helps you keep track of references to equation numbers, bibliographies and tables of contents automatically. It handles graphics, too. The sooner you learn LaTeX, the better. You will need it for various modules, among which Mathematical Modelling II as well as Project III/IV. This page is meant to give you a quick start, and answer some frequently asked questions specific to the modules in Durham. There is loads of additional information on the web; see the links below.

DateL 6 August 2019

LaTeX is a photo-typesetting system much favoured by scientists and engineers for its ability to handle complex mathematical formulae and produce high quality output. It is possible to “write and cite” in a LaTeX document and automatically generate a reference list based on the citations in the document.

BibTeX is a tool you can use with LaTeX which allows you to store references details in separate files which can then be linked to a LaTeX document. In this way references can be re-used in many documents.

There are many, mostly free, versions (distributions) of LaTeX available either for download (e.g. MiKTeX, TeXnicCenter, TeXworks) or as web-based versions (e.g. Authorea, Overleaf, ShareLaTeX). It is also possible to create BibTeX files automatically either through data capture from many search tools or by exporting references from reference management software such as RefWorks or EndNote.

Date: 7 September 2019

LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting and is perfectly suited to scientific writing and further for the creation of long documents (such as a thesis). A contrasting approach would be to use a word processor such as Microsoft Word, where many decisions about layout and format are intertwined with the content. The overall aim of the course is that an individual would be able to create a long (or short) document using LaTeX, incorporating potential equations, figures, tables and references. The individual learning objectives would involve understanding what LaTeX is for and to understand the pros/cons vs Microsoft Word. From then on, the objectives are simply learning the process by which to add in tables, figures, references and equations. By the end of the course, participants will also be familiar with common errors and the process of how to error check and find appropriate solutions.

Date: 23 August 2019

This is the personal home page of Alex Watson, Lecture in Statistical Science, UCL. It contains code samples and commentaries. The headings on this page for LaTeX are

  • Beamer themes
  • Use IEEEeqnarray for everything
  • Single-series theorems with working \autoref
  • “Proof of” environment
  • Bibliography labels not started from 1
  • Workaround to use natbib and ejpecp

For BibTeX the headings are

  • abbrvnatmr
  • aptnat
  • amsplainnat

For me the footer of the page is especially interesting. It says:

Powered by the Academic theme for Hugo

The blog you're now reading also uses Hugo, but with the Ananke theme.

6. Murdoch Gabbay teaching pages: Formal Specification – Heriot-Watt

Date: 1 September 2019

The above URL is for a list of math symbols defined by the LaTeX package oz. We have to dig around a bit to find out why it's there.

The reason is because of this page:

Welcome to the Formal Specification webpage. In a nutshell, this course says:

“How do we know programs do what we say they do? Hang on—how do we even say what programs do?”

This page also has a Typesetting resources section, which lists:

  • The Objective Z user guide for typesetting Z in LaTeX.
  • A MathJax dynaming rendering page.
  • You may find the LaTeX OZ (Object Z) package useful, as well as this list of symbols provided by OZ.
  • An online LaTeX equation editor and LaTeX to Unicode converter.

Date: 15 September 2019

This is a 77 page Beamer presentation. (Each page is distinct - there's no step-by-step reveals of a single page.)

Paul Johnson personal home page:

I work as part of the Mathematical Modelling in Finance and Economics Group in which we model financial systems with uncertain price and uncertain physical flow, leading to non-linear PDEs which must be solved numerically. I have investigated such systems in the world of finance, banking, renewable energy, mining, and Revenue Management systems. If you are interested in a PhD or want to know a bit more then head over to the Mathematical Finance page in MIMS.

Date: 28 August 2019

This full-face latex caricature of Edward Heath was part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s 2018 exhibition Censored! Stage, Screen, Society at 50 that explored the role of censorship in the arts from the seventeenth century to contemporary creations (Figure 1). The theatre mask, originally worn in the 1980 play A Short Sharp Shock, came to the Museum in an archive but was not accessioned due to its inherently unstable materials.

Date: 31 July 2019

Our Computing page has information about (this is hosted on the internal website and requires a university login to view it):

  • setting up your desktop (including remote connection)
  • installing R
  • installing the Fortran complier
  • using the LaTeX typesetting system
  • using Maple