Command List

This page collects the main commands covered in the module, to use as a reference when typesetting documents with LaTeX.

Packages

\usepackage{amsmath}

Add this command to the preamble to ensure that the necessary math symbols are available.

Text

Sections and subsections

The following commands create automatically numbered sections, subsections, and subsubsections with your chosen title.

  • \section{title}

  • \subsection{title}

  • \subsubsection{title}

Paragraphs

A blank line starts a new paragraph.

\noindent removes the automatic indent from the beginning of the paragraph.

Font

\textbf{} makes text in the curly braces bold.

\textit{} makes text in the curly braces italic.

\underline{} makes text in the curly braces underlined.

Math mode

\( \) begin and end inline math mode.

\[ \] begin and end display math mode.

\( \displaystyle \) puts inline math in display style.

One-character math symbols

± (plus or minus): \pm

· (multiplication): \cdot

÷ (division): \div

≠ (not equal): \neq

≈ (approximately equal): \approx

≤ (less than or equal): \leq

≥ (greater than or equal): \geq

∞ (infinity): \infty

Greek letters: \lettername for lower case, \Lettername for upper case, e.g. \pi for π, \Pi for Π

Fractions and functions

Fraction a/b: \frac{a}{b}

Exponential a to the b: a^{b}

Square root of x: \sqrt{x}

nth root of x: \sqrt[n]{x}

Logarithm base b of x: \log_{b}(x)

Natural logarithm of x: \ln(x)

Trigonometric functions: \sin(x), \cos(x), \tan(x), \sec(x), \csc(x), \cot(x)

Calculus

Limit of f(x) as x approaches a: \lim_{x \to a}f(x)

One-sided limits: \lim_{x \to a^+} f(x) and \lim_{x \to a^-} f(x)

Sum of f(k) as k goes from m to n: \sum_{k=m}^{n}f(k)

First derivative and nth derivative of f(x): f’(x) and f^{(n)}(x)

First derivative and nth derivative of f: \frac{df}{dx} and \frac{d^{n}f}{dx^{n}}

Integral of f(x) from a to b: \int_{a}^{b} f(x) \ dx

Fences

Fence characters

Parentheses: ( )

Square brackets: [ ]

Curly braces: \{ \}

Angle brackets: \langle \rangle

Bars: | |

Double bars: \| \|

Resizing

Place \left and \right immediately before the corresponding fences to resize them to their contents.