# what is Latex Feature

Can anyone please explain what is Latex Feature and how can it be helpful ?

\LaTeX or \TeX is a document preparation system and document markup language. It is widely used for the communication and publication of scientific documents in many fields, including mathematics, physics, computer science, statistics, economics and many more.

In codechef it will be very useful in writing mathematical formulas and expressions very clearly , efficiently and beautiful way in the editorials and questions/answers. This was a long needed feature in codechef.

You can write mathematical (and other too ) expressions is an AWESOME and beautiful way, which is yet not possible using html.

For example see the below expressions,

1. \cos (2\theta) = \cos^2 \theta - \sin^2 \theta
2. \frac{d}{dx}\left( \int_{0}^{x} f(u)\,du\right)=f(x).
3. \binom{n}{k} = \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}
4. a_0+\cfrac{1}{a_1+\cfrac{1}{a_2+\cfrac{1}{a_3+\cdots}}}
5. \iiiint_V \mu(t,u,v,w) \,dt\,du\,dv\,dw
6. \big( \Big( \bigg( \Bigg( \big\{ \Big\{ \bigg\{ \Bigg\{ \big\} \Big\} \bigg\} \Bigg\}
7. \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^s} = \prod_p \frac{1}{1 - p^{-s}}

Just look at the expression shown on 4, can you do that in other ways so easily…

You can add mathematical symbols, greek,latin and many other symbols also.

1. \alpha \beta \gamma \rho \sigma \delta \epsilon

2. \times \otimes \oplus \cup \cap

3. < > \subset \supset \subseteq \supseteq

4. \int \oint \sum \prod

5. \infty \forall \Re \nabla \exists

6. \partial \nexists \emptyset \varnothing \wp \complement \neg

7. \square \surd \blacksquare \triangle

8. and many more \cdots

Also expressions can be placed in a whole line.

\large e^x=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{x^n}{n!} ; \large e^x=\lim_{n\to\infty} \left(1+\frac xn\right)^n

A equation can also be written in many sizes.

\tiny\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \small\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \normalsize\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \large\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \Large\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \LARGE\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \huge\sqrt{a^2+b^2} \Huge\sqrt{a^2+b^2}

Isn’t this the most coolest thing you have seen today…

For some initial ideas on what it is and why one should use it, red the wiki of latex math , this and this. Also online search is best if you want further details.

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LaTeX includes a rich set of built-in commands.

Full programming language features allow complicated macros to be easily defined.

Most complete selection of mathematical and special symbols.

The LaTeX macros are at a high level. That is, they make most of the formatting decisions for you, which is good if you don’t want to bother with typographical layout problems. If LaTeX’s default layout is not what you want, you can change almost everything, but some items are cumbersome to change. Examples:

Footnotes and marginal notes are automatically located on the page.

LaTeX will automatically number sections and equations in a document.

LaTeX makes it easy to control the actual width and format of columns in tables and to set paragraph entries in columns.

TeX/LaTeX uses only integer arithmetic, so it processes quickly.
This demonstration LaTeX file shows both the marked up input text, and the corresponding typeset output. The typeset output is a series of graphic images and will not display on a text-only browser. Note that the output images shown here are low resolution JPEG files made from capturing screen images. The actual LaTeX output will use the normal resolution of your output device and look much better. example:-
% Example LaTeX document for GP111 - note % sign indicates a comment
\documentstyle[11pt]{article}
% Default margins are too wide all the way around. I reset them here
\setlength{\topmargin}{-.5in}
\setlength{\textheight}{9in}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{.125in}
\setlength{\textwidth}{6.25in}
\begin{document}
\title{LaTeX Typesetting By Example}
\author{Phil Farrell\
Stanford University School of Earth Sciences}
\renewcommand{\today}{November 2, 1994}
\maketitle