This latex help document is written by Rosario Gennaro, my 6.915 TA.
Thanks to him if you find anything useful.            -Yang-hua Chu

There are other help source such as olc. IS also holds latex minicourse
which is quite helpful.

These are some instructions on how to get started with LaTeX to write the
notes for the class: 

* HOW TO START A NEW SECTION

When you start a new section the only thing that you have to write is
\section{Title of Section}
LaTex will then number the sections in order 1,2,3 .... 
If you want to start a subsection inside a larger section you just type
\subsection{Title of Subsection}
those will be numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 (if the larger section is section 1 
of course)

* HOW TO START A NEW PARAGRAPH

To start a new paragraph just leave a blank line. Latex will start the
new paragraph in a new line. 

* HOW TO MAKE ITEMIZED LISTS

To make itemized lists with a bullett marking each item follow this 
example:

The goals of computer security are 
\begin{itemize}
\item Confidentiality
\item Integrity
\item Availability
\end{itemize}

If you want to number the itemized list you type instead
\begin{enumerate}
\item Confidentiality
\item Integrity
\item Availability
\end{enumerate}

* MATHEMATICAL FORMULAS

In general math should be enclosed between dollar signs so 
if you want to say a+b=c you should write it as $a+b=c$
(by the way this means that you can't use $ to print a dollar sign, 
but you have to use \$ )

If you want a formula displayed on its own line use the following
\[ formula \]

Subscripts are obtained through the use of _.
X sub i can be typed as $X_{i}$

Similarly superscripts can be obtained through the use of ^
X super i can be typed as $X^{i}$

The simbols _ ^ { } can be obtained by typing \_ \^ \{ \}

* COMMENTS

If you want to comment on the side of your code and don't want the
comments to show up in the printout use the percent sign % for example
% This is a comment
as above this means that you can't use % to print a percent sign, 
but you have to use \%

* TABLES 

You can use the tabbing environment to create tables.
Look at the examples in the sample notes I will mail you. 
The ssssssssssssssss in the first row of the tabbing env specify 
how many spaces there are between different tab posts.
Then \> tell LaTex to dispaly the material at the next post. 
I am sure the examples in the sample file will be illuminating. 

* THEOREMS AND SUCH

For theorems, lemmas, definitions, remarks, etc. use commands
\begin{theorem} .... \end{theorem} 
\begin{definition} ... \end{definition} 
\begin{proof} ... \end{proof}
and so on ...

* FIGURES 

If you want to insert figures in your notes do the following: 
1) Prepare your figures using your favourite graphic editor
 	for example idraw or xfig
2) Save your pictures in PostScript with a relavant name.
3) Insert the following block in your LaTeX code in the place you 
 	want to insert the figure BUT LEAVE IT AS A COMMENT (with the %
 	at the beginning of the line) since it will not work on athena: 

% \begin{figure}[h]
% \begin{center}
% \mbox{\psfig{figure=notes-nn-fig-mm.ps}}
% \caption{A very nice picture.}
% \label{fig:mm}
% \end{center}
% \end{figure}

 	of course the picture will not show up when you compile and 
 	print your notes, but don't worry I will take care of it.
4) When you mail the TA the LaTeX code mail him/her the PostScript
	files for the figures as well 


* COMPILING AND PRINTING

When you are done with writing the notes in LaTeX it's time to 
compile them. First of all you have to save the notes with the name 
lecturenn.tex (where nn is the number of the lecture you are scribing)
Then type "latex lecturenn" at your athena prompt. 
If everything is fine with your code you should find a file lecturenn.dvi
in your directory. To print that use the following command
"dvips -Pprintername lecturenn.dvi"