LaTeX

\textrm{\LaTeX} is a typesetting language. Reports, articles, journal articles, dissertations, presentations and books are commonly written in \textrm{\LaTeX}. As a scientist \textrm{\LaTeX} is the standard for carrying out research in a reproducible way. Word processors tend to use binary format, which inhibit the use of technologies that help with auditing. Moreover, word processors have compatibility issues between versions and between comparable programs. Most, importantly, \textrm{\LaTeX} is freely available and produces high quality attractive documents.

Example Document

An example document written in \textrm{\LaTeX}.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\title{A sample document}
\author{Author Name}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

This is where the text goes.  Mathematical
formulae, like $e=mc^{2}$ can easily be included.

\end{document}

\textrm{\LaTeX} documents need to be compiled into PDF, HTML, Postscript or another format that the user specifies. Editors (see editor list below) can compile these documents at the click of a button. Otherwise, you can navigate to the folder where a file is saved and use:

$ pdflatex name-of-latex-document.tex

To view the output of the above document as a PDF.