# LaTeX Pointers

These pages contain a summary of those LaTeX features that may be helpful to know to fill in and to "latex" your Web version of the NOAO observing run proposal form successfully. If you are new to LaTeX you may also find one of the Leslie Lamport books about LaTeX a handy guide. Questions or problems may be directed to us as well at noaoprop-help@noao.edu, including your "username" if your question is about a particular proposal problem.

## The Basics

This section covers what we think are the minimal LaTeX concepts needed for completing the Web version of your proposal.
• Paragraphs. Text entry into the forms should be straightforward - just start typing, or cut and paste from already existing text. Use the "return" key to keep your lines short ( < 80 characters) so you do not have to use the horizontal scroll to read your text. Use a blank line to separate paragraphs.

Normally there is no new paragraph indentation. This can be forced using the \hspace*{0.8cm} command at the beginning of the first line of the paragraph. If a line is indented for some reason and you do not want it to be, use \noindent before the line to turn off indentation.

• Sections. If you wish to have numbered sections in the "Scientific Justification" field of the proposal, this can be implemented with the \subsection command, e.g., \subsection{Introduction}, at the beginning of a new paragraph. Be warned, however, that the \subsection command takes up space, and you are limited to one page of printed text.

• Special characters. A few special characters are treated differently in LaTeX than one would normally expect if they are included in your running text.

• Several common characters have special meaning in LaTeX so need to be "escaped" with the "\" if you want to use them in your text: \%, \$, \&, \#, \_, \{, \}. • Quotation marks: The double quote is generated by typing two single quotes, for example,  or '' and not ". • Dashes: LaTeX supports three levels of dashes. A single "-" is used for hyphenation. A double "--" will produce a longer dash and is usually used to indicate ranges, e.g., 1--2. A triple "---" is used to produce an even longer dash and is used for isolating text, e.g., It was a rainy day---unlike our usual weather---and the picnic was canceled. • The ~: The tilde character is often used in LaTeX to force a space between two words and at the same time prevent automatic line breaking. Some examples where this may be useful are: Figure~1,$\lambda$~Orionis, 1.4~$\AA$. • Emphasizing text. It is straightforward to either {\it italicize} or {\bf boldface} text. Only the text in the brackets will be affected - you can even switch to {\rm roman} if you wish, which is the default. • Superscripts and subscripts. Superscripts and subscripts must be done in what is called "math" mode using either the "^" or the "_". So you would type, for example,$5^{2}$or$B_{V}$for 52 or BV. The$ is used as the delimiter for math mode. Remember above where these three characters, as well as the "curly braces" were mentioned as special characters in LaTeX?

• Lists. Two types of lists may be useful (there are others as well). One is a bulleted list and the other is an ordered or numbered list.

• Bulleted list:
\begin{itemize}
\item This would be item one preceded by a bullet.
\item This would be item two, and so forth.
\end{itemize}

• Ordered or numbered list:
\begin{enumerate}
\item This would be item one preceded by the number 1.
\item This would be item two preceded by the number 2, and so forth.
\end{enumerate}


## Math and Equations

LaTeX supports a "math" mode for inline mathematical equations, symbols, and equations set off from the text. Text input in math mode that appears to LaTeX to be mathematical variables will be italicized, but can be corrected by a font change, e.g.,$T_{\rm eff}$.

## NOAOprop LaTeX Definitions

\let\la=\lesssim
\let\ga=\gtrsim
\def\case#1#2{\hbox{$\frac{#1}{#2}$}}
\def\slantfrac#1#2{\hbox{$\,^#1\!/_#2$}}
\def\onehalf{\slantfrac{1}{2}}
\def\onethird{\slantfrac{1}{3}}
\def\twothirds{\slantfrac{2}{3}}
\def\onequarter{\slantfrac{1}{4}}
\def\threequarters{\slantfrac{3}{4}}
\def\ubvr{\hbox{$U\!BV\!R$}}
\def\ub{\hbox{$U\!-\!B$}}
\def\bv{\hbox{$B\!-\!V$}}
\def\vr{\hbox{$V\!-\!R$}}
\def\ur{\hbox{$U\!-\!R$}}
\def\ion#1#2{#1$\;${\small\rm\@Roman{#2}}\relax}

\let\jnl@style=\rm
\def\ref@jnl#1{{\jnl@style#1}}
\def\aj{\ref@jnl{AJ}}
\def\araa{\ref@jnl{ARA\&A}}
\def\apj{\ref@jnl{ApJ}}
\def\apjl{\ref@jnl{ApJ}}
\def\apjs{\ref@jnl{ApJS}}
\def\ao{\ref@jnl{Appl.~Opt.}}
\def\apss{\ref@jnl{Ap\&SS}}
\def\aap{\ref@jnl{A\&A}}
\def\aapr{\ref@jnl{A\&A~Rev.}}
\def\aaps{\ref@jnl{A\&AS}}
\def\azh{\ref@jnl{AZh}}
\def\baas{\ref@jnl{BAAS}}
\def\jrasc{\ref@jnl{JRASC}}
\def\memras{\ref@jnl{MmRAS}}
\def\mnras{\ref@jnl{MNRAS}}
\def\pra{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~A}}
\def\prb{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~B}}
\def\prc{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~C}}
\def\prd{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~D}}
\def\pre{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~E}}
\def\prl{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rev.~Lett.}}
\def\pasp{\ref@jnl{PASP}}
\def\pasj{\ref@jnl{PASJ}}
\def\qjras{\ref@jnl{QJRAS}}
\def\skytel{\ref@jnl{S\&T}}
\def\solphys{\ref@jnl{Sol.~Phys.}}
\def\sovast{\ref@jnl{Soviet~Ast.}}
\def\ssr{\ref@jnl{Space~Sci.~Rev.}}
\def\zap{\ref@jnl{ZAp}}
\def\nat{\ref@jnl{Nature}}
\def\iaucirc{\ref@jnl{IAU~Circ.}}
\def\aplett{\ref@jnl{Astrophys.~Lett.}}
\def\apspr{\ref@jnl{Astrophys.~Space~Phys.~Res.}}
\def\bain{\ref@jnl{Bull.~Astron.~Inst.~Netherlands}}
\def\fcp{\ref@jnl{Fund.~Cosmic~Phys.}}
\def\gca{\ref@jnl{Geochim.~Cosmochim.~Acta}}
\def\grl{\ref@jnl{Geophys.~Res.~Lett.}}
\def\jcp{\ref@jnl{J.~Chem.~Phys.}}
\def\jgr{\ref@jnl{J.~Geophys.~Res.}}
\def\memsai{\ref@jnl{Mem.~Soc.~Astron.~Italiana}}
\def\nphysa{\ref@jnl{Nucl.~Phys.~A}}
\def\physrep{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Rep.}}
\def\physscr{\ref@jnl{Phys.~Scr}}
\def\planss{\ref@jnl{Planet.~Space~Sci.}}
\def\procspie{\ref@jnl{Proc.~SPIE}}
\let\astap=\aap
\let\apjlett=\apjl
\let\apjsupp=\apjs
\let\applopt=\ao


Updated: 10Aug99