# LaTeX

There are really only three choices for mathematical writing: MS-Word, Scientific Word or LaTeX. MS-Word is useless for anything but the simplest documents. Scientific Word is tolerable, but very restrictive in layout, style and fonts. LaTeX is what any serious researcher in the mathematical sciences should use. It takes some getting use to, but the investment is well worth the effort.

### LaTeX News

Check out TeXample.Net for lots of LaTeX news and activity.

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• Anthony

Do you prefer texlive over miktex?

• I now use linux, so texlive is the only option.

• Lance Bachmeier

In the same category as Scientific Word is LyX [http://www.lyx.org/]. When I made the switch some years ago, I found that LyX was easier to use. It’s also free.

These days I use kramdown [http://kramdown.gettalong.org/]. It allows me to write my document in a markdown format and convert to LaTeX. It’s a fast way to produce a .tex document, and for newbies, the learning curve is reduced considerably. Similar options include org-mode, pandoc, and R markdown.