latex how to make homework

12 February 2014

Doing your homework in latex.

It is a common occurrence for other students to comment on my homework whenever I turn it in for one of my classes.

The complete LaTeX file (and the pdf output) can be found in my repository, latex-homework-template .

Below are a few screenshots of problems that I’ve done in the past:

If I didn’t know how easy it was and the benefits that I get from typesetting my homework, I’d probably ask as well. However, I’d argue that using LaTeX to type up homework has made me a far better student than when I used to handwrite my homeworks.

And that is something that I care a lot about.

The Benefits

I can summarize the benefits like so:

It can be kept in Source Control. Handwriting can’t be stored in a version control system; once you erase something, it’s gone.

You can see your homework materialize in front of you. Seeing the results and the equations in their complete LaTeX-glory is a very powerful way to conceptualize things. There’s just something different about the way things look so perfect that makes the subject easier to understand.

You’ll do better in your classes. This one goes with the previous point, but having the ability to see your homework helps you understand it. By understanding it well, you’ll do better on tests. You will maximize how much you can learn as well as maximize your grade (if that matters to you).

It’s very neat & tidy. Although my handwriting has improved quite a bit, I still find myself slipping back into a rushed, messy script from the past. LaTeX gives zero doubt that the professor/TA will be able to read my solutions.

About LaTeX

A very short history.

Donald Knuth , a legendary Computer Scientist as well as one of my favorites, is well known for the system that he created called just TeX .

It is a piece of typesetting software that aids in writing documents and formulas. The power comes from the fact that the document that you write is plain source code.

The code that you write is then “typeset” into the final document in whatever form you wish.

Here’s an example of some basic LaTeX code:

With the output looking like below:

Using the Template

I’ve created a GitHub repository, latex-homework-template , just for my homework template that I’ve been using ever since I started. I found it online and used it as a base to start my template.

To use it, just download the homework.tex file and start editing. Once you need to typeset it, you’ll need LaTeX here .

After that, you just need to compile it and you’ll get your output. There are tons of different resources that I’ve found useful in learning LaTeX:

TeX StackExchange

LaTeX Wikibook

Effect on Performance

I have a solid set of anecdotal evidence in favor of using LaTeX for writing up my homework.

In all the classes that I’ve used LaTeX, I’ve come out of the class with a very strong understanding of the material as well as a good grade. Although I’m not a big fan of grades (like at all), I know it matters to some people.

This might have to do with the fact that doing the homework in LaTeX takes longer. It might have to do with the fact that I perfect the appearance and spend a lot more time looking at the subject.

The most likely reason is a combination of all that I previously mentioned plus other factors. I’m usually one to always want to quantify something, but in this case, I know it helps; that’s all I need.

Learning Curve

There definitely is a learning curve when it comes to trying to use LaTeX for homework. I felt that it was definitely worth the effort unlike how it might seem to some students.

I reasoned that when I go to graduate school, I will want to use it there. I also know how pervasive it is in textbooks. Since I love to read textbooks so much, I wanted to see what it took to write them so elegantly. I may even want to write one in the future; we’ll have to see =]

To me it seemed like a small tradeoff for the great benefits that it provided.

I cannot recommend using LaTeX for your homework enough.

The benefits go a long way. It helps you learn the material and in a way that isn’t as easily achieved when just using pencil and paper.

LaTeX is also widely used in academia and learning about the tool is almost essential if you wish to go to graduate school.

Once I graduate from university, I plan on releasing all my code for the last three semesters as open source. It includes all my LaTeX code which has really accumulated over the last year. It should provide a nice resource for others.

In the meantime, hopefully if you start using LaTeX for your homework, you won’t be able to resist doing it early because of how fun it is. Well, at least it was fun for me =]

Robert J. Won

Department of Mathematics, The George Washington University

How to TeX your homework

The TeX template used in the video is included at the bottom of this post. You can paste this into a .tex file locally, or into Overleaf.

• If you’re just starting out, I recommend using  Overleaf  as your TeX editor.
• You can use  Detexify  to hand-draw a symbol to find the LaTeX command for it.
• There is also a nice  WikiBook  on LaTeXing mathematics.
• When in doubt, Google is your friend!

You will frequently have problems with TeX which will make the document unable to compile. You should remember to compile often so that you can pinpoint your errors. Here are some things to check.

• Remember to place math within dollar signs, so $x^2$ typesets as  x 2 .
• Make sure you have started and ended all environments in the appropriate spots.
• Make sure you have closed all of your curly braces { }.
• Check to see if you used a new command that requires a new package.

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02 Using LaTeX for Homework

I hope that you will use the LaTeX typesetting system to write your homework solutions for this course. (See the guide to submitting homework.) It might look daunting at first, if you haven't used LaTeX before, but you won't have to learn LaTeX in depth. You just have to fill in answers to exercises, so you won't need to deal with the complexities of writing complete documents. You will mainly need to know how to express mathematics in LaTeX. Unfortunately, matrices and systems of linear equations are among the more difficult things to write. Fortunately, you will have examples that you can imitate. What follows here is some basic information to get you oriented.

Using LaTeX is something like programming: You write "source code" in plain text, which is "compiled" to produce the actual document. Perhaps the first thing to know is that to start a new paragraph, you need to leave a blank line. Other than that, carriage returns are ignored. Also, multiple consecutive spaces are treated as a single space.

To Include mathematics in a document, you type the LaTeX source code for the math between dollar signs. For example, $ax^2+bx+c=0$ will be typeset as \(ax^2+bx+c=0\). If you enclose the code between double dollar signs, the math will be displayed on on line by itself. (This is called "displayed math.") For example, $ $ax^2+bx+c=0$ $ will be typeset as \[ax^2+bx+c=0\] Some things look different as displayed math. For example, compare \(\lim_{n\to\infty}\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{2^n}=1\) to \[\lim_{n\to\infty}\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{2^n}=1\] If case you are wondering, the LaTeX code for that is \lim_{n\to\infty}\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{2^n}=1 . Remember that it has to be enclosed between either single or double dollar signs. Stuff that is between dollar signs is said to be in math mode , as opposed to the regular "text mode."

In the source code, certain characters have special meaning: $ \ { } ^ _ & ~ # % . We have seen that $ is used to surround math code.

The backslash character, \ , is used for LaTeX commands, and braces, { and } , are used to enclose the parameters to which a command applies. For example, in \sqrt{b^2-4ac} , the command is \sqrt , the parameter is b^2-4ac , and the typeset result is \(\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\). The \frac command is used to make a fraction, and it has two parameters, so \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} is typeset as \(\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}\). Some commands don't have parameters. For example, \infty represents the infinity symbol, \(\infty\), and \to produces a right arrow, \(\to\). Note that you might need to leave a space after a command like \to to mark the end of the command word. For example, use f\colon X\to Y to get \(f\colon X\to Y\). Typing \colonX instead of \colon X will just get you an error.

The special characters caret, ^ , and underscore,  _ , are used for exponents and subscripts in math mode. Note that if an exponent or subscript is more than one character or command, it must be enclosed in braces, so you need f^{-1}(x_i) to get \(f^{-1}(x_i)\). Some similar things, such as the upper and lower limits on a sum ( \sum_{n=1}^\infty for \(\sum_{n-1}^\infty\)) and the thing that goes below "lim" ( \lim_{x\to a} for \(\lim_{x\to a}\)). By the way, in display math, that would look like \(\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}\). If you want to force some math into display style, use the command \displaystyle in regular math mode: $\displaystyle\lim_{x\to a}$ .

We will see that the amphersand, & , is used similarly to a tab character in tables and matrices. The other three special characters probably won't come up in your writing for this course. (A  ~ represents a non-breaking space, #  is used when defining new commands, and %  marks the start of a comment that ends at the end of the same line. Comments are ignored by LaTeX.) Most of the special characters can be output to the typeset document by preceding the character by a backslash in the source code. For example, type  \{ for \(\{\). However, this does not work for the backslash character; \\ is used to force a line break in the output. It also does not work for \^  or  \~ (which are used for making accented characters). I also note that | , < , and  > work in math mode but give funny results if used outside of math mode.

Some LeTeX code uses environments . Environments are coded using \begin and \end , which take the name of the environment as parameter. For example, you will write your solution to exercises in this course using my " answer " environment. That means that you will write your solution between \begin{answer} and \end{answer} . Similarly, I will write the problem text between \begin{problem} and \end{\problem} . (These two environments are not built into LaTeX. It is possible to define new environments and new commands in a document. The LaTeX source files that I give you will already define any extra commands and environments that you need.)

If you are going to use LaTeX in this course, you need to learn about matrix environments. To produce a matrix enclosed in parentheses, use the pmatrix environment. The rows of the matrix are separated by \\ . In each row, the elements of that row are separated by  & . All of that goes between \begin{pmatrix} and \end{pmatrix} , and it must all be in math mode or displayed math mode. LaTeX ignores end-of-lines in math mode, but it's a good idea to lay out the matrix in the source code similarly to how it looks when typeset (except I don't always do that for simple column vectors, which have just one element per row). For example,

will produce this in the typeset document: \[\begin{pmatrix} 3 & -10 & 2 \\ -1 & 7 & 4 \\ 5 & 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} x\\ y\\ z \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 3x-10y+2z \\ -x+7y+4z \\ 5x+z \end{pmatrix}\]

Later, we will use the vmatrix environment to make matrices that are enclosed between vertical bars instead of between parentheses. There is a plain matrix environment for typesetting the elements of the matrix with nothing enclosing them. I use the matrix environment to typeset systems of linear equations, where each equation is one row in the matrix. Each term in an equation is one element of the row. The equal sign and the right-hand side of the equation are also elements. A column can be left empty—two & 's in a row—if a term is missing from the equation. For example:

gives \[ \begin{matrix} 3x_1 & -2x_2 & +x_3 & -x_4 & = & 7\\ -x_1 & & -5x_3 & +2x_4 & = & 2\\ & x_2 & +2x_3 & & = & 0\\ 2x_1 & +3x_2 & & -5x_4 & = & -1 \end{matrix} \]

Unfortunately, there is no simple environment for making augmented matrices. I use a pattern based on the array environment, which makes it possible to put lines between columns of the array and to say whether you want the columns to be centered, left justified, or right justified. This is specified in an extra parameter that comes after \begin{array} . For example, \begin{array}{cccc|c} is used for an array with five centered columns and a line between the fourth and fifth columns; you can use r and l instead of c to get right-justified or left-justified columns. Since the array environment does not include parentheses, I have to add them myself: \left( and \right) add appropriately sized parentheses around whatever is put between them. Here's the augmented matrix that represents the above linear system:

giving \[\left( \begin{array}{cccc|c} 3 & -2 & 1 & -1 & 7\\ -1 & 0 & -5 & 2 & 2\\ 0 & 1 & 2 & 0 & 0\\ -2 & 3 & 0 & -5 & -1 \end{array} \right) \]

The only other environment that is really essential is align* . This environment is unusual in that it is used for mathematics, but it has to be used in regular text mode, not inside math mode. Its purpose is to vertically align a sequence of rows. Rows are separated by \\ , and the position in each row that is to be aligned is marked with a  & . Often, a row is an equation or inequality (or just the operator and the right half of an equation/inequality), with the operators vertically aligned. Here is an example:

which is typeset as

\(\begin{align*} \frac{d}{dx}(x\sin(x^2)) &= x\frac{d}{dx}(\sin(x^2)) + \sin(x^2)\frac{d}{dx}(x) \\ &= x\cos(x^2)\frac{d}{dx}(x^2) + \sin(x^2)\\ &= x\cos(x^2)2x + \sin(x^2)\\ &= 2x^2\cos(x^2) + \sin(x^2) \end{align*}\)

For showing a series of row reductions applied to a matrix or linear system, you might use array or matrix environments inside an align* environment. This can get complicated, but an example is given in the first homework assignment. I have defined the command \rowop for making the arrows that go between the steps of a row reduction. The parameter to \rowop is either a single row operation or several operations separated by  \\ . For example, \rowop{\rho_2\leftrightarrow\rho_3} and \rowop{2\rho_1+\rho_2\\-3\rho_1+\rho_3} for \(\rowop{\rho_2\leftrightarrow\rho_3}\) and \(\rowop{2\rho_1+\rho_2\\-3\rho_1+\rho_3}\)

You can find lists of other LaTeX command elsewhere, and you will find examples in the documents that I give you. Here are a few more that you might use in this course. Most of these are used only in math mode, and a few of them require some preliminary configuration in the LaTeX file.

(back to contents)

The LaTeX homework Document Class

January 10, 2015

There are LaTeX document classes for typesetting books, articles, exams, presentations, and more. Now, there’s one for homework assignments, too.

Check out and download the source on GitHub .

This is a LaTeX document class. That means you use it with \documentclass{homework} at the top of the document. It provides a document layout and some helper commands that make working with questions easy.

Installation

Certainly the easiest way to start using this template is to copy the .cls file to your computer in the same directory as your LaTeX project directory.

A better way to install this template is to fork the above repository and then clone that fork to a particular folder on your computer:

Then, whenever you need to use the template, you can copy the template wherever. Also, if there are ever any updates, you can simply run

to update the template.

Preferred Installation

The best way to install this file is to follow the instructions here , keeping in mind that you’re trying to install a .cls file instead of three .sty files.

See the homework.tex file for an exhaustive list of usage examples. There are also comments explaining features for which there are no examples given.

The result is the following:

The class file also has a bunch of helper \usepackage s that you might want to take a look at in homework.cls .

For your convenience, the file template.tex is a nearly-empty LaTeX file that contains the bare essentials to get started using the homework class.

To start a question, just type \question . It will add the text “Question #” with a line underneath to the document. If you’d like to change “Question” to something else, use

Similarly, if you ever need to skip numbers, you can do

So, to skip to the 10th question, <target number - 1> = 9.

See homework.tex for more.

Some classes like to give their homework questions fancy names. If this is the case, you can use \question*{The Question's Name} to make a named question.

Question Parts

Another common thing on homework assignments is to have multi-part questions. To deal with these, use the form

Induction Proofs

In math classes, induction proofs come up a lot, and they almost always have the same form: base case, induction hypothesis, and induction step.

One of my favorite features of this document class is that it redefines the \section macros. This means you can use tools like Markdown, which have a concise syntax, together with a tool like pandoc to convert Markdown into LaTeX. As an example, consider that we have the Markdown:

Running pandoc -f markdown -t latex my-homework.md will output

And since \section is the same thing as , we’re golden, and this compiles as we’d want it to. Throw it into the blank template.tex file included in the repo, and you’ve got yourself a typeset homework.

I’ve make a lot of other LaTeX-related posts. Be sure to check them out as well! My hope is that you find something that makes developing LaTeX just that much easier.

LaTeX Templates

If you would like to use LaTeX for homework, you can start by copying one of these templates, and then filling in your responses. This should prevent you from having to spend time on formatting.

To get up-and-running quickly, you can use the Overleaf online editor, which is essentially Google Docs but for LaTeX. They also have tutorials . You may prefer to install LaTeX to your computer, in which case you can use any text editor. For Emacs users, the AUCTeX plugin is very popular.

• Starting out with T e X...
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homework – A L a T e X class for writing your homework

The current document class is for writing homework. It has the following features.

• Simple and clear interface.
• Built-in support for many theorem-type environments, already configured and ready to use.
• Multilingual support.
• Page numbers are of the form “Page [current] of [total]”, which can help you ensure that there are no missing pages when you print your homework for submission.
• Support writing problem statements and solutions (or proofs) in different colors.
• Every statement and solution has its own QED symbol, in hollow or solid shape, respectively.
• You can mark the unfinished parts, and a report shall be generated at the end of your document for reminding.

Download the contents of this package in one zip archive (540.1k).

Community Comments

• 2024-02-22 CTAN update: homework
• 2023-10-16 CTAN update: homework
• 2023-10-04 CTAN update: homework

Suggestions

Maybe you are interested in the following packages as well.

• beaulivre: Write your books in a colorful way
• einfart: Write your articles in a simple and clear way
• toptesi: Bundle for typesetting multilanguage theses
• se2thesis: A Thesis Class for the Chair of Software Engineering II at the University of Passau, Germany

Package Links

Getting Started with LaTeX

• Installation
• Creating a document
• A sample document
• Library Workshop Files

Introduction

Before reading this section you should have a basic understanding of how to create a LaTeX document, as well as, the basic structure of a document.

This section is about creating templates for LaTeX documents.  Templates are meant to speed up the initial creation of a LaTeX document.  Often it is the case that the same packages and document structure will be applicable to many of the documents you are working on, in this case using a template will save you the time of having to input all of this information every time you create a new document.

Using and Creating Templates

A good front end LaTeX software package will contain at least some standard templates for different document types such as articles, beamers, and books, a great one will also let you create your own template.  Templates can be very useful when there are certain documents types you need to create often such as class notes, homework assignments, and lab reports.  In these cases a template will create consistency between documents and greatly simplify the creation of the document.

Using Templates

How to use a template depends on what program you are using to write your LaTeX code.  If you are not using any front end software a template would simply be an already written .tex file you used to start your document.  It is important to make sure that you do not save over the template as you create the new document as this would destroy the template file.  Different front end software have different methods for using templates.  In TexStudio for example under "File" there is a "new from template" option.  TexStudio comes with a number of preprogrammed templates but also allows you to add your own.  TexMaker on the other hand, under file, has the option "new by copying an existing file".  In this case you would need to create your own template file,  but you would not have to worry that you might accidentally save over it.

If the template you are looking for is not built into the software you are using there are online resources such as LaTeX Templates  where you can download templates for a variety of purposes.  A more advanced LaTeX user may also want to consider creating their own template. 

Creating Templates

When creating a template there are several important questions to ask yourself:

• It doesn't make sense to have a template if you will need to change the document class often.  It is also important to recognize which document best suits your needs (i.e. if you want sections use article but if you want chapters use book).
• One of the best reasons to have a template is that you won't have write the preamble every time you start a new document, therefore it is very important to include all the packages you will need.  Its better to have extra packages than not enough.
• You can save time by incorporating certain common elements into you preamble such as title, author, and date.  You may also want include certain structures in the document, for example if you were making a lab report you may already include all the sections the report requires (Introduction, Experimental Setup, Results, Conclusions, etc...).  
• Perhaps you are using your template for a certain class that often uses matrices or a mathematical symbol with a long name.  Creating a new command as part of the template can help simplify the writing process.

Sample Template Code

% This is a template for doing homework assignments in LaTeX

\documentclass {article} % This command is used to set the type of document you are working on such as an article, book, or presenation

\usepackage { geometry } % This package allows the editing of the page layout \usepackage { amsmath }   % This package allows the use of a large range of mathematical formula, commands, and symbols \usepackage { graphicx }   % This package allows the importing of images

\newcommand { \question }[2][]{ \ begin{ flushleft }         \textbf {Question #1}: \textit {#2}

\end{ flushleft } } \newcommand { \sol }{ \textbf {Solution}:} %Use if you want a boldface solution line \newcommand { \maketitletwo }[2][]{ \begin{ center }         \Large { \textbf {Assignment #1}                          Course Title} % Name of course here          \vspace {5pt}                  \normalsize {Matthew Frenkel   % Your name here                  \today }         % Change to due date if preferred          \vspace {15pt}          \end{ center } } \begin{ document }      \maketitletwo [5]   % Optional argument is assignment number     %Keep a blank space between maketitletwo and \question[1]           \question [1]{Here is my first question}           YOUR SOLUTION HERE          \question [2]{Here is my second question}          YOUR SOLUTION HERE          \question [3]{What is the \Large { $ \int_ 0^2 x^2 \, dx $ } \normalsize {. Show all steps}}           \begin{ align* }     \int_ 0^2 x^2 &= \left. \frac {x^3}{3} \right| _0^2 \\                  &= \frac {2^3}{3}- \frac {0^3}{3} \\                  &= \frac {8}{3}      \end{ align* } \end{ document }

Sample Template Output

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Assignments

Assignments, also known as homework, are usually given to school or university students to reinforce their knowledge of a subject and aid in learning. They are typically structured in question and answer form to be completed by the student consecutively.

fphw Assignment

This template is for formatting assignments or homework in a clear and simple way. The title section at the top of the first page clearly displays the assignment, student and class information. This information also appears in the headers and footers of subsequent pages. Questions in the assignment are clearly demarcated and appear inside boxes to focus attention. The template features examples of including images, tables, equations and code listings for covering virtually all common assignment information. Multi-part questions and answers are shown for more complex questions.

• View Template Information

Wenneker Assignment

This template can be used by teachers or students for school or university assignments. It contains a clear title section at the start to specify the assignment class, title, date and teacher/student name. The template supports up to 4 levels of sections to structure the assignment into sections, questions, subquestions and bonus content. Examples of common assignment content are included: figure, equations, lists, table, code and paragraphs of text.

Lachaise Assignment

This template is for teachers/instructors/educators to create assignments/homework for their students. It includes a clear title on the first page for the course, assignment and teacher’s name, as well as the institution and date. Sets of questions can be grouped by headings and the template includes examples of unnumbered and numbered sections, and numbered subsections (for longer assignments). Amongst the description text for each question, examples are provided for virtually any subject matter, including: equations, algorithms, code and command line outputs.

Cleese Assignment

This template comes in two versions, one for teachers/instructors/educators to create assignments/homework for their students to fill out by hand, and another for students proficient in LaTeX to answer questions posed to them at school or university/college. Both versions contain simple environments for each question and subquestion within, and allow answer boxes to be created with either an answer or blank for space to write an answer. Sets of questions can be grouped by headings and the template includes examples of including an image, table, equation and code within questions.

LaTeX Templates Information

General enquiries [email protected]

Most templates licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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How to encourage TeX as a homework medium

I have been trying to encourage my students to use TeX in writing up homework, especially in early math major courses, like intro to proofs, where the typesetting is not too arduous. I have had very limited success with students taking it up. Does anyone else encourage/require assignments to be typeset? What strategies have worked best for you?

• Why TeX and not LaTeX? Did your students got any introductory courses on how to use LaTeX before? Perhaps the early learning curve is to high for them to try to figure out by themselves. –  Juan A. Navarro Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 22:35
• 4 LaTeX is certainly fine. I tend to conflate the two. –  Johnson-Leung Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 23:12
• I feel like building communication skills is often skipped out on in math and CS education and I think TeX can be a good tool for building those skills. I'm glad you are trying to incorporate it! –  fryguybob Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 0:24
• 1 Should this be community wiki? –  Andrew Stacey Commented Aug 2, 2010 at 8:22
• 2 @Andrew: I don't think so. There's no clear consensus here yet (and on SO, plenty of people would be clamoring for CW), but why ? I think someone writing a good answer to this question deserves the rep he/she gets when it is upvoted. CW would take that away, and for what benefit? –  jalf Commented Aug 2, 2010 at 12:46

9 Answers 9

As a Mathematics/Engineering student approaching the end of my undergraduate career, I can say that typesetting my Homework was a pain until I had a nice refined template to use. Based on my experiences, I would suggest the following:

Provide your students with a LaTeX template that they can use as a starting point for their homework. Something that has nice features like a "Problem" environment that auto-increments question numbers and has support for sub-problems (parts, a, b, c, etc). Bonus points for nice headers/footers that show the student's name, current problem and "Continued on next page" if the answer is long. Providing a nice template eases the learning curve and can really sell some people on the elegance of TeX.

Absolutely, positively, provide the TeX sources to any assignment or notes page you hand out. One of the most pointless, time-consuming activities I have been forced to undertake is copying problem statements out of a PDF, pasting them into my homework document, and then regenerating all the mathematical typesetting and enumeration markup that did not copy cleanly or at all. Bonus points for using the homework template you developed to provide questions- then there is no copying and pasting, students just have to fill in the answer.

• 1 Sharpie, if you have a template for engineering homework, you might be interested in this, tex.stackexchange.com/questions/393/… –  EricR Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 18:49
• You might also be interested in this - I have the same problem: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/371/… Unfortunately, I have 2 years before the end of my undergrad career... –  Kevin Vermeer Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 20:19
• 1 can you share your template? –  Amir Rachum Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 11:21
• 1 Sure. I have it GitHub, but it could use a little clean up and some comments could be clarified. I will update my post when I have gone over the template. –  Sharpie Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 16:49
• 2 +1 For suggesting to provide source for assignments. This is what get me to learn. –  Geoff Commented Aug 26, 2010 at 21:46

I get reasonably good results with the following strategy:

Include the following line in my syllabus: "Nicely typeset solutions will be awarded a modicum of extra credit."

Distribute .tex source for nicely typeset but obviously fake solutions for my first homework.

Award a modicum of extra credit for nicely typeset solutions.

• 1 how much is a modicum, usually ? –  Suresh Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 5:43
• I really like the idea of a distributing fake solution set. I'll definitely try that out this fall! +1 –  Johnson-Leung Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 23:33
• 7 A modicum is more than epsilon, but less than 1/N. Naturally. –  Blake Stacey Commented Aug 2, 2010 at 5:48
• 4 In practice, for a 10pt homework problem, a modicum is at most 0.5pt. But the amount really doesn't matter; even 1sp extra credit would draw them in. –  JeffE Commented Aug 3, 2010 at 11:26
• 1 I tried offering extra credit for using LaTeX in one of my classes. You have to be careful about how you word it! One of the students simply submitted his homework in a giant \begin{verbatim} \end{verbatim} block! –  ESultanik Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 19:34

All of my reports were typeset in LaTeX in university. Only once I've tried to typeset math homework using LaTeX and it was a pain. It was much quicker to write up the answers on paper than to do context switching between typing up LaTeX, thinking & waiting/viewing the results.

One way would be to have an interactive web2.0 website to submit LaTeX typeset answer with automatic rendering. Gradually making the students love LaTeX syntax.

I've started out with LaTeX with a small "LaTeXiT" app on macos which would render equations into pngs and allow me to drag and drop them.

Later on you can introduce ready-made templates for question answers.

(this is from student perspective what might have made me take up latex earlier on.)

And be nice and release your document. All of my professors refuse to give me latex sources citing that sources are theirs . Make these sources licensed under creative commons and put them on something like http://docs.latexlab.org/ to allow students "fix" lecture notes =)

• 1 This is why an intro to proofs class seemed so ideal. The homework is much more like a report than for a calculus class or something. I would also love to incorporate TeX into my blackboard page, but I am not sure if I can do that myself or if I would need to go through our (less useful than it should be) IT department. –  Johnson-Leung Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 23:04
• I like the idea of having a "web 2.0" kind of tool to ease students into different parts of TeX. Detexify ( detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html ) seems like half of that and various other sites that take math mode text and render an image is another half. Someone needs to pull it all together though. –  fryguybob Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 0:26
• 1 @Jonson-Leung: In my Uni we ditched blackboard and went with the open-source sakai which is MUCH MUCH better. And free. Although the uni did sign up to be "platinum" supporter and donates 10 000 each year but that is nothing compared to blackboard license fees we paid. –  Dima Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 13:04
• +1 for releasing the document. Especially when learning, being able to see how something is done is very useful. One of my professors uses LaTeX for all his assignments, but only releases the PDFs. He simultaneously claims that the difficulty of copy-pasting the typeset text (usually into Word) makes us learn by typing rather than copying, and that we should all use LaTeX. This entry barrier means that only a few students use LaTeX as suggested. –  Kevin Vermeer Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 15:20
• @Dima I actually can't stand blackboard either, but I like that it is FERPA compliant and definitely don't want to have to host the site myself. Hopefully someday my university will wise up, but for now they seem to like spending money on license fees. –  Johnson-Leung Commented Aug 1, 2010 at 23:31

I tried this in my real analysis class this past spring with limited success. I required my students to type at least one of their solutions using LaTeX for the first several homework assignments and then bumped it up to two solutions later in the semester. A few students fell in love and were turning in their entire homework set in LaTeX by the third week while others conveniently ignored the requirement most weeks and then turned in several LaTeXed problems every few weeks to make up for their lack. Since they were all required to turn in a LaTeXed paper for the end-of-semester project, they knew they had to learn it at some point.

To get them started, I had them install TeXnicCenter and did a 10-minute introduction to LaTeX during the first week of class. I also posted a .tex file with comments on my website for them and posted the homework assignment each week as a .tex file so that they could just fill in their solutions without worrying about document setup.

Since each of my students had a college-issued laptop, if they were having problems that seemed machine-specific, they could just bring the laptop to me and we could troubleshoot together. I also started having them submit their .tex files so that I could see what their code looked like and comment on it.

I am very interested in how other people approach this (I think you're correct that starting in an intro to proofs class or an early class is the best way to go) since I think I only convinced about half my students to really learn LaTeX and see it as the only way to type mathematics. It doesn't help that they were all given extra credit in calculus for typing their homework in Word.

Here's a document that I wrote for this coming semester in hopes of encouraging my students to use TeX. I'm going to give them templates for their first few homework assignments as well.

• 9 Word...shudder... –  fryguybob Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 0:27

Introduce LyX to your students. First impression of LaTeX is scary after years with word processors. But both GUI approach and good tutorial of LyX may attract your students. It has almost all the benefits of LaTeX, for starters, and easier to learn compared to LaTeX.

Put the source code for a sample answer on your course website. Better yet, don't worry about it. It's really not fun grading assignments that have errors that, if written by hand would imply complete lack of understanding, but if typeset imply only a trivial typo. (For example, it is easy to forget a partial in a tex expression, which is something that only weak students would do with pen on paper.) Do you really want to write "C" (or worse) on such a paper?

I bet that most people reading this site love tex and latex. But if students are not using these things of their own free will, then that indicates that these things are not useful to them (yet).

I use latex for all my course materials, which are quite mathematical. The results are manifestly more beautiful than they would have been, had I used word or openoffice. Guess what? A lot of students notice this, and start using latex, without my asking.

Tex and Latex can argue for themselves.

One university that I know of designated 5 out of 25 marks for "clarity and style". Since writing clearly is a recognisable skill and one that mathematicians really ought to learn, this is easily justifiable in a mark scheme.

However, I would be a little disturbed to find someone awarding credit only for LaTeX'ing documents. Although I agree that TeX and its derivatives are by far the best system for writing mathematics, it can be a little overwhelming to start with and so actually requiring it (other than for a TeX-specific course) would seem to me to be on dubious pedagogical grounds. I would rather go down the route of encouragement rather than requirement.

It has just occurred to me that students learning LaTeX might actually be a side-benefit of something I'm planning on next semester. I'm thinking of running a maths-enabled forum for my students to ask and answer questions. They'll be able to use a LaTeX-like system for entering their mathematics to get it converted in to MathML. That might get them introduced to (La)TeX equation markup without needing to know all the extra stuff (like what to put in a preamble). Hopefully, once they see how easy and intuitive that part is, they'll recognise that it's worth learning how to do it properly.

A few of my undergraduate physics classes required LaTeX in one way or another. Our reports for each experiment in the laboratory course had to be in two-column APS classic , for example. In our third term of quantum mechanics, we each did a term paper on some subject drawn from the literature (general instructions, LaTeX templates and a sample paper are available here ). In some circumstances, having one or two big LaTeX projects over the course of the, ah, course might be preferable to lots of shorter LaTeXnical assignments.

Edit to add: For example, if the structure of the class is such that a longer writing project like a term paper is possible, then the students can gain familiarity with LaTeX features beyond equations and text formatting, such as building a bibliography and adding figures. These would be beyond the requirements of an ordinary problem set; the student who uses BibTeX for a weekly homework assignment is not a student who needs help being enthused about typesetting. But this might be a bit much to spring on people who've just encountered the TeXniverse for the first time.

Here's one idea: you could create a one-page cheat sheet listing some basic LaTeX commands, including the notation that will come up in the class. You could send them the source and make compiling it an assignment.

• 5 Even better, you could in addition provide a simple style file already defining a few macros and semantic commands for your particular class so that students find the LaTeX syntax more natural and helps them type their formulas more easily. –  Juan A. Navarro Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 10:41

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Templates — Homework Assignment

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Here we provide a selection of homework assignments templates and examples for school, college and university use. These often include a question and answer section already set out, along with space for the student name, course title, date and any other required information. Teachers and lecturers may also find these templates useful for preparing material for their classes.

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How to shop for an (actually good) mattress online

We don’t always have the answers, but we have some people on speed dial who do — which is why we present to you our series FYI where we have experts explain if lip balm is actually bad , how often should you wash your hair and more. 

Shopping for a mattress is intimidating — especially online. There’s firm, there’s foam and don’t even get us started on the labyrinth that is pillow shopping. However, according to experts we spoke with, buying a mattress online can be an incredibly successful endeavor because there are so many online, direct-to-consumer options that aren’t available in stores. 

But how can you ensure you buy a mattress that you like online? And, worst-case scenario, what happens if you buy something online and don’t like it? To answer these questions and more, we spoke with sleep experts for their best tips and tricks.

SKIP AHEAD Can you successfully buy a mattress online? | Tips for shopping for a mattress online | Where to shop for a mattress online | Why trust NBC Select?

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Can you successfully buy a mattress online .

The short answer: Yes, you find a great mattress online. “Buying a mattress online isn’t inferior to visiting a showroom and testing one in person,” says Jeff Kahn, sleep expert and CEO and co-founder of the sleep app Rise Science . “That’s because you might not gain as much from lying on a mattress in-store for just a few minutes as you may think. Research suggests that it can take several nights to a week to fully adapt to a new mattress.” Because of that, there’s really no difference between shopping in a store or online. Beyond that, a store can only stock so many different types of mattresses. When you shop online, your options are endless, allowing you to really hone in on the type of firmness, support and more that will work best for your particular sleep needs.

How to shop for a mattress online

If you want to shop for a mattress online, it’s helpful to arm yourself with some tools and tactics to make sure you make the best purchase possible. Below, things our experts recommend you keep in mind when shopping for a mattress online: 

• Do your homework: There’s a lot of mattress lingo and if you don’t understand it, you may pick the wrong style for you. For example, most mattresses will list their firmness level. A firm mattress is best for those who sleep on their back because they help maintain spinal alignment where a slightly softer mattress helps do the same for side sleepers, says Kahn. You’ll also notice a lot of talk about the types of materials used. High-density foams and natural latex tend to provide more support, while gel-infused foams and cotton or wool construction mean a mattress will be more breathable and better for hot sleepers, says Ben Trapskin, creator of Yawnder , a platform dedicated to educating people about the importance of sleep. 
• Look for a good return policy: Both of our experts agreed that this might just be the most important thing to consider when shopping for a mattress online. You may need to try several mattresses to find the best for you, says Kahn. “Sleep trials and return policies really are critical when shopping online without testing,” says Trapskin. “Look for at least 100 days to ensure the mattress suits your needs.” 
• Pay attention to reviews: Online sites are filled with long reviews on various mattresses you can buy online. They can be very helpful, but it’s also not a bad idea to approach them cautiously. “Be mindful of affiliate relationships that could bias reviews. This doesn’t mean their reviews are automatically untrustworthy, but it’s wise to approach them with some healthy skepticism,” says Kahn. For more impartial insights, seek out reviews from real users or websites that utilize experts who do not financially benefit from the sales of certain brands or types of mattresses.

Where to shop for a mattress online

Want to shop for a mattress online but don’t know where to start? The below sites offer a variety of highly rated options.

You can buy just about anything on Amazon — like  travel accessories , coffee makers and dog food . So, it only makes sense you’d consider the online retailer for your mattress, too. Amazon offers popular brands like Nectar , Zinus and Tuft & Needle . One thing to pay attention to: Each brand has a different return policy, so you’ll want to pay close attention to that when shopping.

Along with well-known brands like Sealy and Casper, Walmart has its own mattress brand called Allswell — which offers various sizes and firmness levels. I have three different Allswell mattresses in my home (one in my room, one in my daughter’s room and another in our guest room) and they all are incredibly comfortable and have held up well over many years. One of the best things about Allswell? Most of itsmattresses come in well under $1,000. Allswell mattresses come with a 90-day return window. 

Mattress Firm

While this well-known mattress retailer has several brick-and-mortar locations, you can also shop online. Mattress Firm carries popular mattress brands like Sealy , Stearns & Foster , Tempur-Pedic , Beautyrest and more. You can filter mattresses by firmness, price and size. Mattress Firm offers a 120-day trial on its mattresses and sells items like box springs, pillows and bedding to help you set up the perfect bedroom. 

Purple offers an online mattress quiz to help you find the best style for you. The brand is known for its proprietary GelFlex Grid, which offers comfort and pressure relief and is cooling, according to the brand. The brand (which has a pillow that won a 2023 NBC Select Bed and Bath Award ) has an essential, hybrid and luxe collection — each of which offers mattresses of different firmness levels and various padding options. 

Casper makes one of our favorite dog beds — but they are really known for its high-quality mattresses. The brand has a 100-day trial period and offers five different types of mattresses, including a cooling model, a hybrid mattress and more. Like Purple, Casper also has an online mattress quiz to help you find the best option for your sleep needs.

Meet our experts

At NBC Select, we work with experts with specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and experience. We also ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.

• Jeff Kahn is a sleep expert and CEO and co-founder of the sleep app Rise Science .
• Ben Trapskin is the creator of Yawnder , a platform dedicated to educating people about the importance of sleep. 

Why trust NBC Select?

Bethany Heitman is a contributor at NBC Select and a journalist who regularly covers beauty, home and lifestyle. For this story, she interviewed experts on how to shop for a mattress online.

Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance , tech and tools , wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.

Bethany Heitman is a contributing editor at NBC Select.