How to Type up Lecture Notes Using Latex

From the course web page, you can download two files.
Save notes.sty in your directory.
Save template.tex in your directory as "lecN.tex" where N is the
lecture number.

Use a text editor to edit the file lecN.tex.
There are some good guides on getting started with Latex.  For example
the first few sections of www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/ will
tell you most of what you have to know to write up course notes.

Once you have finished creating your file, type the command
latex lecN
which will run Latex.  It may report syntax errors in your file (with
somewhat mysterious error messages).  If there are no errors, it will
create a file called lecN.dvi which can be viewed using the command
xdvi lecN.dvi
You can also print it using
dvips lecN.dvi
or convert it to a postscript file (that can be viewed using gv) with
dvips -f < lecN.dvi > lecN.ps

To create the lecN file, mostly, you just type text.  Latex ignores
white space on a line.  To start a new paragraph, use a blank line.
Mathematical formulas (or single mathematical symbols) should be
enclosed in between $'s.  For example, $\beta + 3 \neq 8$.  The web
page above includes the keywords used for mathematical symbols.

For section headings, use
\section{SECTION NAME}.

For lists, you can use
\begin{itemize}
\item
FIRST ITEM IN LIST
\item
SECOND ITEM IN LIST
\item
THIRD ITEM IN LIST
\end{itemize}

If you want the entries to be numbered, use the "enumerate" instead of
"itemize".

Latex can also include pictures.  Here are two ways to do it.
  
Option 1:
Create an encapsulated postscript (.eps) file containing the picture
(Don't ask me how).  In the .tex file, type
\epsfig{file=FILENAME.eps}

Option 2:
Use the programme xfig to create the picture.  Save it as 
figureName.fig .  Then run
fig2dev -L pstex figureName.fig > figureName.ps
fig2dev -L pstex_t -p figureName.ps figureName.fig > figureName.tex
which will create two new files.  In your .tex file, add a line
\input{figureName}
wherever you want the figure.  Note:  if you want text items in the
figure to be processed as ordinary Latex (e.g. to include special
symbols inside the figure), turn the text special flag on when you
start up xfig.


For either option, you can give the figure a caption by using

\begin{figure}
\epsfig{...} OR \input{...}
\caption{\label{NAME} WRITE YOUR CAPTION HERE}
\end{figure}

This will automatically number the figure.  If you want to refer to
it, you can type things like "Refer to Figure \ref{NAME}".