LaTeX Demystified 7607

LaTeX Demystified

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Math can certainly have a bad reputation for being complex with some folks and trying to utilize it in digital assessments and assignments may seem daunting. However, thanks to LaTeX, Blackbaud's Education management products helps make including equations in your work a breeze.

I have always found math to be challenging. After learning the basics in elementary school, it was all downhill from there. I struggled through math classes in high school and by the time I hit college, I took the easiest math courses possible just to get those credits out of the way. Today, I still break out in a cold sweat as I navigate percentages and simple addition while calculating a tip for my waitress at dinner.

So when it comes to teaching math, I never really thought about how difficult it might be for teachers to add mathematical equations to their online assessments and assignments. Whether you’re teaching multiplication tables, the quadratic formula, or mystical imaginary numbers, you need to be able to include equations in your online assignments. Currently, you can use LaTeX to add mathematical equations to your online assignments.

In general, LaTeX can be used for documentation to define the documentation’s structure, but for our purposes, we are only going to consider LaTeX as a fancy way to add mathematical equations to our assessments and assignments. When I first heard about LaTeX, I assumed it was a highly difficult and technical process, but I’ve begun to see that’s just how I look at everything math related. In fact, using LaTeX is very simple.

The key to LaTeX is everything that needs to be included in the formula needs to be inside $$. Please note that anywhere you look up LaTeX, it is going to say you only need to use one $ on each side. For Blackbaud’s LMS, you need to use two dollar signs on either side. For example, if you were trying to have your students identify the quadratic formula and were including it as an answer, you would put:
$$x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$$

To break some of that down for you:

\frac: This tells the system that you want to display a fraction. Everything in the first set of curly braces({}) will be on the top part of the fraction and everything in the second set of curly braces({}) will be on the bottom part of the fraction.

\pm: This will supply the plus/minus symbol for the equation.

\sqrt: This tells the system that you are looking to show the square root of the number(s) that follow in the curly braces({}).

b^2: This will show as b2 .

With LaTeX, you can add all sorts of mathematical equations to your online assignments. It takes some practice to get used to it, but once you’ve learned some of the different LaTeX commands, you’ll be a pro! Other teachers will be asking you how you got your math equations to look so nice! You can find a list of LaTeX commands here. If you have any additional questions about LaTeX, please let us know in the comments below!

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