Word vs. LaTeX Udi Boker April 2004
MS-Word The most popular word processor By Microsoft WYSIWYG WYDIWYG
LaTeX The standard system for scientific documents TeX – formatting engine, by D. E. Knuth (1977 - 1982) LaTeX – macro package by Leslie Lamport (1985) ASCII Compilation Printable Document \Large{\textbf{Hello}}
The Question Searching for “Word vs. LaTeX” in Google: “Why should I use LaTeX? …” “The advantages of LaTeX …” “Whether to use LaTeX …” The natural preference of Word is clear. One should have good reasons to use LaTeX.
Why LaTeX? In a scientific environment one has very good reasons to use LaTeX: Superior output Publishing standard Separation of content and style High mathematical support Full control Referencing, indexing and bibliography
The output LaTeX Word
Why LaTeX? In a scientific environment one has very good reasons to use LaTeX: Superior output Publishing standard Separation of content and style High mathematical support Full control Referencing, indexing and bibliography
Other LaTeX Advantages It’s free Stability Scalability Portability