Math 481/581, Assignment 2

Deadline: February 14, 2005

Grading

An important change in the method of submission

1. Just like before, you will make a zip archive and use a web form to submit it(see below).
2. You can also submit and view individual files from your Linux or Windows desktop. Submitting files will be possible using "Drag and Drop".

Purpose

• To learn LaTeX environments: tabular, table, center, figure.
• To learn how to put graphics in a LaTeX document.
• To create graphics with XFig and/or Dia and include them in LaTeX documents.
• To include raster images from a variety of sources (Downloaded from Web, created with programs like Gimp, Paint, Acrobat, etc.) in LaTeX documents, by converting them to PostScript.
• To create a citation database and use BibTeX to extract citations and include them in your paper, including at least 5 kinds of publications (say, book, article in a journal, dissertation, an article in collection, unpublished note and a software program).

Details

• Create an LaTeX input file, named classes.tex containing the author and title. Make sure to put your name as the author. Do not include any private data, like SSN or Student ID.
• Add a section in your document entitled The textbooks I use in my classes. In this section, please briefly describe the textbooks that you use in your current or past classes. For instance, state what you like or do not like about the textbook, and why. You should not use the textbook titles directly, but use the LaTeX method of citing literature.
• Provide a table of your textbook prices and number of pages in tabular form. (Note that the $ character is special to LaTeX, and thus it must be escaped with a backslash.) Make sure that your table is enclosed in a table/tabular environment and centered. Make sure that it has a caption. Since the table now can float, make sure that you provide a reference to the table in your text.
• Add bibliographical data for your textbooks at the end of the paper.
• Add another section entitled My favorite article. Pick a paper in a scientific journal that you have read (Science or Scientific American are fine, although you may prefer something closer to your school work or interests) and briefly discuss its content. Provide a proper citation to the article at the end of your document.
• Add another section to your paper, entitled Sprucing it up with figures. Using XFig, create a diagram illustrating the use of various features. You can be fancy here, but use at least the following:
  • boxes and arrows
  • normal text
  • special text, containing a mathematical formula involving integration
  (Note that older version of  XFig screen capture feature does not work yet on displays with color above 8 bits, i.e. more than 256 colors.) Export your diagram as Combined LaTeX/Postscript and include it in your LaTeX document. Make sure to include the figure in a figure environment, and provide a caption and label. Use a reference to the figure in text.
• Create a file bibinput.bib, which lists all citations you provided in your paper in the form of a BibTeX database. You can pattern your citations after the following test.bib bibliography database provided with BibTeX.
• Create the DVI files classes.dvi with the LaTeX program.
• Create the PostScript file classes.ps with dvips.
• Create a zip archive named classes.zip, containing the four files (classes.tex, classes.dvi, classes.ps, bibinput.bib).

What to turn in?