Fractions, roots and sums
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A maths toolkit: amsmath
- For serious maths, load the
amsmathpackage once in the preamble:
\usepackage{amsmath}
- It adds better fractions, alignment, and dozens of symbols. Almost every maths document uses it.
Fractions and roots
- A fraction is
\frac{top}{bottom}; a square root is\sqrt{...}:
\[ \frac{a + b}{2} \qquad \sqrt{x^2 + y^2} \]
- They nest happily:
\sqrt{\frac{1}{n}}is the square root of one-over-n.
Sums and integrals
- These grow to the right size automatically:
\[ \sum_{i=1}^{n} i \qquad \int_0^1 x^2 \, dx \]
- The
_sets the lower limit and^the upper limit — the same keys as powers.
Write a fraction in the display equation. Replace the comment with \frac{1}{2} so the equation reads one-half. The amsmath package is already loaded for you.
Click Run to compile and preview the PDF.