LaTeX Guide

You’re welcome to produce your homework PDF in various ways: \(\LaTeX\), some other word processor, or neatly handwriting and scanning. We strongly advise using LaTeX. Here’s why:

LaTeX documents are beautiful and a joy to read.
LaTeX is ubiquitous across mathematics and the sciences, so learning it is a sound investment.
Many past CS 170 readers believe that LaTeXed solutions tend to be correct more often.
CS170 is typically the class where students take time to learn LaTeX, which is a valuable skill to have.

General Homework template: homework_template.tex

If you would like fancier style, use the cs170.sty file. You can just include it as the same folder as your TeX file and include the line \usepackage{cs170}.

To get started, you’ll need a LaTeX editor, on which you write LaTeX code and compile it to PDF:

If you want to write and compile on your own local machine, LaTeX Wiki/Installation have installation instructions.
If you want to avoid local installation, try Overleaf. Register with your Berkeley email to get a free Professional account.

Now, to start creating LaTeX documents using your editor:

LaTeX Wiki/Basics provides gentle introductions and minimal examples.
Find out how to write any symbol in LaTeX using Detexify or Mathpix.

Alternatively, LyX is a version of LaTeX with a GUI. It feels more like the “what you see is what you get” experience of a traditional word processor, while still producing the same beautiful output as raw LaTeX. Here are some tutorials that cover the most basic to slightly advanced LaTeX:

If you get stuck, StackOverflow may be one of your best friends. If you know of other helpful guides or resources, post those too. Happy \(\LaTeX\)ing!

“Every time I read a LaTeX document, I think, wow, this must be correct!”

— Prof. Christos Papadimitriou, CS 170 Spring 2015