Math on the Web -- Class 9

Today's tips

Using the history list in UNIX

In the tcsh shell, as we pointed out recently, there is a history list, which keeps track of the commands that you have used recently. You should be able to view the history list. To see your last 10 commands, use: 
    clam% history 10
We have seen how to use the history list to recall commands by using the up arrow key to step through the list, or using, say, !la to recall the last command that started with la.

I had mentioned that there is some danger with using the ! command completion because you might intend to run latex firstfile and instead you accidently run latex secondfile. To get around that difficulty, you can look before the leap by typing at the clam% prompt: 

   !la:p
Then the command will be displayed for you, and you can use the up arrow key or type !! to run the displayed command.

The syntax for the history reference is: 

    !event:words:modifiers
In the example, the event was "la", there was no "words" argument, and the modifier was "p", which "prints" the command without executing ( by "prints", here, one means "displays on the terminal"). Thus, the effect of running the command was to search the history list for the most recent command line that started with the string "la" and simply display that command. What do the terms mean?
event
Here "event" means "command"
words
(Optional)If given, select words from the command, else use all words
modifiers
(Optional)If given, modifies selected words or event
You can run several commands in a row with the same argument. For example, if you review a file, decide to edit it and then want to mail it, you can use the following: 
   more some-file-with-a-long-name 
   emacs !$ &
   mail friend < !$
In this example, !$ gives the last argument of the previous command. You could be more specific by using !mo:$ to recall the last argument of the most recent command that started with "mo".

Goals to accomplish during class

  1. Practice searching for information
  2. Practice searching for software
  3. Learn to install and use some LaTeX packages

In-class Activities

Search the Web

Another contest. Find information on each of the following topics as quickly as you can.
  1. Artificial Life
  2. Cryptography
  3. Symbolic Computation

Packages in LaTeX

Today I would like you to spend some time exploring the exercises from a web page about LaTeX packages

The Draftcopy Package

The LaTeX online catalogue has indices to help you locate TeX files. You should be able to find information about the draftcopy package there. Follow the instructions to download the package and get it working. Start by making a directory called "draftcopy", or some such name. You'll need the files draftcopy.ins and draftcopy.doc. Run 
    latex draftcopy.ins

Exercise 1: Typeset a test file for the draftcopy package

The file draftcopy-test1.tex should be created by your installation of the package. Run LaTeX on it and hand in the typeset copy with your name on it.

The picins package: text flow around boxes

If you download the GIF image of a rabbit from the Millenium Fulcrum edition of Alice in Wonderland as well as the first few paragraphs, you should be able to reproduce the first paragraphs of this example. For that you use the package "picins". Watch out though for the extraneous character CTRL Z at the end of the file (UNIX systems).

Exercise 2: Typeset a test file for the picins package

Picins is designed to work with the "graphics" package. The required argument to the \parpic command is supposed to be a LaTeX graphics box. It is not, as you might first guess, just the name of a PostScript file. You can create a latex graphics "box" from a PostScript file by using the command \includegraphics from the graphics package. Without using the savebox command, you must have the \includegraphics command as part of the required argument for \parpic, so your argument is going to be fairly complicated, especially if you want to rescale your PostScript graphic by using \scalebox inside the \includegraphic command.

The only tricky part for this exercise is creating a suitable PostScript file from the GIF image, and making the correct dimension entries for the parameters in the package. You can use the command \scalebox from the graphics package to match the size of the image to the dimensions that you specify in the \parpic command.

Be sure to specify units of length if you do give dimensions.

Exercise 3. Typeset a test file for Philip Hirschhorn's exam package

The goal is to typeset a reasonable facsimile of Quiz 3-A or a similar-looking quiz on any mathematical topic you like.

Exercise 4. Produce a PDF file.

Instead of using LaTeX to produce a .dvi file and then running dvips to print the DVI file, or xdvi to view the DVI file, use PDF-LaTeX to produce a PDF file viewable by Adobe Acrobat Reader. On clam just run the command pdflatex myfile instead of running latex myfile. Other implementations of TeX, such as MikTeX, allow you to choose PDF as an output format also.

Exercise 5. On your web page make a link to your PDF file.

This will probably be easiest if you move your PDF file to the directory that houses your HTML web page and change its permissions so that the file become accessible to web browsers.

Finished?

If you have done all the above activities, and there is still time left, here are some other activities you can do.

Homework for after class

You probably will not have time to start these during class.

  1. Continue to explore a mathematical topic, with a view to using what you find as part of project B.
  2. If you have not done so, make a link on your very basic web page to your PDF quiz file from Exercise 4.
  3. Revise your list of links to mathematical sites that you think are worth revisiting. Include the list of links either on your very basic Web page or as a separate document linked to that Web page.
  4. Send me an email summary of what you have done and are doing now on your project B.

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