Ma 375 - Communicating Mathematics

Carl Eberhart and Paul Eakin

Class 4 -- Getting Graphics

5 ways to make pictures in LaTeX Use Use LaTeX picture commandsLaTeX picture commands Use Use MS PaintMS Paint to draw to draw

b&w .bmp filesb&w .bmp files Use Use MapleMaple to generate to generate

color .eps filescolor .eps files Use Use Paint Shop ProPaint Shop Pro to draw to draw

color .eps filescolor .eps files Use commands from the Use commands from the

PSTricks packagePSTricks package

LaTeX picture commands

Here is a sample picture drawn with picture commands in LaTeX.

setlength{\unitlength}{.5in}

\begin{picture}(7,4)

\put(0,0){\vector(1,5){3}

\put(2,2){$\sqrt{2}$}

\end{picture}

MS Paint

Launch the Paint from Accessories Set the size to something like 4 by 2.4 inches Make a drawing Save as monochrome bmp (say pic.bmp) in the

right directory include graphicx in your list of packages put\includegraphics[height=4in,width=2.4in]{pic.bmp}

in your tex file

Maple To graph sin(x) and x^3:

Launch Maple (release 4 or 5) Then in a worksheet issue these commands

plotsetup(ps,plotoutput=`pic.eps`,plotoptions=`color`);

plot({sin(x),x^3},x=-Pi..Pi); get the file pic.eps into the right directory proceed as above with MS Paint

The PSTricks Package

Think of this as a huge extension of the picture environment. Among other things you can write along a curve with Pstricks.

The style files and documentation are freely available from the TeX archives

Paint Shop Pro

Think of this as a better paint program Its main advantage over paint is that you can save

in the color eps format It is inexpensive but high quality shareware