about Latex

Installing latex :

1. download basic miktex from here . ( it's a big file)

2. download and install texnic center . other editors: here.

3. At the very first run of texnic center, u will be asked to provide the latex distribution file. browse and select ur miktex bin folder i.e. if u've installed miktex at mymik folder, then select mymik->miktex->bin).

4. And smileeeeee !! you are done with installing & setting .

Now write your first latex file :

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
This is my first document prepared in \LaTeX.
\end{document}


select any of the options Latex->ps , Latex->pdf or Latex->dvi (default option). click build & view button (or press ctrl+shift+F5 ,whatever suits you).

There is another easier way .

• Create a new project from file menu.
• Select report /book or whatever suits u from a number of options. In this way most of the usual commands will be auto-written in your document :). Then build & run it as usual.
  

Here is a help document for typical latex syntex, that may come handy.

5. Including picture using texnic center is very easy.

• draw anything using xfig or you can also use paint .
• convert it to *.eps ,
• if u r using xfig, u can do it with xfig- just click "export" then choose format (.eps or pdf)
• u can use gimp (thanks to arshad sir)
  
• or use adobe photoshop, just save your picture in *.eps format or *.pdf format if you choose Latex->pdf for compilation.
• Now add the picture by clicking in the picture button .This button will add codes necessary for including picture in your file .
• If you don't want the image file name to appear in the resulting document , then-
• save the image in the same folder as the document and
  
• use only image name in \includegraphics command (Thanks to nabila for this tip ).
  

Only thing your have to do yourself is to write an extra line, like the following :

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}

...

6. For graph plotting ,

• plot graph using excel.
• save graph as a picture .
• add it as a picture (follow step 5).
• but in this way graph will not be very clear, so i prefer using gnuplot
  

I don't know whether these steps are going to help u or not. but u can give it a try 'cause it had worked for me .

Last but not the least, here are some other help document1, document 2 for using latex

& good luck with latex :).