The why and how of LaTeX

LaTex was created by computer scientist Leslie Lamport in the the early 1980s as a more usable front-end for Donald Knuth's TeX. It quickly became the prefered choice for preparing high-quality complex documents in STEM disciplines and by many publishers and remains so after more than 30 years. This talk will provide an introduction and tutorial on how to use LaTeX. We'll also touch on when you might choose to some of the alternatives (e.g., Word and Google Docs) and how to make effective use of them.