What is LaTeX?

This page was translated from German with AI. It has not been checked by a native speaker. Original page in German

LaTeX typesets texts with commands instead of mouse clicks: you write plain text, and a program turns it into a book-quality PDF. Here you find out where LaTeX comes from, how it works and why it is worth it for a Facharbeit in particular – despite a steep learning curve.

📄 Open worksheet (PDF, German)

The video

This video needs no program. It is the opening of the series; from part 1 on you work in TeXstudio.

Subtitles are available in ten languages. Choose them at the bottom right of the video.

The most important points

In 1977 the computer scientist Donald Knuth received the proof printouts for the new edition of his textbook – and was unhappy with the typesetting of the formulas. He wrote a typesetting program of his own: TeX. A few months were planned; it took more than ten years. In the early 1980s Leslie Lamport built LaTeX on top of it: ready-made building blocks for headings, lists and formulas.

How it all began: Knuth's typesetting program TeX.

Not WYSIWYG

In a word processor you see the finished page while writing (“What you see is what you get”). In LaTeX you write text with commands, for example \section{…} for a heading; the compiler turns it into the PDF. You take care of content and structure, LaTeX of the appearance.

On the left the source text, on the right the compiled PDF.

LaTeX is free, open source and runs on Linux, Windows and macOS, even on the tablet. The file is plain text: every computer makes the same PDF from it. At the beginning you are slower than with a word processor – but afterwards numbers, references, tables of contents and formulas come about by themselves. Generative AI helps with learning the notation and with error messages; always check its suggestions by compiling, though.

From practice: source text and finished worksheet. A template defines the appearance.

The worksheet

Here you can see the worksheet for the video (in German). You download the practice files above and work in your own editor. The hints are printed upside down – turn the sheet only when you cannot get on by yourself. You can also open it as a PDF.

📄 Open worksheet (PDF, German)

Show the worksheet solutions

Try it yourself

Task

What is the difference between a word processor and LaTeX – and what does “compile” mean?

Show solution

In a word processor you format the visible page directly. In LaTeX you write text with commands that describe the structure. Compiling means: a program (the compiler) reads this file and produces the finished PDF from it.

Keep learning with a language model

Explain to me, as an upper-secondary student, in five short points how LaTeX works and when it is worth using instead of a word processor. Then quiz me with three questions to see whether I have understood it, and wait for my answer each time.

How this was made: The idea and the choice of topics are mine. A language model (LLM) drafted the script, the sample paper, the tasks and this page following my instructions. The screen recordings were made automatically by a script in TeXstudio under Linux, which checked the finished PDF after every step: are margins, font, numbers and references right, are there warnings? The voice was generated with Qwen3-TTS, modelled on my own voice.

The sample paper about the thread pendulum is invented, and so are the person “Alex Beispiel” and the two sources in the bibliography.

The videos, worksheets, practice files, texts and prompts in this series are licensed under CC BY 4.0: you may use, change and share them if you name the source.