The comparison tag has no wiki summary.
22
votes
3answers
976 views
Difference between various methods for producing text in math mode
What is the difference between \text, \textrm, \textnormal, and \mbox (and possibly other commands commonly used to produce text in math mode)?
Various (La)TeX tutorials teach different methods, and ...
40
votes
7answers
2k views
Comparing the output of two PDFs
Sometimes I want to compare the results of two different settings to see which gives better results. Such settings can result in small changes in the location of words and other elements of the ...
13
votes
3answers
148 views
Difference between \mskip and \mkern
What are the differences between \mskip and \mkern? The TeXbook writes the following (ch. 18):
You can insert math glue into any formula just by giving the command
‘\mskip⟨muglue⟩’. [...] ...
8
votes
1answer
309 views
Availability of LaTeX packages' functionality in ConTeXt, XeTeX, and LuaTeX
I am considering trying out ConTeXt, XeTeX, and LuaTeX, but one concern of mine is the fact that I am using a large number of LaTeX packages.
There are a number of questions comparing these TeX ...
6
votes
1answer
114 views
How can I effectively diff 2 versions of a book produced by ConTeXt?
I have just made significant revisions to my thesis which has been typeset with ConTeXt. The project file pulls from approximately 20-30 files spread over 8 directories producing a document of 414 ...
2
votes
1answer
268 views
Highlighting changes in code
I want to print code, preferably syntax highlighted, and then combine this with a diff where the included code is the newer version of the code. I want lines that have been added or changed to be ...
0
votes
0answers
88 views
Diff between 2 files
I've read many threads about generating diffs between pdf files. They work great, but I have a problem. If a chapter gets dislocated by one page it automatically thinks that this is something new, ...
5
votes
2answers
67 views
Ignoring Punctuation during Comparison
I am trying to compare two strings and ignore punctuation during the comparison. I thought that catcode redefinition would be a good way to proceed. But, obviously, the use of \catcode has a great ...
10
votes
1answer
2k views
difference between \vspace and \vspace* for negative arguments
Is there ever a difference between \vspace{...} and \vspace*{...} if a negative argument is supplied?
Most importantly, does the choice of which macro to use have an influence on page breaking ...
6
votes
2answers
659 views
packages times(-itsc), txfonts, newtxtext/newtxmath, and mathptmx: relation and interactions
I am always using the packages times (actually: times-itsc from here in order to get italic small-caps) and txfonts. I use txfonts for the \coloneqq (:=) symbol. My loading order has traditionally and ...
24
votes
2answers
861 views
What is the difference between \nobreak and \nolinebreak?
What is the difference between \nobreak and \nolinebreak?
I noticed that a lot of solutions in TeX.SE use the former, but I thought the latter is LaTeX while the former is plain TeX. And LaTeX macros ...
13
votes
1answer
528 views
Proper use of cmap and mmap
I am curious about the differences between
\usepackage{cmap}
\usepackage[resetfonts]{cmap}
\usepackage{mmap} (= \usepackage[useTeX]{mmap})
\usepackage[noTeX]{mmap}
What are their precise ...
3
votes
1answer
100 views
What is the difference between the scalefnt and anyfontsize packages?
What is the difference between the scalefnt and anyfontsize packages?
Even though I use scalefnt, I get font size substitutions of up to "2.30002pt" in a document I am currently editing. The ...
7
votes
3answers
200 views
How to compare two dvi files?
Is there any tool that compares two dvi files. I would like to check if they are identical after I make some changes with source tex file.
2
votes
0answers
279 views
Why do people chose Latex for mathematical writing? [closed]
I'm trying to make the transition from Word to Latex for mathematical writing. But the more I learn about it, the less sure I am that I should make this transition.
Typographical Quality
For example ...
4
votes
1answer
222 views
What is the difference between LaTeX and HTML? [closed]
Every now and then I need to compare LaTeX to HTML to someone, and it can be hard to give a succinct answer that demonstrates the purpose of both, and why one wouldn't want to abuse one for the ...
8
votes
1answer
486 views
Handling \ifnum's “! Missing number, treated as zero.”
Let's say I have a variable, which may - or may NOT - be a number; how can I handle the cases when it isn't a number, without crashing with "! Missing number, treated as zero." ?
In practical terms, ...
14
votes
0answers
377 views
LuaLaTeX + fontspec: cannot compare documents with Acrobat
I use the option "compare documents" in Adobe Acrobat Pro a lot to highlight changes between revisions. What I just noticed is, if I compile a simple document such as the one below with LuaLaTeX + ...
11
votes
2answers
611 views
Alphabetic comparison of two strings
I tried to compare two strings (alphabetically), but I found some problems using the \pdfstrcmp command: 1- because it needs pdftex; 2- because it is case sensitive.
The first problem is not so ...
3
votes
1answer
145 views
How to compare two dates using TeX primitives
This is a follow up to TeX capacity exceeded while parsing a date string
I want to compare two dates, say today's date and a due date. I have the due date information stored (as number strings) in ...
8
votes
2answers
179 views
Why are some macros undefined inside an if case?
I'm trying to check if a string is only of one char, and I ran into this problem: LaTeX complains that \StrLeft in the comparison takes and additional argument:
! Argument of \@secondoftwo has an ...
14
votes
7answers
2k views
Word 2010 on typesetting math [closed]
I tried to find that online, but all I found was: "Word bad, (La)TeX good! Word ugly, (La)TeX pretty!". I want an honest take from someone who used the new Math system in Word 2010, preferably who ...
18
votes
6answers
1k views
Persuade me to write my thesis in ConTeXt, or not
I'm going to write my master thesis in Computer Science, regarding Operation Research, (in Italian). I have about a month and a half to collect the results and write everything down.
I have had a ...
6
votes
1answer
667 views
How to effectively compare latex files
I have two latex source files, one created by me and the other modified by a colleague.
Introduced modifications, unfortunately, also regard line breaks and spacing (source text line breaks, not ...
5
votes
5answers
238 views
Which open source hosting facilities accept LPPL?
Is there a list of open source hosting facilities which accept (La)TeX packages published under the LPPL license? Which open source hosting facility did you chose for your (La)TeX project and why?
5
votes
1answer
198 views
How costly is it to store content in a box register?
I wonder how costly it is in terms of compilations speed and also other terms like memory etc., to store some content in a box and use this box then afterwards only once (or maybe twice). Is the ...
17
votes
2answers
570 views
Handling different time zones
I'm looking for a way to handle date/times with different time zones. For example in svn-multi and filemod a date and time with a timezone is returned. I like to be able to compare times in different ...
6
votes
2answers
941 views
LaTeX: Use command argument in conditional?
I'm in the process of writing a command that outputs a certain text only if its argument is a nonzero number. I'd like to be able to write something like:
\newcommand{mycommand}[1]{
\if{#1 != 0}
Some ...
8
votes
2answers
585 views
LaTeX programming comparison operators
The example for the forloop package is \newcounter{ct}\forloop{ct}{1}{\value{ct} < 5}{\arabic{ct}}. I need to compare two counters having the first run up to the second. <= doesnt work, neither ...
5
votes
1answer
215 views
TikZ: How to compare approximate equality of dimensions?
When scaling tikzpicture using option scale, some points that had equal coordinates appear to be shifted a little bit. So the precise comparision \ifdim \y1 = \y2 will not do anymore.
I'm aware of ...
4
votes
2answers
502 views
Compare a character to a character code?
How can one compare a character (e.g. "U") with a character code in a certain font (e.g. "\char85").
I'd expect the following to work:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\begin{document}
...
