Editing Guide to technical writing (section)

==LaTeX tips==
* When a full stop ends a sentence, LaTeX automatically inserts a larger than normal space after it.  So when you have a full stop with a space that is not ending a sentence, eg. in an abbreviation, always put a tilde (~) after that full stop.  The tilde will then suppress the large space and it also suppresses a line break at that point.  This is important, because you don't want a full stop at the end of a line if it is not the end of sentence.
* Don't get the three kinds of dashes mixed up in LaTeX: (1) - short dash or hyphen, (2) -- medium dash, and (3) --- long dash. Use the short dash for hyphenating words. Use the medium one for a number range. Don't use the short dash for a number range, as that is reserved for a hyphen. Use the long dash for a pause in a sentence (the pause is longer than a semicolon but shorter than a full stop). Another rule is that there is no space either side of these dashes.  But there is a space either side of a minus sign.
* Only single-letter non-bold variables are in the italic maths font.  Operators, numbers, constants, labels etc. are all in normal font. In a LaTeX equation if you need to force something to appear in the normal font use {\rm ...}.
* Physical units are always in upright font, so can be written outside the <nowiki>$</nowiki>...<nowiki>$</nowiki> environment.
* There is always a space either side of mathematical operations such as +, -, <, > etc.   The maths environment takes care of this for you.  So always write <nowiki>$</nowiki>a>0<nowiki>$</nowiki> and not <nowiki>$</nowiki>a<nowiki>$</nowiki>>0, or the spacing will come out wrong.  There are some exceptions to this spacing rule, for example, with minus signs in exponents; however, LaTeX will take care of the correct spacing for you. This is another good reason to always use LaTeX for technical writing.
* If you are inserting Matlab code or computer pseudo-code into a paper or thesis, use the {\tt ...} font.