problemset

A LaTeX document class for problem sets.

Description

The problemset class uses space on the page in a way that more closely resembles what one would expect from a problem set, eschewing the ample margins more appropriate to articles and manuscripts than to the typical weekly pset.

The result is a document that combines the elegance of LaTeX with the compactness and relative informality of a hand-written document.

Features

• Todos (courtesy of the todonotes package)
  • For more details see also this excellent blog post
  • Todos are hidden by declaring the final option (see below)
• Convenience control sequences
  • Take much of the repetitive drudgery out of typing up psets.

Options

\documentclass[<options>]{problemset}

• final: Suppresses the Todo list, hides all inline todos, and loads graphics.
• worksheet: Hides solutions and prints problems on separate sheets—useful for self-testing.
• expand: Includes a page break after each solution. This is sometimes a neater, if less compact, presentation.

Control Sequences

Header

\header[<shortname>]{<name>}{<course>}{<assignment>}{<date>}: Creates the document header. shortname is an optional string that appears to the left of the page number. (Numbering is omitted on the first page).

Example:

\heading[Romer]{Jacob Romer}{Math 427. Partial Differential Equations}{Assignment 6}{November 28, 2012}

Problem

\problem[<description>]: Marks the beginning of a problem, with optional descriptive text.

\problem[5.3.8 (5pts)]
. . .
Is $\lambda = 0$ an eigenvalue?

Solution

\solution{<solution_text>}: Encloses the solution, which can be hidden with the worksheet document class option.

• NB: This is incompatible with verbatim, which can't be directly called from within a control sequence.

  A workaround is to include verbatim text by keeping it in a separate file (e.g., filename.tex) and using \input{filename} to include this in your solution.

  Alternatively, experiment with \texttt{}, which is often an adequate substitute for short bits of code.

Formula Environment

\begin{formula}[<name>]: Takes an optional argument for a named equation. Otherwise names formulas sequentially (Formula 1, Formula 2, etc.).

\begin{formula}[Rayleigh Quotient]
\lambda = \frac{\eval{-p(x) \phi(x)\phi'(x)}{a}{b} + \Int{p(x) [\phi'(x)]^2 - q(x) [\phi(x)]^2}{a}{b}}{\Int{[\phi(x)]^2\sigma(x)}{a}{b}}
\end{formula}

which produces

Mathtable Environment

\begin{mathtable}[<options>]{<columns>}: Essentially a booktabs-style table, but DRYed up for entries in math mode. This combines the syntatic simplicity of using the array package for your table with the prettiness of the booktabs table.

\begin{mathtable}[caption=true,title={Some Greek letters},label={one}]{ccc}
  1  & 2   & 3  \\
  \midrule
  \a & \b  & \c \\
  \d & \ep & \t \\
\end{mathtable}

which produces

Convenience Macros

• Greek Letters
• Theorem-Style Environments
• Mathematical Symbols
  • Calculus
  • Probability and Statistics
  • Linear Algebra
  • Vector Calculus