• How to get a table with one fixed cell, and an adaptive one?
    by Alessandro Bertulli on April 17, 2026 at 10:47 am

    I'm trying to get something like this (taken from Microsoft Word): The left cell is going to be "fixed", meaning it shouldn't grow with the text filling the right one; viceversa, the right cell should adapt to the text put in it, but: being at least as high as the left cell with the background for the entire cell the table should take horizontally all of the \textwidth optionally, the left cell should have a minimum height For now I kinda managed to get this, with LuaLaTeX (1): \documentclass{report} \usepackage{tabularx} \usepackage{multirow} \usepackage[table]{xcolor} \usepackage{lipsum} \begin{document} \noindent\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}[h]{p{6cm} >{\columncolor{gray}}X} {\cellcolor{red}\color{white}\textbf{Title of boxed section:}} & \multirow[t]{2}{=}{\lipsum[1]} \\ & \end{tabularx} \lipsum[1] \end{document} but as you see it overlaps both in the right cell, and with the rest of the text: We can use LuaLaTeX and LaTeX3. Do you have any advise? Thanks! (1) EDIT: added \usepackage{...} to provide complete MWE

  • Bug with tikz backgrounds-library
    by DraUX on April 17, 2026 at 9:22 am

    I recently noticed a bug, where the TikZ backgrounds library ignores any other options applied within the same scope definition. As you can see in the MWE below, I have a scope on the background layer with the additional options blue and ultra thick, which are ignored. \documentclass{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{backgrounds} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \draw[red, ultra thick] (0,0) -- (2,0); \begin{scope}[on background layer,blue,ultra thick] \draw (1,-1) -- (1,1); \end{scope} \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} Using nested scopes or defining the options directly in the path definition gives the desired result. \documentclass{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{backgrounds} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \draw[red, ultra thick] (0,0) -- (2,0); \begin{scope}[on background layer] \begin{scope}[blue,ultra thick] \draw (1,-1) -- (1,1); \end{scope} \end{scope} \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} Is this a bug? It isn't mentioned in the manual. I couldn't find a git repo to report an issue, so I hope this is the right place to ask.

  • How to make citetitle use the full title by default and not the short title with biblatex
    by bmrs on April 17, 2026 at 8:29 am

    I am using the "shorttitle" field with "biblatex" to handle the removal of articles (like "the") in French in some cases. The problem is that, as a result, the "citetitle" function uses the "shorttitle" attribute by default instead of the full title. How can I get to use full title by default? Here is the MWE: \documentclass{scrartcl} \usepackage{polyglossia} \setdefaultlanguage{french} \usepackage[ backend=biber, citestyle=verbose-trad2, ]{biblatex} \usepackage{filecontents} \DeclareCiteCommand\citeshorttitle {\usebibmacro{prenote}} {\mkbibemph{\printfield{shorttitle}}} {\multicitedelim} {\usebibmacro{postnote}} \begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib} @book{Constitution, title = {La Constitution}, shorttitle = {Constitution}} \end{filecontents} \addbibresource{\jobname.bib} \nocite{*} \begin{document} The short title is \citeshorttitle{Constitution} but \texttt{citetitle} also becomes \citetitle{Constitution} instead of \emph{La Constitution}. \end{document}

  • How to create a TikZ node whose top matches one node’s north and bottom matches another node’s south?
    by Lecthor on April 16, 2026 at 3:18 pm

    I have two rectangular TikZ nodes placed one below the other: B1 is above B2. I would like to create a third rectangular node B3, shifted to the right in the x-direction, such that: the top of B3 is aligned with B1.north the bottom of B3 is aligned with B2.south I am not sure what is the best TikZ way to do this cleanly. Here is a minimal example of the situation: \documentclass{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{calc} \begin{document} \tikzstyle{block} = [draw, fill=white, rectangle, inner xsep=0pt, align=center, font=\small]% \begin{tikzpicture} \node [block, text width=3em] (B1) {Block 1}; \node [block, anchor=north, text width=3em] (B2) at ([yshift=-5em]B1.south) {Block 2}; \node [block, anchor=west] (B3) at ([xshift=5em]$(B1.east)!0.5!(B2.east)$) {Block 3}; \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} I tried using minimum height with coordinate differences, but I could not make it work properly. What is the recommended approach?

  • Grouping in tables created with datatool
    by JamesI on April 16, 2026 at 12:31 pm

    I'm trying to print a table from a csv loaded with datatool, but have it display in groups - by which I mean (in the below example), the column 'group' should only have one entry per group, with 'data' repeated. In other words, no group name should appear twice. What I've done is to define (and re-define) a macro at the end of the loop to update to the latest group, then pass that to \DTLifstringeq. I've checked that the \lasttype is being updated each iteration by adding it's value to the printout table - it is. But despite it being the current value, the string comparison isn't working. The MWE \documentclass[12pt]{report} \usepackage{datatool} \usepackage{array} % Required for p{} columns \usepackage{tabularx} % Optional: for auto-width columns \usepackage{booktabs} % better tables \usepackage{longtable} % tables breaking across pages \usepackage{multirow} \usepackage{xstring} \usepackage{filecontents} \begin{filecontents*}{test.csv} group,data Thing1,something Thing1,somethingelse Thing1,somethingother Thing1,somethingsomething Thing2,newthing Thing2,newotherthing Thing2,newthirdthing Thing2,lastthing \end{filecontents*} \begin{document} % Load datatables % Load datatables \DTLread[name=test]{test.csv} % Define this BEFORE the longtable \newcommand{\lasttype}{} \begin{longtable}{l l} \toprule Group & Data\\ \midrule \endfirsthead \multicolumn{2}{l}{\textit{(continued)}} \\ \toprule Group & Data\\ \midrule \endhead \bottomrule \endlastfoot \gdef\lasttype{}% Reset tracker at the start of the table \DTLforeach{test}{ \group=group, \data=data }{% \DTLifstringeq{\group}{\lasttype}{ % Same type, leave first column empty & \data \\ }{% % New type, print it and update tracker GLOBALLY \group & \data \\ \gdef\lasttype{\group} } } \end{longtable} \end{document} If there's a better way to do it, that's great, but I'd love to know what the \DTLifstringeq isn't working when (as far as I can tell), I've literally just defined the two strings to be the same.

  • Color symbol for lucide-icons package
    by Sebastiano on April 16, 2026 at 11:28 am

    What is the reason of why I can haven't the colors? \documentclass{article} \usepackage{xcolor} \usepackage{lucide-icons} \begin{document} \lucideicon{alarm-clock-check} \textcolor{red}{\lucideicon{alarm-clock-check}} \end{document}

  • Bezier curves with controls?
    by Raffaele Santoro on April 16, 2026 at 8:45 am

    How to make rounded corner and curve (..controls?) for this path (or similar)? \documentclass[margin={1.5cm 1,5cm 1.5cm 1.5cm}]{standalone} \usepackage{tikz} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \fill[cyan] (0,0)--(2,0)--(5,2)--(7,3)--(6,4)--(4,7)--(2,7)--(.5,5)--(0,2)--cycle; \end{tikzpicture} \end{document}

  • What ia a comment starting with an & in the preamble?
    by Alexander Gelbukh on April 15, 2026 at 10:34 pm

    I am debugging somebody else's .tex file. The first line is: %&xx I also see files xx.fmt and xx.tex in the same folder. What does this line mean ? Is it like \input ? But apparently faster (I guess it includes a pre-compiled represemtation of the .tex file),is it ? The file xx.tex loads a number of packages, which makes it slow to compile. I guess the intention might have been to speed up the compilation. I am trying to compile the file that I am debugging with pdflatex (MikTex on Windows-10) . Strangely, pdflatex does not even produce a .log file -- Iguess it fails before that?

  • Reformatting backref
    by Pietro Paparella on April 15, 2026 at 8:21 pm

    As a follow-up to this question here, I'd like to redefine \backrefxxx so that multiple back-references are formatted as they are on Wikipedia: I tried the following command: \renewcommand{\backrefxxx}[3]{\textasciicircum \textsuperscript{\hyperlink{page.#1}{#1}}} Minimum working example: \documentclass{article} \usepackage[pagebackref]{hyperref} \renewcommand{\backrefxxx}[3]{\textasciicircum \textsuperscript{\hyperlink{page.#1}{#1}}} \begin{document} \cite{fml2026} \newpage \cite{fml2026} \begin{thebibliography}{1} \bibitem{fml2026} First M.~Last. \newblock Title. \newblock {\em Journal}, 2026. \end{thebibliography} \end{document} but this produces the format: ${\textasciicircum}^{1,2}$ Question: Is it possible to achieve the Wikipedia format where the back-reference goes back to exact location and not just the page?

  • Simultaneous using of subfiles and fancyhdr
    by Rogério Nunes Wolff on April 15, 2026 at 4:01 pm

    I'm trying to write a multi-file using simultaneously the subfiles and fancyhdr packages. My main.tex file is \documentclass[a4paper]{article} \usepackage{graphicx} % Required for inserting images \graphicspath{{images/}} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage[brazil]{babel} \usepackage[top=190pt,head=80pt,headsep=50pt,bottom=110pt,footskip=50pt]{geometry} \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{array} \usepackage{subfiles} \title{Title} \author{Author} \date{Somewhere in the past} \begin{document} \maketitle \newpage \section{Introduction} Odd stuffs \section{Good morning} \subfile{sections/section.tex} \end{document} and the section.tex file is \documentclass[../main.tex]{subfiles} \graphicspath{{\subfix{../images/}}} \begin{document} \pagestyle{fancy} \fancyhf{} \fancyhead[C]{ \huge \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.4} \begin{tabular}{|>{\centering}m{0.19\textwidth}|m{0.74\textwidth}<{\centering}|} \hline {\textbf{N-0}} & {\textbf{Header Title}} \\ \hline \end{tabular} } \fancyfoot[C]{% \begin{tabular}{|m{0.5\textwidth}|>{\centering}m{0.2\textwidth}|m{0.2\textwidth}<{\centering}|} \hline {Laboratory of Strange Stuff & Version 1 & {Page \thepage}} \\ \hline {{Stranger Stuffs} & {a} & {b} } \\ \hline \end{tabular} } \textbf{Hello world!} \end{document} When I compile the sub-file section.tex, the fancyhdr package runs fine and I get a customized header and footer. When I compile main.tex, the header and footer are absent. Is there a way to customize the header this way? I want to create a lot of sub-files, all with the same header format, but each one with its own header title.

  • \ShellEscape gobbling single quote character
    by Ankaa on April 15, 2026 at 1:35 pm

    I'm running into a rather bizarre issue with \ShellEscape from the shellesc package. When running the following command with both CMD and PowerShell on Windows 11 curl.exe -G "https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-tap/sync" --data-urlencode "REQUEST=doQuery" --data-urlencode "LANG=ADQL" --data-urlencode "FORMAT=text" --data-urlencode "QUERY=SELECT dec, ra FROM basic WHERE main_id = 'NGC2024'" -o query.txt I get the expected output in the .txtfile dec | ra -------------------|----------------- -1.8416666666666668|85.42916666666667 However, when I run it using \ShellEscape (basically \immediate\write18 with pdflatex), the request fails due to the single quote chars around NGC2024 being gobbled, resulting in a non-TeX-related error. Using LuaLaTeX with os.execute does not fix this issue. I also tried replacing ' with %27 and swapping single quote and double quote chars with no effect. Placing the command in a .bat file and writing \ShellEscape{query.bat} does work, however. I highly suspect the error comes from the interaction of \write18 with my machine, but I'm still confused as to how to fix it. MWE: % arara: pdflatex: { shell: true } \documentclass{article} \usepackage{shellesc} \ShellEscape{% curl.exe -G "https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-tap/sync" --data-urlencode "REQUEST=doQuery" --data-urlencode "LANG=ADQL" --data-urlencode "FORMAT=text" --data-urlencode "QUERY=SELECT dec, ra FROM basic WHERE main_id = 'NGC2024'" -o query.txt } \begin{document} Test \end{document} Log file: This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.29 (TeX Live 2026) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2026.3.7) 15 APR 2026 15:16 entering extended mode \write18 enabled. %&-line parsing enabled. **query-astro.tex (./query-astro.tex LaTeX2e <2025-11-01> L3 programming layer <2026-01-19> ...

  • Spacing issues with \hat, \widehat, \tilde, \widetilde (pdflatex)
    by Tork on April 15, 2026 at 5:33 am

    I'm using $\widehat{.}$ and $\widetilde{.}$ in my text for ordinals. As I'm sometimes using subscripts I decided to just always go with these instead of $\hat{.}$ or $\tilde{.}$ as $\hat{x_{n+1}}$ doesn't look good at all. Furthermore, the wide versions look noticably different from the regular ones, such that I would consider it bad notation to switch between both. I only treat \widehat in the following, but the problems I mention also arise with widetilde. Problem 1) Even for ordinals \widehat{.} interferes with brackets (and \hat{.} too, for that matter). I tried to be smart and simply define a new command \what{.} using mathop, mathbin etc. but only \newcommand{\what}[1]{\mathpunct{\widehat{#1}}} fixes the bracket interference (kind of). It's not a solution though, as it interferes with the spacing of \what{t}\in\what{S} and \what{t}', and the space added is not equally distributed. Question 1) Is there a solution here that fixes the spacing issue of \widehat{.} with brackets, while not interfering with \what{t}\in\what{S} and \what{t}'? Problem 2) Defining an equivalence relation on my widehat-versions, I thought \widehat{=} would be a good idea - intuitive notation, at least for me. However, here the spacing again becomes problematic, when comparing t=t to t \widehat{=} t. I figured from one of egreg's answers that I can fix this by defining \newcommand{\whrel}[1]{\mathrel{\widehat{#1}}} and this indeed works. Question 2) Answers to Question 1) will likely not fix t \widehat{=} t. Do I really need to define different commands? I am using \newcommand{\quasiequal}{\whrel{=}}, which I don't intend to change, so this is more of a general question. Is there nothing like a \mathwhatever{.} that specifies "take the spacing of whatever you're using widehat on, and potentially add equal spacing on both sides to keep brackets at bay"? If so, why? Here is a MWE: \documentclass{article} \newcommand{\what}[1]{\mathpunct{\widehat{#1}}}% \newcommand{\wtil}[1]{\mathpunct{\widetilde{#1}}}% %\mathord, \mathop etc. don't work for keeping brackets at bay \newcommand{\whrel}[1]{\mathrel{\widehat{#1}}}%for relations \newcommand{\whord}[1]{\mathord{\widehat{#1}}}%for ordinals \begin{document} hat: $(\hat{t})$ bracket interference. Also, compare $t=t$ to $t \hat{=} t$. widehat: $(\widehat{t})$ bracket interference. $\widehat{t}\in\widehat{S}$, $\widehat{t}'$ look fine. But $t=t$, $t \widehat{=} t$. what: Fixes $(\what{t})$ kinda. But $t=t$, $t \what{=} t$, $t\in S$, $\what{t}\in\what{S}$, $t'$, $\what{t}'$. wtil: Fixes $(\wtil{t})$ kinda. But $t=t$, $t \wtil{=} t$, $t\in S$, $\wtil{t}\in\wtil{S}$, $t'$, $\wtil{t}'$. whrel: Fixes $t \whrel{=} t$. whord: Keeps $\whord{t}\in\whord{S}$ and $\whord{t}'$ but doesn't fix $(\whord{t})$. \end{document}

  • Problem with tkz-grapheur package
    by Sebastiano on April 14, 2026 at 8:10 pm

    It is possible that either the package does not behave as I expect, or I am misunderstanding how to use it correctly. According to the manual, the inequality 3x + 2y - 6 >= 0 should represent the half-plane above the line 3x + 2y - 6 = 0, i.e., the region containing points such as (0,3). However, in my code the line is drawn correctly (it passes through (0,3) and (2,0)), but the shaded region does not match the expected half-plane: it appears on the opposite side of the line. What am I doing wrong when using \LinearInequality? Is it a sign convention issue, an internal convention of the package, or do I need to rewrite the expression in a different form to obtain the correct shaded region? \documentclass{article} \usepackage{tkz-grapheur} \begin{document} \begin{GraphTikz}[ x=1cm, y=1cm, Xmin=-3,Xmax=3, Ymin=-3,Ymax=3 ] \DrawAxisGrids[Font=\small]{auto}{auto} \LinearInequality[color=pink,hatch={north east lines}]{3x+2y-6}{>=0} \end{GraphTikz} \end{document}

  • Change page layout for bibliography section only
    by Atcold on April 14, 2026 at 5:46 pm

    I'm using a per-chapter bibliography. I would like to disregard the margin note spacing, and make full use of the page. Using a two page layout is making this hard. This is my macro, but the \checkoddpage is not working I don't know why. \newcommand{\insertChapterBibliography}{% % 1. Sync the page check without forcing a new page \strictpagecheck \checkoddpage % 2. Identify the distance from the left edge of the paper to the text block. % LaTeX measures this as 1 inch + \oddsidemargin (or \evensidemargin). % To get back to exactly 1 inch, we shift by exactly -\sidemargin. \ifoddpage \def\leftshift{-\oddsidemargin} \else \def\leftshift{-\evensidemargin} \fi % 3. Apply the shift using standard [left][right] logic. % We want the final width to be \headwidth. % The math for the right offset to reach \headwidth is: % RightOffset = \linewidth - \headwidth - \leftshift \begin{adjustwidth}{\leftshift}{\dimexpr\linewidth-\headwidth-\leftshift\relax} \begin{multicols}{2} \bibliographystyle{alpha} \bibliography{main} \end{multicols} \end{adjustwidth} } I can try to provide a minimal working example, but I'm not sure how, with all these citations… biblio.tex \documentclass[twoside]{book} \usepackage[includemp, inner=1in, outer=10mm, marginparwidth=161pt, showframe]{geometry} \usepackage{fancyhdr} \usepackage{multicol} \usepackage{changepage} \usepackage{etoolbox} \usepackage{lipsum} \usepackage[sectionbib]{chapterbib} \pagestyle{fancy} \setlength{\headwidth}{468pt} \AfterEndPreamble{% \patchcmd{\thebibliography}{\section*{\bibname}}{\relax}{}{}% \patchcmd{\thebibliography}{\section*{\refname}}{\relax}{}{}% } \newcommand{\insertBib}{% \strictpagecheck\checkoddpage \ifoddpage \def\lshift{-\oddsidemargin} \else \def\lshift{-\evensidemargin} \fi \begin{adjustwidth*}{\lshift}{\dimexpr\linewidth-\headwidth-\lshift\relax} \begin{multicols}{2} \scriptsize \bibliographystyle{alpha} \bibliography{biblio} \end{multicols} \end{adjustwidth*} } \begin{document} \include{odd} \include{even} \end{document} biblio.bib @book{key1, author = {Author, A.}, year = {2001}, title = {Title One}, publisher = {Publisher}, } @book{key2, author = {Writer, B.}, year = {2002}, title = {Title Two}, publisher = {Publisher}, } odd.tex \chapter{Odd page bibliography} \lipsum[1-2] \cite{key1} \cite{key2} \insertBib even.tex \chapter{Even page bibliography} \lipsum[1-4] \cite{key1} \cite{key2} \insertBib

  • Best way to define new operator with limits
    by murray on April 14, 2026 at 1:05 pm

    Is this an appropriate way to define a new math operator-with-limits (for a "box product"), like \bigcup, assuming use of lua-unicode-math and lualatex? % !TEX program = lualatex \documentclass{article} \usepackage{fontspec} \usepackage{lua-unicode-math} \setmainfont{TeX Gyre Termes X} \setmathfont{STIX Two Math} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{scalerel} \AtBeginDocument{% \DeclareMathOperator*{\bigsquareop}{\scalerel*{\lgwhtsquare}{\bigcup}} \DeclareRobustCommand{\BoxProd}{\DOTSB\bigsquareop}% } \begin{document} $\bigcup_{i \in I} X_{i} \quad \BoxProd_{i \in I} X_{i}$ and \[ \bigcup_{i \in I} X_{i} \quad \BoxProd_{i \in I} X_{i} \] \end{document} Related: How to create my own math operator with limits?, How to create a new math operator?, https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/552914/13492.

  • How to show section slides in ltx-talk?
    by Polly Nomial on April 14, 2026 at 3:53 am

    Edit: follow-up question here: How to highlight the current subsection at the beginning of each subsection in ltx-talk? How do I show the start of a new section, either as itself a "section slide" or even in the "body" slides? \DocumentMetadata{ lang = de, pdfstandard = ua-2, pdfstandard = a-4f, tagging=on, tagging-setup={math/setup=mathml-SE} } \documentclass{ltx-talk} \EditInstance{footer}{std}{ element-order = {title, subtitle, framenumber} } \title{My talk} \subtitle{I want to show sections} \institute{University of Stack Exchange} \date{} \begin{document} \begin{frame} \maketitle \end{frame} \section{Motivation} \begin{frame}\frametitle{Here is a frame title} Some text. \end{frame} \section{Real talk} \begin{frame}\frametitle{Here is a frame title} Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. \end{frame} \end{document}

  • \str_set_convert:Nnnn trouble in LuaLatex
    by Miguel V. S. Frasson on April 14, 2026 at 3:33 am

    I want to use \str_set_convert:Nnnn with Japanese chars directly in document. The MWE below has no problem in pdfLaTeX. It correctly displays E782B9. \documentclass{article} \begin{document} \ExplSyntaxOn % works in pdflatex, fails in lualatex \str_set_convert:Nnnn \l_tmpa_str {点} {utf8} {utf8/hex} \l_tmpa_str \ExplSyntaxOff \end{document} But in LuaLaTeX, it gives the error message: LaTeX Error: String invalid in escaping 'bytes': it may only contain bytes. What am I missing? How should I wrap the text to get the same result in any engine provided that "the user" can type the actual Japanese char, not some escaping sequences?

  • Is there a color free alert in ltx-talk?
    by Teepeemm on April 14, 2026 at 12:49 am

    I'm going to have a printed version of my ltx-talk that won't have color. I would still like to have \alert do something, however. I think that means I should renew alert to make things bold, but I'm having trouble making that work properly: many of the options listed at How can I get bold math symbols? don't make things bold, or they cause errors if tagging is enabled. To give an example: \DocumentMetadata{} \RequirePackage{fixmath} % must come before unicode-math loaded by ltx-talk \documentclass{ltx-talk} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{amsbsy} \newcommand{\colvect}{\begin{pmatrix}x\\-1\end{pmatrix}} \begin{document} \colorlet{alert}{black} \begin{frame} \( normal \colvect alert \alert{\colvect} mathbf \mathbf{\colvect} symbf \symbf{\colvect} pmb \pmb{\colvect} % incompatible with unicode-math, tagging? mathbold \mathbold{\colvect} % requires package fixmath, conflicts with unicode-math % \boldsymbol{\colvect}\quad % error % \bm{\colvect}\quad % error \) boldmath {\boldmath\(\colvect\)} % {\setmathfont{luciole-math}\(\colvect\)} % preamble only bfseries {\bfseries\(\colvect\)} % \(\bfseries\colvect\) % invalid in math mode \bigskip normal \alert{alert} \textbf{textbf} \symbf{symbf} \pmb{pmb} {\bfseries bfseries} \end{frame} \end{document} has the output Notice that without color, \alert doesn't do anything. \symbf does a bit in math mode, but only the letter and number, not the parentheses and minus. \textbf and \bfseries succeed in text mode, so I could test \ifmmode, but I still need something in math mode. \pmb seems to work the best, but https://github.com/latex3/tagging-project/issues/1240 says that it's not working at the moment (and it appears to be intentionally broken in text mode).

  • In Luatex Hebrew text not working after update miktex (april 13 2026)
    by Cook on April 13, 2026 at 2:46 pm

    After updating miktex today I get the message Undefined control sequence. \mathemptydisplaymode in the luabidi.sty. I removed miktex completely and installed it, the same result. Could you please help me? It’s a 4,000-page book in Greek, Hebrew, and Dutch that was compiled over the past three years. % !TeX TS-program = lualatex \documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twoside]{book} %%%%%%%%%%%%------following loaded before biblatex` \usepackage{fontspec} \usepackage{polyglossia} \setmainlanguage{dutch} \setotherlanguage{greek} \setotherlanguage{hebrew} %%<<-------------------Greek/Hebrew \setmainfont[Ligatures=TeX]{Charis SIL} \defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX} \newfontfamily\hebrewfont{Ezra SIL‬‬}[Script=Hebrew,Contextuals=Alternate]%\texthebrew %%Greek \newfontfamily{\greekfont}[Script=Greek, Scale=MatchUppercase, Ligatures=TeX]{SBL Greek} \begin{document} Nederlands: gewoon een zinnetje Grieks: \textgreek{Οὗτος δῶρα} Hebrew: \texthebrew{תְהֹ֑ום} \end{document}

  • How to fix different spacing within `expex` in `beamerposter` depending on the compiler?
    by schoekling on April 13, 2026 at 7:03 am

    I am creating a beamerposter with linguistic examples in expex with a custom font (libertine). I originally wrote most of it using pdflatex but have to switch to lua or xetex now. However, when I do so, the spacing within the examples changes drastically. Simply loading fontspec has the same effect, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the font specifically. Loading neither libertine nor fontspec produces the same spacing as pdflatex. \documentclass{beamer} \usepackage{beamerposter} % loading either of these increases the spacing within expex's (cf. second picture) %\usepackage{fontspec} %\usepackage{libertine} \usepackage{expex} \begin{document} \begin{frame} \pex \a \begingl \gla text// \glb gloss// \glft `transl'// \endgl \xe \ex \begingl \gla text// \glb gloss// \glft `transl'// \endgl \xe \end{frame} \end{document} pdflatex with libertine: lualatex with libertine (same spacing with xetex and/or fontspec): lualatex without libertine or fontspec:

  • Solving cyclic overlap of occlusion for triangles
    by Jasper on April 13, 2026 at 5:03 am

    I want to pose a question to resolve the issue described in https://stackoverflow.com/a/32463868/32395400, by simplicial partitioning. There doesn't seem to be a precedent for this, so I made a little document: \documentclass[tikz,border=1cm]{standalone} \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \foreach \ang/\col in {0/red,120/green,240/blue} { \draw[\col,ultra thick] (\ang:1) -- +(\ang-90:3) -- +(\ang+90:3); } \end{tikzpicture} \end{document}

  • Changing a conjunction in BibLaTeX?
    by Knudsen on April 13, 2026 at 12:34 am

    Under normal circumstances, BibLaTeX uses the same coordinating conjunction "and" for two authors that may have their names in one script (Latin, for now) and also to join two translator names that could have their names in another script (Cyrillic in this example). You may change the scripts above to any other pair and the problem remains the same. This has the unfortunate consequence of placing a pair of names in English joined by a Russian conjunction in the text as seen here: generated by the simple MWE: \documentclass{article} \begin{filecontents}[overwrite]{isaac.bib} @BOOK{isaacson:en, author = {Isaacson, Eugene and Keller, Herbert Bishop}, title = {Analysis of Numerical Methods}, publisher = {Dover Publications}, address = {Mineola, New York}, year = {1994}, langid = {english}, } @BOOK{isaacson:ru, author = {Isaacson, Eugene and Keller, Herbert Bishop}, title = {Анализ численных методов}, author-ru = {Э. Исааксон and Х. Б. Келлер}, translator = {В. В. Пчелинцев and L. L. Пчелинцев}, publisher = {Мир}, address = {Москва}, year = {1976}, langid = {russian}, } @book{rudin:zh, author = {Walter Rudin and Elena Rudin}, title = {实分析与复分析}, translator = {戴牧民 and 张更容}, publisher = {机械工业出版社}, address = {北京}, year = {2006}, langid = {chinese-simplified}, } \end{filecontents} \usepackage{babel} \babelprovide[import, main]{american} \babelprovide[import]{russian} \babelfont{rm}{NewComputerModern10} \babelfont{sf}{NewCMSans10-Regular} \babelfont{tt}{NewCMMono10-Regular} \babelprovide[import]{chinese-simplified} \babelfont[chinese-simplified]{rm}[ Scale = MatchLowercase, ItalicFont = Noto Serif CJK SC, ItalicFeatures = {FakeSlant=0} ]{Noto Serif CJK SC} \usepackage[style=authoryear,language=auto,autolang=other]{biblatex} \addbibresource{isaac.bib} \begin{document} Citing \textcite{isaacson:en}, \textcite{isaacson:ru}, \textcite{rudin:zh}. \printbibliography \end{document} It would be desirable to: Have one conjunction to be used with the authors names (and) that would show up in the Biblio list and in the main text, that is mostly in Latin. Have another to be used with the translator names (и) or inside the record, that is mostly in Cyrillic The russian.lbx file (as all others I know of) seems to have only one coordinating conjunction. and = {{и}{и}}, Is there a way to separate them, or define a new one, to be used in the bibliographical tags?

  • Section headers disappear in TeXLive 2026
    by Ted Shifrin on April 12, 2026 at 11:56 pm

    My code snippets: \renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{\scshape\chaptername\ \thechapter. #1}{}}% \renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{\scshape\S\thesection. #1}}% worked just fine in TeXLive 2022 (using amsbook format in LaTeX), but in TeXLive 2026 the section heads do not appear at all. I gather this is due to the changes in the way headers are handled now. Can you suggest a modern modification I can make to get section heads to appear? fancyhdr did nothing for me. EDIT: OK. Here is a short document which typesets to three pages. Using TeXLive 2022 I get a section header on p. 3; using TeXLive 2026 there is none. 🙂 \documentclass[11pt]{amsbook} \renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{\scshape\chaptername\ \thechapter. #1}{}}% \renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{\scshape\S\thesection. #1}}% \begin{document} \chapter{Curves} \section{Examples, Arclength Parametrization} We say a vector function $f\: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ is $C^k$ ($k=0,1,2,\dots$) if $f$ and its first $k$ derivatives, $f'$, $f''$, \dots, $f^{(k)}$, exist and are all continuous. We say $f$ is smooth if $f$ is $C^k$ for every positive integer $k$. A parametrized curve is a $C^3$ (or smooth) map $\alpha\: I\to\mathbb R^3$ for some interval $I=(a,b)$ or $[a,b]$ (possibly infinite). We say $\alpha$ is regular if $\alpha'(t)\ne 0$ for all $t\in I$. We can imagine a particle moving along the path $\alpha$, with its position at time $t$ given by $\alpha(t)$. As we learned in vector calculus, $$\alpha'(t) = \lim_{h\to 0}\frac{\alpha(t+h)-\alpha(t)}h$$ is the velocity of the particle at time $t$. The velocity vector $\alpha'(t)$ is tangent to the curve at $\alpha(t)$ and its length, $\|\alpha'(t)\|$, is the speed of the particle. We say a vector function $f\: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ is $C^k$ ($k=0,1,2,\dots$) if $f$ and its first $k$ derivatives, $f'$, $f''$, \dots, $f^{(k)}$, exist and are all continuous. We say $f$ is smooth if $f$ is $C^k$ for every positive integer $k$. A parametrized curve is a $C^3$ (or smooth) map $\alpha\: I\to\mathbb R^3$ for some interval $I=(a,b)$ or $[a,b]$ (possibly infinite). We say $\alpha$ is regular if $\alpha'(t)\ne 0$ for all $t\in I$. We can imagine a particle moving along the path $\alpha$, with its position at time $t$ given by $\alpha(t)$. As we learned in vector calculus, $$\alpha'(t) = \lim_{h\to 0}\frac{\alpha(t+h)-\alpha(t)}h$$ is the velocity of the particle at time $t$. The velocity vector $\alpha'(t)$ is tangent to the curve at $\alpha(t)$ and its length, $\|\alpha'(t)\|$, is the speed of the particle. We say a vector function $f\: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ is $C^k$ ($k=0,1,2,\dots$) if $f$ and its first $k$ derivatives, $f'$, $f''$, \dots, $f^{(k)}$, exist and are all continuous. We say $f$ is smooth if $f$ is $C^k$ for every positive integer $k$. A parametrized curve is a $C^3$ (or smooth) map $\alpha\: I\to\mathbb R^3$ for some interval $I=(a,b)$ or $[a,b]$ (possibly infinite). We say $\alpha$ is regular if $\alpha'(t)\ne 0$ for all $t\in I$. We can imagine a particle moving along the path $\alpha$, with its position at time $t$ given by $\alpha(t)$. As we learned in vector calculus, $$\alpha'(t) = \lim_{h\to 0}\frac{\alpha(t+h)-\alpha(t)}h$$ is the velocity of the particle at time $t$. The velocity vector $\alpha'(t)$ is tangent to the curve at $\alpha(t)$ and its length, $\|\alpha'(t)\|$, is the speed of the particle. We say a vector function $f\: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ is $C^k$ ($k=0,1,2,\dots$) if $f$ and its first $k$ derivatives, $f'$, $f''$, \dots, $f^{(k)}$, exist and are all continuous. We say $f$ is smooth if $f$ is $C^k$ for every positive integer $k$. A parametrized curve is a $C^3$ (or smooth) map $\alpha\: I\to\mathbb R^3$ for some interval $I=(a,b)$ or $[a,b]$ (possibly infinite). We say $\alpha$ is regular if $\alpha'(t)\ne 0$ for all $t\in I$. We can imagine a particle moving along the path $\alpha$, with its position at time $t$ given by $\alpha(t)$. As we learned in vector calculus, $$\alpha'(t) = \lim_{h\to 0}\frac{\alpha(t+h)-\alpha(t)}h$$ is the velocity of the particle at time $t$. The velocity vector $\alpha'(t)$ is tangent to the curve at $\alpha(t)$ and its length, $\|\alpha'(t)\|$, is the speed of the particle. We say a vector function $f\: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ is $C^k$ ($k=0,1,2,\dots$) if $f$ and its first $k$ derivatives, $f'$, $f''$, \dots, $f^{(k)}$, exist and are all continuous. We say $f$ is smooth if $f$ is $C^k$ for every positive integer $k$. A parametrized curve is a $C^3$ (or smooth) map $\alpha\: I\to\mathbb R^3$ for some interval $I=(a,b)$ or $[a,b]$ (possibly infinite). We say $\alpha$ is regular if $\alpha'(t)\ne 0$ for all $t\in I$. We can imagine a particle moving along the path $\alpha$, with its position at time $t$ given by $\alpha(t)$. As we learned in vector calculus, $$\alpha'(t) = \lim_{h\to 0}\frac{\alpha(t+h)-\alpha(t)}h$$ is the velocity of the particle at time $t$. The velocity vector $\alpha'(t)$ is tangent to the curve at $\alpha(t)$ and its length, $\|\alpha'(t)\|$, is the speed of the particle. \section{Local Theory: Frenet Frame} What distinguishes a circle or a helix from a line is their curvature, i.e., the tendency of the curve to change direction. We shall now see that we can associate to each smooth ($C^3$) arclength-parametrized curve $\alpha$ a natural ``moving frame" (an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb R^3$ chosen at each point on the curve, adapted to the geometry of the curve as much as possible). We begin with a fact from vector calculus that will appear throughout this course. Suppose $f, g: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ are differentiable and satisfy $f(t)\cdot g(t)=\text{const}$ for all $t$. Then $f'(t)\cdot g(t) = -f(t)\cdot g'(t)$. In particular, $$\|f(t)\|=\text{const} \quad\text{if and only if}\quad f(t)\cdot f'(t)=0 \quad\text{for all }t\,.$$ What distinguishes a circle or a helix from a line is their curvature, i.e., the tendency of the curve to change direction. We shall now see that we can associate to each smooth ($C^3$) arclength-parametrized curve $\alpha$ a natural ``moving frame" (an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb R^3$ chosen at each point on the curve, adapted to the geometry of the curve as much as possible). We begin with a fact from vector calculus that will appear throughout this course. Suppose $f, g: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ are differentiable and satisfy $f(t)\cdot g(t)=\text{const}$ for all $t$. Then $f'(t)\cdot g(t) = -f(t)\cdot g'(t)$. In particular, $$\|f(t)\|=\text{const} \quad\text{if and only if}\quad f(t)\cdot f'(t)=0 \quad\text{for all }t\,.$$ What distinguishes a circle or a helix from a line is their curvature, i.e., the tendency of the curve to change direction. We shall now see that we can associate to each smooth ($C^3$) arclength-parametrized curve $\alpha$ a natural ``moving frame" (an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb R^3$ chosen at each point on the curve, adapted to the geometry of the curve as much as possible). We begin with a fact from vector calculus that will appear throughout this course. Suppose $f, g: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ are differentiable and satisfy $f(t)\cdot g(t)=\text{const}$ for all $t$. Then $f'(t)\cdot g(t) = -f(t)\cdot g'(t)$. In particular, $$\|f(t)\|=\text{const} \quad\text{if and only if}\quad f(t)\cdot f'(t)=0 \quad\text{for all }t\,.$$ What distinguishes a circle or a helix from a line is their curvature, i.e., the tendency of the curve to change direction. We shall now see that we can associate to each smooth ($C^3$) arclength-parametrized curve $\alpha$ a natural ``moving frame" (an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb R^3$ chosen at each point on the curve, adapted to the geometry of the curve as much as possible). We begin with a fact from vector calculus that will appear throughout this course. Suppose $f, g: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ are differentiable and satisfy $f(t)\cdot g(t)=\text{const}$ for all $t$. Then $f'(t)\cdot g(t) = -f(t)\cdot g'(t)$. In particular, $$\|f(t)\|=\text{const} \quad\text{if and only if}\quad f(t)\cdot f'(t)=0 \quad\text{for all }t\,.$$ What distinguishes a circle or a helix from a line is their curvature, i.e., the tendency of the curve to change direction. We shall now see that we can associate to each smooth ($C^3$) arclength-parametrized curve $\alpha$ a natural ``moving frame" (an orthonormal basis for $\mathbb R^3$ chosen at each point on the curve, adapted to the geometry of the curve as much as possible). We begin with a fact from vector calculus that will appear throughout this course. Suppose $f, g: (a,b)\to\mathbb R^3$ are differentiable and satisfy $f(t)\cdot g(t)=\text{const}$ for all $t$. Then $f'(t)\cdot g(t) = -f(t)\cdot g'(t)$. In particular, $$\|f(t)\|=\text{const} \quad\text{if and only if}\quad f(t)\cdot f'(t)=0 \quad\text{for all }t\,.$$ \end{document} I hope this helps.

  • Vertical centering of frametitle when using ltx-talk
    by CornBoy on April 12, 2026 at 11:11 pm

    I have been looking into switching my lecture presentations from Beamer to ltx-talk for the automatic tagging functionality. For frame titles, the default behavior does not vertically center the text in the colored header/banner. Here is a minimum working example (most recent release of MacTeX). % !TEX TS-program = lualatex \DocumentMetadata{tagging=on} \documentclass{ltx-talk} \EditInstance{header}{std}{ background-color = blue!50, color = white, } \author{John Doe PhD} \title{An interesting title} \institute{Interesting Conference} \begin{document} \begin{frame} \maketitle[framestyle = wallpaper] \end{frame} \begin{frame} \frametitle{Frame title not vertically centered in colored header} Some text \ldots \end{frame} \end{document} Does anyone know how to achieve a frame title that is vertically centered in the header/banner when using ltx-talk?

  • Devanagari Shiro-rekha filling
    by Sushant on April 12, 2026 at 6:39 pm

    I am using exam clas with liguistix package to create an exam paper in Marathi. As English has base line, the Devanagari script used for writing Marathi has head-line or Shiro-rekha (ꣻꣻꣻ). As in english the space for an answer is provided using an \hrulefill command which is at the position of base line of Latin characters, I wan to use Shiro-rekha for providing answering space for Marathi text. I can type the shiro-rekha character many times (like this: ꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻ) to fill the space. But it will take time and will be unevenly filled. Is there any way to use this shiro-rekha character and get filled it like a hrulefill? My MWE is as bellow: \documentclass{exam} \usepackage{linguistix} \linguistix{languages={english,marathi}} \begin{document} \makebox[\textwidth]{\textsc{संपूर्ण नाव : } ꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻꣻ} \vspace{0.2in} \makebox[\textwidth]{\textsc{Full name:}\enspace\hrulefill} \end{document}

  • How do I align a pgfplots figure environment to the right side of my document?
    by tistieom on April 12, 2026 at 2:46 pm

    I'm using a two-column extarticle document, without multicol. How do I make these two plots in a {figure} environment right-aligned instead of left-aligned in the column? They are a part of a nested list in my actual document so I did the same in the code here; other than the lorem ipsum, those are the same figures I'm using in my actual document. My goal with making them right-aligned is to align the left-hand side of the plots with the text following them. \documentclass[twocolumn]{extarticle} \usepackage{pgfplots, lipsum} \usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry} \pgfplotsset{compat=1.18} \begin{document} \lipsum[1-5] \begin{enumerate} \item \begin{enumerate} \item \lipsum[1] \begin{figure} \label{fig:3sinx+2-x} \begin{tikzpicture} \begin{axis}[ xlabel=$x$, ylabel=$f(x)$, xmin=-0.5, xmax=2*pi+0.5, ymin=-6.25, ymax=6.25, xtick={0, pi/4, pi/2, 3*pi/4, pi, 5*pi/4, 3*pi/2, 7*pi/4, 2*pi}, xticklabels={$0$, , $\frac{\pi}{2}$, , $\pi$, , $\frac{3\pi}{2}$, , $2\pi$}, ytick={-6, -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, yticklabels={$-6$, , $-4$, , $-2$, , $0$, , $2$, , $4$, , $6$}, axis lines=middle, width=5.5cm, title={$f(x) = 3\sin(x)+2-x$} ] \addplot[ color=red, domain=0:2*pi, smooth ]{3*sin(deg(x)) + 2 - x}; \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture} \label{fig:3sinx+x-3} \begin{tikzpicture} \begin{axis}[ xlabel=$x$, ylabel=$f(x)$, xmin=-0.5, xmax=2*pi+0.5, ymin=-4.25, ymax=4.25, xtick={0, pi/4, pi/2, 3*pi/4, pi, 5*pi/4, 3*pi/2, 7*pi/4, 2*pi}, xticklabels={$0$, , $\frac{\pi}{2}$, , $\pi$, , $\frac{3\pi}{2}$, , $2\pi$}, ytick={-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4}, yticklabels={$-4$, $-3$, $-2$, $-1$, $0$, $1$, $2$, $3$, $4$}, axis lines=middle, width=5.5cm, title={$f(x) = 3\sin(x)+x-3$} ] \addplot[ color=red, domain=0:2*pi, smooth ]{3*sin(deg(x)) + x - 3}; \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture} \end{figure} \item \lipsum[1-2] \end{enumerate} \end{enumerate} \end{document}

  • Graphing a system of inequalities in 3 dimensions
    by Henry Timmons on April 11, 2026 at 2:14 pm

    I am trying to graph a system of 3 inequalities in 3 dimensions. These ineuqalities are: y-z>=1/2x, x-z>=0, and x+y>=3z. Currently I am struggling to get even a basic output. My input is: \documentclass[12pt, a4paper]{article} \usepackage{float, ulem, amsmath, amsthm, amssymb, pgfplots, tikz} \pgfplotsset{width=10cm,compat=1.9} \usepgfplotslibrary{external, fillbetween} \tikzexternalize \begin{document} \begin{tikzpicture} \begin{axis}[domain=0:10,y domain=0:10] \addplot3[surf] {y-(\frac{1}{2}*x)}; \addplot3[surf] {x}; \addplot3[surf] {\frac{x+y}{3}}; \end{axis} \end{tikzpicture} \end{document} I am getting the error: ! Package tikz Error: Sorry, the system call 'pdflatex -halt-on-error -interact ion=batchmode -jobname "mwe-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{mwe}\input{mwe}" ' did NOT result in a usable output file 'mwe-figure0' (expected one of .pdf:.j pg:.jpeg:.png:). Please verify that you have enabled system calls. For pdflatex , this is 'pdflatex -shell-escape'. Sometimes it is also named 'write 18' or so mething like that. Or maybe the command simply failed? Error messages can be fo und in 'mwe-figure0.log'. If you continue now, I'll try to typeset the picture. See the tikz package documentation for explanation. Type H <return> for immediate help. ... l.19 \end{tikzpicture} ?

  • DocumentMetadata + setspace + biblatex: yields: "Patching footnotes failed"
    by wsmith on April 10, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    I have been trying to understand what is behind this warning: Package biblatex Warning: Patching footnotes failed. (biblatex) Footnote detection will not work. which is produced by, for example, this code: % !TeX program = lualatex \DocumentMetadata{ uncompress, lang=en, tagging=on, pdfstandard=UA-2, pdfstandard=A-4f, tagging-setup={math/setup={mathml-SE,mathml-AF}, extra-modules={verbatim-mo, verbatim-af}} } \documentclass[12pt]{report} \usepackage{setspace} \usepackage{biblatex} \begin{document} Example. \end{document} Searching on this forum for similar issues, I am led to believe this has to do with the (re)definition of \@footnotetext. What confounds me, however, is that I can only produce this warning if I simultaneously set up the \DocumentMetadata, include setspace, and use biblatex. In other words, if I remove either the \DocumentMetadata or setspace then I no longer get this warning. (I don't know if this is worth mentioning, but for what it's worth, I originally also use hyperref in the document where I found this issue-- its inclusion seems to have no bearing on this behavior).

  • How to get non-compilable code without the % symbol?
    by Cham on April 10, 2026 at 3:24 pm

    While I know that I can use % to comment out a line of code, I would like to get the same result (i.e. non-compiling text) in the middle of a block of text, like this (the brackets are here just to show the example): Blabla blabla bla bla bla [some non-compiling comments] bla bla blabla blab I don't want to write something like the following (i.e splitting the text paragraph): Blabla blabla bla bla bla % some non-compiling comments bla bla blabla blab Is it possible? I guess that I'll need to use some non-compiling macro, like \nc{} but I would prefer not to use something like it. In Mathematica, we have the ability to insert non-compiling codes with (* non-compiling text *)

  • Adjusting the Width of Modified Enumitem Items
    by DDS on April 10, 2026 at 1:05 pm

    Consider the code: \documentclass[12pt]{book} \usepackage[paperwidth=6.00in,paperheight=9.00in,top=.5in,bottom=.5in,left=.75in,right=.5in]{geometry} \textheight=7.25in \voffset=0.35in \usepackage{lipsum,enumitem} \begin{document} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{enumerate}[label={(\Roman*.)},itemindent=1em,leftmargin=0em] \item \lipsum[12] \item \lipsum[12] \item \lipsum[12] \item \lipsum[12] \item \lipsum[12] \end{enumerate} \end{document} which produces the output: I would like to reduce the width of the enumerate items by say, a factor of .75; however, when I tried embedding the enumeration within a minipage environment, there is no pagebreak. QUESTION: How may I adjust the width of the displayed items in the enumerate environment? Thank you.