Document Classes ⇒ Textbook Package/Style Recommendations

[LaTexLearner]

Are there any packages or styles specific to making:

• Workbooks in which students will write all their work and solutions?
• A solutions manual for that workbook?

For those who don't know, I am making a fractions workbook.

Though I am still learning LaTeX and TikZ, I now know enough to start making materials but would like to do so efficiently from the beginning.

Thanks!

[Johannes_B]

LateX has the standard classes article, report and book for articles, reports and books. There is also a class especially for exams called exam.

A package you can use with the standard classes to set up excercise sheets is exsheets.

Depending on how long your book as going to be, i guess report or book are the best ways to start. LaTeX really doesn't care if the content is math, chemistry, physics or art. They all share common stuff, like headers/footers, chapters, lists, table of contents, bibliography management. Everything provided by the standard classes.

KOMA-script provides enhancements to the standard classes.

Can you specify your question a bit? It is really broad right now.

[LaTexLearner]

Well, first, I'd be happy to take a look at any package others have used to make textbooks and solutions manuals with LaTeX.

One thing I'd like to do is make it extremely easy for kids to mark their own work as my target student is likely to be unmotivated if not outright terrified of math.

Not that I'll be making anything quite this complicated, but here is an example from higher grades.

Notice that the worksheet has place for students to write their answers...



And the solutions page looks EXACTLY the same, except that the solution is there.



I don't know how I'd manage both copies in terms of page layout without a package specifically made for this kind of stuff.


Edit: If anybody wants to voluntarily shrink the size of those images, feel free to do so. I wasn't sure how to do it in these forums.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Shrinking for a forum is like shrinking any picture on your computer. If it's too wide, it's disturbing the page layout here.

Stefan

[Johannes_B]

This is exactly what package exsheets can do. If you show an example, we can show you a real working example. You could also decide to have two different versions, one with questions/tasks and no answers or answers toggled on; and one where the answers are delayed to later, so something like an extra volume.

By the way, the author of exsheets is a moderator here in that very place

[LaTexLearner]

Ok, here is 1-page example. How would I make the solutions version of this with the package?

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[left=2cm,right=2cm,top=2cm,bottom=2cm]
{geometry}

\newlength{\ALT}
\setlength{\ALT}{0.5pt}
\newlength{\DLL}
\setlength{\DLL}{1.5cm}
\newcommand{\AS}[1][\DLL]{\rule{#1}{\ALT}}

\begin{document}

\section{The Purpose and Definition of Fractions}

\begin{enumerate}
\item What is the mathematical purpose of fractions? Illustrate your answer by describing and drawing a situation of sharing cakes that can be solved with whole numbers and a similar situation that requires fractions to solve.
\vspace{5cm}
\item Bill, Susan, and Michael purchase a 2m candy rope. If they share it equally, how much candy rope will they each get? Use a diagram to support your answer.
\vspace{2.5cm}
\item What is a \emph{denominator} and what does it tell you about a fraction?
\vspace{2cm}
\item What is a \emph{numerator} and what does it tell you about a fraction?
\vspace{2cm}
\item Write an equation with a fraction equal to a whole number. \AS = \AS
\vspace{1cm}
\item Write an approximate equation with a fraction that is almost equal to a whole number and that whole number. 

\vspace{0.8cm}
\AS \(\approx\) \AS
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

[Johannes_B]

I am not very familiar with exsheets and i don't know all the bells and whistles. Here is a first draft giving you a basis to work on. Maybe Clemens has improvements, he definitely knows the package better than i do

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[left=2cm,right=2cm,top=2cm,bottom=2cm]{geometry}

\newlength{\ALT}
\setlength{\ALT}{0.5pt}
\newlength{\DLL}
\setlength{\DLL}{1.5cm}
\newcommand{\AS}[1][\DLL]{\rule{#1}{\ALT}}
\usepackage{exsheets}
\usepackage{tasks}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{grffile}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}

\section{The Purpose and Definition of Fractions}

\begin{question}
	What is the mathematical purpose of fractions? Illustrate your answer
	by describing and drawing a situation of sharing cakes that can be
	solved with whole numbers and a similar situation that requires
	fractions to solve.
	\examspace{3cm}
\end{question}
\begin{solution}%[print]
	\includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{504px-Cake_quarters.svg.png}\par
	\url{https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cake_quarters.svg}
\end{solution}
\begin{question}
	Bill, Susan, and Michael purchase a 2\,m (\SI{2}{\meter}) candy rope. If they share it
	equally, how much candy rope will they each get? Use a diagram to
	support your answer.
\end{question}
\begin{solution}
	Each one gets \SI{.666666667}{m}.\par
	Each one gets \SI{2/3}{m}.
\end{solution}
\begin{question}
	What is a \emph{denominator} and what does it tell you about a fraction?
\end{question}
	\begin{solution}
Below line
\end{solution}
\begin{question}
	What is a \emph{numerator} and what does it tell you about a fraction?
\end{question}
\begin{solution}
Above line
\end{solution}
\begin{question}
	Write an equation with a fraction equal to a whole number. \(\AS =
	\AS\)
\end{question}
\begin{question}
	Write an approximate equation with a fraction that is almost equal to
	a whole number and that whole number.
		\AS \(\approx\) \AS\par
		\( \AS \approx \AS \)%Compare the spacing
\end{question}

\printsolutions
\end{document}

[LaTexLearner]

Something in that code gave me an error message that I didn't understand. Maybe it was a missing picture file?

[Johannes_B]

Very very likely, that is a picture from wikimedia, i included the url within the example.

Actually, i could have made a system call, download the image using wget and it would have worked. Many use the shell-escape option all the time and run code without understanding.

Download the picture by hand, or use the demo option globally. Or remove the call. You will be fine.

[LaTexLearner]

Very very likely, that is a picture from wikimedia, i included the url within the example.

Actually, i could have made a system call, download the image using wget and it would have worked. Many use the shell-escape option all the time and run code without understanding.

Download the picture by hand, or use the demo option globally. Or remove the call. You will be fine.

I have... no idea what this message means, lol.

i.e. Words/Phrases I don't know: system call, wget, shell-escape, demo option globally, remove the call.

I did, though, run it on Overleaf and edited out the pictures for the first solution.

All the solutions, though, appeared below the all the exercises as if it were a separate section...

Can anybody recommend a simple, non-jargon-rich introduction to exsheets?