[Tex/LaTex] Best documentclass for formulary (cheat sheet)

document-classes

We are allowed to bring a formulary of 2 pages to our math exam. Obviously I need to put as much content on it as possible, using the tiniest font size available.
Unfortunately I haven't found a documentclass that suits my needs.
Currently I'm using this one:

\documentclass[10pt,a4paper,twocolumn,notitlepage]{article}

It has large margins, i.e. empty areas. Also, the font size is pretty large.

Is there any predefined documentclass for my purpose?

Best Answer

This uses a very small font size and small margin values by applying options to the geometry package.

\fontsize{6}{8}\selectfont is just one way to use (even smaller would be hardly readable, so it's not recommended)

multicols allows for organzing in multiple columns.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a4paper, lmargin=0.2cm,rmargin=0.2cm,tmargin=1cm,bmargin=1cm]{geometry}

\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{pgffor}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}
\fontsize{6pt}{8pt}\selectfont

\begin{multicols}{8}
\foreach \x in {1,...,800} {

\(
E=mc^2
\)

}
\end{multicols}



\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Best documentclass for class notes

Right. This type of question is quite broad and I'll try to answer it.

First of all depends whether you are doing humanities, languages, mathematics, engineering and particular sciences. More importantly depends on how many graphics, formulas you have in the notes and how quickly you are at typing those up (since typing those is the slowest of all).

I personally did take notes in latex using just report class. I would it great to type up syllabus beforehand for the whole year such that I can predict headings more precisely. I was able to keep up with formulas but I couldn't keep up with figures (I didn't know tikz back then). So I have ended up drawing figures on a tablet or paper and then scanning them in later on.

I'm doing electronic engineering. If you are doing chemistry, biology or physics your experience can be much different. And if you are doing languages, history or law your requirements will be completely different.

Best is to ask: "I'm doing electronics, what is the best way to quickly sketch circuits for later polishing in latex?"

The questions as it is now doesn't tell what area your are not finding report class to be suitable.

[Tex/LaTex] Preparing cheat sheets

This is what I'm using for small cheat sheets. It is derived from some sheet I found out there, unfortunately, I cannot recall whom should I credit... Anyway, there you go:

\documentclass[10pt,landscape]{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath,amsthm,amsfonts,amssymb}
\usepackage{color,graphicx,overpic}
\usepackage{hyperref}


\pdfinfo{
  /Title (example.pdf)
  /Creator (TeX)
  /Producer (pdfTeX 1.40.0)
  /Author (Seamus)
  /Subject (Example)
  /Keywords (pdflatex, latex,pdftex,tex)}

% This sets page margins to .5 inch if using letter paper, and to 1cm
% if using A4 paper. (This probably isn't strictly necessary.)
% If using another size paper, use default 1cm margins.
\ifthenelse{\lengthtest { \paperwidth = 11in}}
    { \geometry{top=.5in,left=.5in,right=.5in,bottom=.5in} }
    {\ifthenelse{ \lengthtest{ \paperwidth = 297mm}}
        {\geometry{top=1cm,left=1cm,right=1cm,bottom=1cm} }
        {\geometry{top=1cm,left=1cm,right=1cm,bottom=1cm} }
    }

% Turn off header and footer
\pagestyle{empty}

% Redefine section commands to use less space
\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\section}{\@startsection{section}{1}{0mm}%
                                {-1ex plus -.5ex minus -.2ex}%
                                {0.5ex plus .2ex}%x
                                {\normalfont\large\bfseries}}
\renewcommand{\subsection}{\@startsection{subsection}{2}{0mm}%
                                {-1explus -.5ex minus -.2ex}%
                                {0.5ex plus .2ex}%
                                {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\renewcommand{\subsubsection}{\@startsection{subsubsection}{3}{0mm}%
                                {-1ex plus -.5ex minus -.2ex}%
                                {1ex plus .2ex}%
                                {\normalfont\small\bfseries}}
\makeatother

% Define BibTeX command
\def\BibTeX{{\rm B\kern-.05em{\sc i\kern-.025em b}\kern-.08em
    T\kern-.1667em\lower.7ex\hbox{E}\kern-.125emX}}

% Don't print section numbers
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}


\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{0pt plus 0.5ex}

%My Environments
\newtheorem{example}[section]{Example}
% -----------------------------------------------------------------------

\begin{document}
\raggedright
\footnotesize
\begin{multicols}{3}


% multicol parameters
% These lengths are set only within the two main columns
%\setlength{\columnseprule}{0.25pt}
\setlength{\premulticols}{1pt}
\setlength{\postmulticols}{1pt}
\setlength{\multicolsep}{1pt}
\setlength{\columnsep}{2pt}

\begin{center}
     \Large{\underline{Title}} \\
\end{center}

\section{Section 1}
Text
\subsection{xCode}
Subsetction text

\section{Section 2}
Text 2

\section{Section 3}
Etc.

% You can even have references
\rule{0.3\linewidth}{0.25pt}
\scriptsize
\bibliographystyle{abstract}
\bibliography{refFile}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

I hope you'd find it useful.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Best documentclass for class notes

[Tex/LaTex] Preparing cheat sheets

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