LaTeX Homework Class

What

This is a LaTeX document class. That means you use it with \documentclass{homework} at the top of the document. It provides a document layout and some helper commands that make working with questions easy.

Installation

Certainly the easiest way to start using this template is to copy the .cls file to your computer in the same directory as your LaTeX project directory.

A better way to install this template is to fork this repository and then clone that fork to a particular folder on your computer:

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/latex-hw-template

Then, whenever you need to use the template, you can copy the template to wherever you need it. Also, if there are ever any updates, you can simply run

git pull

to update the template.

Preferred Installation

The best way to install this file is to follow the instructions here, keeping in mind that you're trying to install a .cls file instead of three .sty files.

Usage

See the homework.tex file for an exhaustive list of usage examples. There are also comments explaining features for which there are no examples given.

The result is the following:

The class file also has a bunch of helper \usepackages that you might want to take a look at in homework.cls.

For your convenience, the file template.tex is a nearly-empty LaTeX file that contains the bare essentials to get started using the homework class.

\question

To start a question, just type \question. It will add the text "Question #" with a line underneath to the document. If you'd like to change "Question" to something else, use

\renewcommand{\questiontype}{Whatever You Want}

Similarly, if you ever need to skip numbers, you can do

\setcounter{questionCounter}{<target number - 1>}

So, to skip to the 10th question, <target number - 1> = 9.

See homework.tex for more.

\question*

Some classes like to give their homework questions fancy names. If this is the case, you can use \question*{The Question's Name} to make a named question.

See homework.tex for more.

Question Parts

Another common thing on homework assignments is to have multi-part questions. To deal with these, use the form

\begin{alphaparts}
  \questionpart
    This will be part (a).
  \questionpart
    This will be part (b).
\end{alphaparts}

or

\begin{arabicparts}
  \questionpart
    This will be part x.1.
  \questionpart
    This will be part x.2.
\end{arabicparts}

See homework.tex for more.

Induction Proofs

In math classes, induction proofs come up a lot, and they almost always have the same form: base case, induction hypothesis, and induction step.

\begin{induction}
  \basecase
    This is my fancy base case.
  \indhyp
    Assume some claim.
  \indstep
    Finish off the proof
\end{induction}

Anonymous Submissions

Certain classes prefer to disassociate names from questions for a more fair grade assessment. To have your name placed only on a separate title page, include the anonymous option in the \documentclass line:

\documentclass[11pt,anonymous]{homework}

For truly anonymous submissions, make sure you remove all personally identifying information from your preamble.

One question per page

If you'd like each question to begin on a new page, include the newpage option:

\documentclass[11pt,newpage]{homework}

Spacious margins

To enhance the readability of your documents, you can add the largemargins option to your documents. This fits less content on a single page, but makes it much more comfortable for your eyes to scan across the lines.

\documentclass[11pt,largemargins]

This is the default in the template and the example file. Remove this option to have your text fill more space on the page.

License

MIT License, see LICENSE.