Mathematical graphics with LaTeX

[PhDP]

I have a project in biology with many equations (mostly ODE and PDE). I use LaTeX (MikTeX/TeXnicCenter) and Maple for plotting functions. I convert them to PNG so TeXnicCenter can compile my work in PDF. But the quality is not very good. I saw many PDF with mathematical model where you could "zoom in" without lossing much quality, how ? I know you can draw lines, and cercles with LaTeX but ODE are far too complex.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

There is always the possibility of you using OpenOffice, as there is a Math program included that lets you insert equations into your text files. It also does PDF exports.

[PhDP]

I have no problem with equations, there's nothing better than LaTeX for equations. I have a problem with graphics, plotting functions and ODE.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Is the quality of PNGs produced by Maple the problem, or is it the resulting PDF?

[PhDP]

It's the quality of the PNG, and probably also the fact that I'm manually converting Maple's graphic to PNGs.

 

The best would probably be to produce the graphic directly with LaTeX, but I don't know how.

[Dave]

The easiest way to get extremely high quality graphics is to export the plots as an EPS/PS file. These can then be automagically included as LaTeX figures using something like the graphicx package. Just be aware you can't create PDFs easily with PS figures.

 

The method I used was to export as PS, then convert to PNG using something like Photoshop or Imagemagick. Once I'd done this I was left with a reasonably high quality PNG, which I was then able to include easily in a PDF. I used a combination of GNU Octave/Gnuplot to do this, and I'm not 100% sure how you should do this in Maple, but I think this is probably your best bet.

[PhDP]

Thanks dave !

 

I'll give Octave/GNUplot a try (if I can found a good guide), it seems to be able to plot differentials equations.