3.2.1 LaTeX Representation

Every object x in Sage should support the command latex(x), so that any Sage object can be easily and accurately displayed via LaTeX. Here is how to make a class (and therefore its instances) support the command latex.

Define a method _latex_(self) that returns a LaTeX representation of your object. It should be something that can be typeset correctly within math mode. Do not include opening and closing $'s.
Often objects are built up out of other Sage objects, and these components should be typeset using the latex function. For example if c is a coefficient of your object, and you want to typeset c using latex, use latex(c) instead of c._latex_(), since c might not have a _latex_ method, and latex(c) knows how to deal with this.
Don't forget to include a docstring and an example that illustrates latex generation for your object.
You can use any macros included in amsmath, amssymb, or amsfonts, or the ones defined in SAGE_ROOT/doc/commontex/macros.tex.

An example template for a _latex_ method follows:

class X:
   ...
   def _latex_(self):
       r"""
       Return \Latex representation of X.
 
       EXAMPLES:
           sage: a = X(1,2)
           sage: latex(a)
           `\\frac{1}{2}'
       """
       return `\\frac{%s}{%s}''%(latex(self.numer), latex(self.denom))

As shown in the example, latex(a) will produce LaTeX code representing the object a. Calling view(a) will display the typeset version of this.

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