# Software for math sketching

Usually when you're writing in LaTeX you want some pretty illustrations. Right now for geometry figures I use GeoGebra, which is easy enough; but I usually see better figures on other papers.

Plus, it is not all about geometry: I would like to easily make some custom drawing, so the software should allow me to "write" on the screen (a bit like MSPaint does; but paint looks horrible)

For example say I want to create on the pc this image:

How do I do that? (This one has been written down on paper and then scanned)

Any help or advice is appreciated.

• I use the Tikz package for my LaTex drawing – Jemmy Sep 25 '14 at 16:15
• I use the same. The learning curve is rather severe but it's very powerful. – Travis Sep 25 '14 at 16:16
• Another possibility is to use vector graphic software like InkScape to make high quality scalable images. It works like Photoshop, in that it's got tools and a nice GUI. So if you have any other graphics background, the learning curve for InkScape might be easier than Tikz. I say this as an alternative; I primarily use Tikz. – BeaumontTaz Sep 25 '14 at 16:34
• Also, I want to add that the Tex stack exchange (run on the same software as this exchange) offers help on Tikz code. – BeaumontTaz Sep 25 '14 at 16:35
• Here's a good place to start if you want to get an impression of what TikZ can do: texample.net/tikz/examples/all – Hans Lundmark Sep 25 '14 at 17:32

Tikz is a popular drawing tool for $\LaTeX$. It is fairly dificult to get going, but the manual is very valuable, and there is also a tex SE site. With a lot of valuable information.