[OS X TeX] page setting + a general comment

[ludwik kowalski]

I am sorry to bother the list again. But I need help.

1) I am straggling with page setting. After reading the introduction  
of the manual for the package Geometry (that someone suggested) I  
produced the input file that is shown below.

But I was not able to compile it. The error message was that the  
\begin{document} is missing. But it is not missing. What am I doing  
wrong? The only thing I want is to have 0.5 inch margins on the A4  
page. Is there a way to accomplish this without bringing another  
package (or packages)?

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\documentclass[a4paper]{article}

\usepackage{geometry}

\usepackage[text={7in,10in},centering]{geometry}

\begin{document}

To set dimensions for page layout in LATEX is not straightforward. You  
need to adjust several LATEX native dimensions to place a text area  
where you want If you want to center the text area in the paper you  
use, for example, you have to specify native dimensions as  
follows . . . Package geometry provides an easy way to set page layout  
parameters. In this case, what you have to do is just . . .

\end{document}

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2) P.S. I am discovering that learning LaTex is not a pleasant  
experience. Learning Geometry, or Calculus, for example, is very  
different in that respect. Why is it so?

Ludwik Kowalski, a retired physicist
5 Horizon Road, apt.2702, Fort Lee, NJ, 07024, USA
Also an amateur journalist at http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/