Mysterious TeX Errors

(preface needed! )

Missing title/author in output

You have to specify \maketitle after \begin{document}.

LaTeX error: Bad math environment delimiter

This can be caused by forgetting a closing brace.

Too many }

This can be caused by forgetting the \ on \begin, even though the document has the right number of { and }.

Missing $ inserted from \:

In LaTeX, \: is a math mode operator which inserts a ``medium'' space. So constructs like this:

\LaTeX\:       % missing $ error
result in the mysterious Missing $ inserted error. It's advisable to get in the habit of using {} after abbreviations to minimize problems like this, as in:
\LaTeX{}:       % ok

Missing number, treated as zero

If [...] follows \\, even with intervening whitespace and newlines, it will be taken as an optional argument, and thus expected to start with a number. (Even if amsmath is loaded, apparently, in contrast to the The LaTeX Companion.) For example, a math alignment like this causes the error:

a^2 & a^3 \\
[b^2] & ...
One remedy is to insert {} before the left bracket.

Misplaced \noalign

Using tabular, this can be caused by an \hline without a preceding \\. Similarly, using booktabs, this is the result of leaving out the \\ in the line before \bottomrule.

Section headings one character in output

Perhaps you left off the braces after \section. It should be used like this:

\section{The section title}

\pdfendlink ended up in different nesting level than \pdfstartlink

This happens when hyperref is used under pdftex and a citation splits across a page boundary. To fix it, note the page number of the error and specify the draft option to hyperref so you get an output PDF. Then you can see the citation in question and rewrite to fix it. (Thanks to James Bednar's posting on the pdftex list about this.)


$Date: 2019/07/01 18:25:15 $; TUG home page; join TUG/renew membership; webmaster; facebook; x; mastodon.