8.63.2 Greatest hits from previous weeks

8.63.2.1 Absolute Value Symbols
8.63.2.2 LaTeX Editors/IDEs
8.63.2.3 How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX?
8.63.2.4 Real number symbol (UTF-8: a^\204\235) in XeTeX
8.63.2.5 Scale image to page width?
8.63.2.6 How to write a function (piecewise) with bracket outside?
8.63.2.7 How to add an empty line between paragraphs?
8.63.2.1 Absolute Value Symbols

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=43008

What is the "best LaTeX practices" for writing absolute value symbols?  Are there any packages which provide good methods? 
Some options include|x| and \mid x \mid, but I'm not sure which is best... 
[math-mode] [symbols]
 
asked by jamaicanworm https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=9757 Score of 307
answered by Peter Grill https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=4301 Score of 230
8.63.2.2 LaTeX Editors/IDEs

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=339

What editors/IDEs are available for easing the process of writing TeX/LaTeX documents? 
Please state some useful features like code completion, spell checking, building final DVI or PDF files, etc. 
... 
[editors] [big-list] [ide] [resources]
 
asked by hayalci https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=183 Score of 906
answered by YuppieNetworking https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=146 Score of 360
8.63.2.3 How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=39017

How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? 
This is a general question and should collect useful answers for all users. I hope we can use this as a reference 
[floats] [positioning]
 
asked by Marco Daniel https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5239 Score of 699
answered by Frank Mittelbach https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=10109 Score of 1004
8.63.2.4 Real number symbol (UTF-8: a^\204\235) in XeTeX

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=104274

How can I get the 'real number' sign (something like \mathbb{R} with the amssymb package in LaTeX) in XeTeX? 
[math-mode] [xetex] [symbols] [amsmath] [plain-tex]
 
asked by lvaneesbeeck https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=24686 Score of 166
answered by lvaneesbeeck https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=24686 Score of 11
8.63.2.5 Scale image to page width?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=39147

I use 
\inclugraphics[scale=TRYING TO GUESS THE NUMBER FOR PAGE WIDTH]{...} 
but I find this errorsome, is there some ready flag to set the image to page width? I usually use PNG and JPG photos. 
[graphics] [scaling]
 
asked by hhh https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=2956 Score of 273
answered by Werner https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5764 Score of 253
8.63.2.6 How to write a function (piecewise) with bracket outside?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=32140

How to write this Piecewise function using LaTeX? 
I tried 
$ 
\begin{array}{cc} 
\{ & 
\begin{array}{cc} 
0 & x\leq 0 \\ 
\frac{100-x}{100} & 0\leq x\leq 100 \\ 
0 & ... 
[math-mode] [equations] [brackets]
 
asked by GarouDan https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5314 Score of 198
answered by Ant https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=6984 Score of 249
8.63.2.7 How to add an empty line between paragraphs?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=question&id=135134

I have two sections which I'd like to separate by an empty line. Every time I press Enter, LyX removes that empty line between paragraphs. How do I prevent this? 
[spacing] [lyx]
 
asked by goldisfine https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=37301 Score of 146
answered by Werner https://tex.stackexchange.com/landing/r/digest?cta=user&id=5764 Score of 160