LaTeX (pronounced “latech”) is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting based on, and succeeding TeX formatting.
It is a very popular format in academia, as it allows advanced document formatting capabilities not found in other common document formatting systems. Some of these capabilities include table figure notations, bibliography formatting (see BibTeX), and an advanced macro language.
LaTeX is designed to follow a separation of style and data model, in a model somewhat analgous to HTML and CSS. The author of a LaTeX document lays out the basic data of the document, and then adjusts the way it is styled from the basic LaTeX formatting. This might present a challenge to those used to WYSIWYG document creation, however it does allow for more power and precision in document creation.