Fred,
No problem. The syntax originates from the days of my doctorate studies.
LaTeX is the de facto standard syntax for the communication and publication of scientific documents. A lot more versatile than anything MS can come up with...
LaTeX is based on the idea that it is better to leave document design to document designers, and to let authors get on with writing documents.
You can check the WWW for numerous references to the project but try here first:
The LaTeX Project
