The first time I used Latex was when I was around 16 and did a Math competition. I first tried to use Word to typeset equations and it was a nightmare to use. So I looked around on the Internet for an alternative and found LaTeX. I think it has a very low barrier of entry, all you really need is
All the additional commands can be learned on the fly, if you have a reference at hand. I'm sure there are commands in Word for creating a title page, a table of contents, a bibliography, an index, correctly numbering equations and updating references if you add additional ones, but once I discovered Latex I have never looked back and have not used Word in a long time.
\documentclass{article} \begin{document} Hi. \end{document}
All the additional commands can be learned on the fly, if you have a reference at hand. I'm sure there are commands in Word for creating a title page, a table of contents, a bibliography, an index, correctly numbering equations and updating references if you add additional ones, but once I discovered Latex I have never looked back and have not used Word in a long time.