Displaying sums in column format with LaTeX

Due to my disability, I cannot write without the use of a computer. When working with numbers it is often helpful to write arithmetic problems in column format, e.g.

I have never been able to do this without assistance from an able-bodied person.

I recently began looking for a solution to this issue and found LaTeX. Is it possible to write a sum in column format in LaTeX, or is there some other more appropriate tool for this?

Note that I'm not interested in solving the sums with software, I just need to display them in a way which makes them easier for me to work with.

2 Answers

I use LaTeX regularly to write papers. It is a very powerful piece of software, but I'm not sure how useful it would be for your needs. Here is the minimum amount of code to write your example:

 \documentclass[]{article} \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{r} 5 \\ + 12 \\ \hline 17 \end{tabular} \end{document}

And the (cropped from A4/Letter) output:

There are some WYSIWYG editors for LaTeX such as LyX which might make it easier.

Another option is to use the multirow package:

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{multirow}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{rr}
\multirow{2}{*}{+} & $5$ \\ & $12$ \\
\cline{2-2} & 17
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

which produces: