LaTex special characters

http://web.science.mq.edu.au/~rdale/resources/writingnotes/latexstyle.html#dashes

200 - 500 bp  is written as "200 -- 500 bp"

tilde ~0.5  use $\sim$0.5

http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/novices/symbols.html#sec:chars
http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/9363/how-does-one-insert-a-backslash-or-a-tilde-into-latex

http://latex.knobs-dials.com/