Inserting and labelling figures

• To refer to a figure, use the following syntax:
  Amazing results are shown in Figure \ref{fig:Stupendous}.
• to insert a figure using the graphics package:
  \usepackage{graphicx} % or you might try \usepackage{graphics} or \usepackage[dvips]{graphics}
  \begin{figure} 
  \begin{center} 
  \includegraphics[height=7in,width=5in,angle=90]{file.eps} 
  \caption{\small \sl This figure shows results of Nobel prize winning importance.\label{fig:Stupendous}} 
  \end{center} 
  \end{figure} 
  I've read that you can include a pdf or jpeg file directly using the \includegraphics command. The source I saw said that if your file is file.jpg, make a file.jpg.bb with the Bounding box line from the eps version of the jpeg file. Supposedly you can then just do \includegraphics{file.jpg}, but this has not worked when I tried it and compiled with Latex (Latex complained about not being able to find a bounding box), though I have successfully included pdf files and jpeg files when using pdflatex and \usepackage[pdftex]{graphics}.
• to insert a figure using the psfig package:
  \input psfig % in preamble
  \begin{figure} 
  \centering \psfig{file=file.ps,width=5in,height=3in} 
  \caption{\small \sl This figure shows results of Nobel prize winning importance.\label{fig:Stupendous}} 
  \end{figure}
  % note that \psfig can be used with eps files
• to insert a figure using the epsf package:
  \usepackage{epsf} % in preamble
  \begin{figure} 
  \begin{center} 
  \epsfxsize=6in {\epsfbox{file.eps}} 
  \caption{\small \sl This figure shows results of Nobel prize winning importance.} 
  \label{fig:Stupendous} 
  \end{center} 
  \end{figure}
• inserting pdf, png, and jpeg figures when using pdflatex works nicely
  \usepackage{pdftex} 
  \usepackage{graphicx} 
  \begin{figure} 
  \begin{center} 
  \includegraphics[scale=0.85]{file.pdf} # or file.{jpg,png}; do not use .jpeg extension (at the least, this causes problems when using Lyx and foiltex) 
  \end{center}  
  \end{figure}
• I believe it is best to have the \label inside the caption.
• With the \begin{figure} command, you can include an argument such as \begin{figure}[htbp]. This tells Latex to try to put the figure first 'here', then at the 'top' of the page, then at the 'bottom' and finally on the next 'page'. The letters can be in any order you wish and any of them can be left out. If you put an ! before the first letter, it tells Latex to try really hard to follow your wishes, e.g., \begin{figure}{!h}.
• You may need to make sure Latex knows to only include the clipped portion of the figure (the portion inside the bounding box). This is the case if you're using a figure imported from powerpoint, for example. The syntax is
  \psfig{file=file.ps,clip=} 
  \epsfbox{file.eps,clip=} 
  \includegraphics[clip]{file.eps}