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My secret for reading difficult math and physics texts: write out, by hand, every equation as you encounter it. Firstly, it slows me down so I'm not tempted to
by dfan 15y ago
My secret for reading difficult math and physics texts: write out, by hand, every equation as you encounter it. Firstly, it slows me down so I'm not tempted to skim it like a novel. More importantly, my standards for what I write are much higher than my standards for what I read; if I see something I'm not completely convinced of, I may shrug and move on, but I'm not willing to write something down unless I really understand it.
- dlib 15y agoThis is what I also do, any step in a derivation I would glance over when read must be fully understood and proved whenever I write it down. Every non-trivial result in my math books is written down so I can fully comprehend what's going on.