5 ms·

Obviously the author can take these notes and be a mathematical success. That's amazing. Personally, I confess that I don't have enough cycles to both underst

Obviously the author can take these notes and be a mathematical success. That's amazing. Personally, I confess that I don't have enough cycles to both understand a lecture and live-LaTeX it. (Can I add that I am a math PhD and also very experienced with LaTeX? So if you feel that this may be too much for you, IMHO that's OK).

sarosh 5y ago
Can you explain a bit about your personal note taking/retention process?
- kenniskrag 5y ago
  In my university we can take photos after a topic was explained. The prof told us, that he wants us to understand the topic and ask questions while he was explaining.
- jimhefferon 5y ago
  Forgive me, there is nothing to explain. I bring paper and pencil. Boring.
  - a_lost_needle 5y ago
    Take a look at what you do remember easily, and then game your note taking process, so that you add that stimulus/reward to your note taking. Maybe it's paper, maybe it's a computer, maybe it 's a fountain pen. Maybe you're like me and your retention is better if you're fully engaged and not taking notes. I see notes as some see a camera. You're so busy trying to transcribe what you're seeing, you're not fully comprehending it till later, and that's only if you're good at notes, otherwise, you now have a dumbass teaching you when you could have been listening to the litteral expert in their field explain it, paying better attention and understanding it; rather than memorizing it. Once you understand it, you're not memorizing, you're explaining. But that's just how I work. Find what works for you.
    - yesenadam 5y ago
      The person you're addressing like they're 16 and asking for your guidance is a literal expert in their field(s). (See https://hefferon.net/ https://hefferon.net/ )
      - dotancohen 5y ago
        Welcome to HN! Where the guy that I'm giving hobby car advice to is something of an idol in my professional field. Newton may have stood on the shoulders of giants, but HN enables us to casually rub elbows with them.
      - jimhefferon 5y ago
        Thank you for the kind words, but I nodded when I read the parent post. It reminded me of something my wife and I talk about, how we took a lot of video when our kids were young, and maybe we should have just enjoyed more of the time.
        a_lost_needle 5y ago
        Apologies, I intended to comment on the same one you replied to, not to your comment. I remember struggling so hard in school to take notes, and then not understanding them. I hadn't heard of you, but really respect what you're doing. I hope I didn't cause offence.
        jimhefferon 5y ago
        > offence Heavens, no. Enjoy the day.
        a_lost_needle 5y ago
        Really?
      - a_lost_needle 5y ago
        I replied to the wrong comment, I meant to reply to the person above. The one that asked for guidance, like they were a college student struggling...
whimsicalism 5y ago
Interesting - once I got into a rythym I didn't find tex-ing live lectures actually that time consuming. I think it really depends on the field of math though, maybe? I also use a markdown + inline latex setup rather than tex from scratch.
- axby 5y ago
  I found it was relatively easy to type and tex everything that was written on the board. But I think my comprehension probably suffered a bit, though maybe that would have happened from using a pen and paper too.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    Agreed - I ultimately just stopped taking notes.
63 5y ago
It depends on the subject matter for me. Live-LaTeXing works pretty well for me until matrices get involved. Just fractions, equations, and summations are fairly easy though.
zahllos 5y ago
I'll second this. I am very familiar with latex. I have even done similar things to my neovim configuration (I use ultisnips) and have a few custom latex 'sty'les to include various commands to do stuff I do frequently but is a pain otherwise. This however is and was for end-product stuff: my own personal collection of condensed notes, assignments that needed to be typed, and so on (I also use ultisnips for coding). I studied mathematics as a undergrad (I have a first class degree in Mathematics from a UK university) and I hand-wrote my lectures, and I know many mathematicians that are frankly much better than I am who find computers frankly difficult and avoided LaTeX as long as they possibly could. What matters (if you are studying mathematics) is doing mathematics (exercises, experimentation, understanding proofs etc). There is no substitute. This is a nice to have, but will not make you a better mathematician. If you want to know how to be a good student, IMO this is a nice guide: https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/study_public_0.pdf https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/study_pu...
ad8e 5y ago
I typed notes throughout my undergrad, and it worked poorly. Everything in math is slow to type and fast to handwrite: subscripts, exponents, arrows, matrices, Greek letters, labels, diagrams, integrals, fractions. My shorthand omitted all latex conventions (A_0 became A0, arrows became ->), but it wasn't enough. For non-math classes, typing notes worked well.
- DominikPeters 5y ago
  It's useful to know that \to and \gets are shorthands for \rightarrow and \leftarrow.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  I found the ability to copy and paste and then modify while taking notes more than made up for the difference in note-taking speed.
pfortuny 5y ago
Your nick rings some bells. [linear algebra etc]. Indeed, I think the same and am on the very same boat.

sarosh 5y ago

Can you explain a bit about your personal note taking/retention process?

kenniskrag 5y ago
In my university we can take photos after a topic was explained. The prof told us, that he wants us to understand the topic and ask questions while he was explaining.
jimhefferon 5y ago
Forgive me, there is nothing to explain. I bring paper and pencil. Boring.
- a_lost_needle 5y ago
  Take a look at what you do remember easily, and then game your note taking process, so that you add that stimulus/reward to your note taking. Maybe it's paper, maybe it's a computer, maybe it 's a fountain pen. Maybe you're like me and your retention is better if you're fully engaged and not taking notes. I see notes as some see a camera. You're so busy trying to transcribe what you're seeing, you're not fully comprehending it till later, and that's only if you're good at notes, otherwise, you now have a dumbass teaching you when you could have been listening to the litteral expert in their field explain it, paying better attention and understanding it; rather than memorizing it. Once you understand it, you're not memorizing, you're explaining. But that's just how I work. Find what works for you.
  - yesenadam 5y ago
    The person you're addressing like they're 16 and asking for your guidance is a literal expert in their field(s). (See https://hefferon.net/ https://hefferon.net/ )
    - dotancohen 5y ago
      Welcome to HN! Where the guy that I'm giving hobby car advice to is something of an idol in my professional field. Newton may have stood on the shoulders of giants, but HN enables us to casually rub elbows with them.
    - jimhefferon 5y ago
      Thank you for the kind words, but I nodded when I read the parent post. It reminded me of something my wife and I talk about, how we took a lot of video when our kids were young, and maybe we should have just enjoyed more of the time.
      - a_lost_needle 5y ago
        Apologies, I intended to comment on the same one you replied to, not to your comment. I remember struggling so hard in school to take notes, and then not understanding them. I hadn't heard of you, but really respect what you're doing. I hope I didn't cause offence.
        jimhefferon 5y ago
        > offence Heavens, no. Enjoy the day.
        a_lost_needle 5y ago
        Really?
    - a_lost_needle 5y ago
      I replied to the wrong comment, I meant to reply to the person above. The one that asked for guidance, like they were a college student struggling...

whimsicalism 5y ago

Interesting - once I got into a rythym I didn't find tex-ing live lectures actually that time consuming. I think it really depends on the field of math though, maybe? I also use a markdown + inline latex setup rather than tex from scratch.

axby 5y ago
I found it was relatively easy to type and tex everything that was written on the board. But I think my comprehension probably suffered a bit, though maybe that would have happened from using a pen and paper too.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  Agreed - I ultimately just stopped taking notes.

63 5y ago

It depends on the subject matter for me. Live-LaTeXing works pretty well for me until matrices get involved. Just fractions, equations, and summations are fairly easy though.

zahllos 5y ago

I'll second this. I am very familiar with latex. I have even done similar things to my neovim configuration (I use ultisnips) and have a few custom latex 'sty'les to include various commands to do stuff I do frequently but is a pain otherwise. This however is and was for end-product stuff: my own personal collection of condensed notes, assignments that needed to be typed, and so on (I also use ultisnips for coding). I studied mathematics as a undergrad (I have a first class degree in Mathematics from a UK university) and I hand-wrote my lectures, and I know many mathematicians that are frankly much better than I am who find computers frankly difficult and avoided LaTeX as long as they possibly could. What matters (if you are studying mathematics) is doing mathematics (exercises, experimentation, understanding proofs etc). There is no substitute. This is a nice to have, but will not make you a better mathematician. If you want to know how to be a good student, IMO this is a nice guide: https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/study_public_0.pdf https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/study_pu...

ad8e 5y ago

I typed notes throughout my undergrad, and it worked poorly. Everything in math is slow to type and fast to handwrite: subscripts, exponents, arrows, matrices, Greek letters, labels, diagrams, integrals, fractions. My shorthand omitted all latex conventions (A_0 became A0, arrows became ->), but it wasn't enough. For non-math classes, typing notes worked well.

DominikPeters 5y ago
It's useful to know that \to and \gets are shorthands for \rightarrow and \leftarrow.
whimsicalism 5y ago
I found the ability to copy and paste and then modify while taking notes more than made up for the difference in note-taking speed.

pfortuny 5y ago

Your nick rings some bells. [linear algebra etc]. Indeed, I think the same and am on the very same boat.