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It's almost impossible to take notes in math with a computer too. I tried writing all my notes in LaTeX for a semester, but I'd waste so much time/energy worry
by smanek 18y ago
It's almost impossible to take notes in math with a computer too.
I tried writing all my notes in LaTeX for a semester, but I'd waste so much time/energy worrying about typesetting that I didn't pay enough attention in class.
That being said, I'd recommend everyone should try to take notes in LaTeX for a month or two. If nothing else, it makes you fluent very quickly (a skill any computer scientist/mathematician worth their salt will need eventually anyways).
Also, a student writing his G's backwards isn't a fine motor problem - it seems more like a memory/symbol disassociation thing (much more serious). Writing sloppily or in large print is a fine motor problem. Writing backwards isn't.
- scott_s 18y agoMy handwriting is awful, but the moment I switch to writing math, it becomes clear. I think the reason is that my handwriting is bad not because I'm incapable of writing clearly, but that I'm incapable of writing clearly at the speed I want. I can write clearly if I slow down. When I write out math, each symbol means more. I don't have to write as fast, and getting the exact symbol correctly means more, so it's slow and clear.
- newt0311 18y agoHmm... I take all my notes in LaTeX as well. For me, I found that it was more a matter of having the correct macros than any inherent slowness in the LaTeX type setting system. My preamble grew to about 130 lines before I was really able to type effectively in class. However, the benefits of this approach are undeniable. It halped me become good at LaTeX but more than that it made my notes easy to archive, retrieve, share, and use in general. Referring back to old theorems is a lot faster when you have Ctrl-F at your disposal. The key is that if you write a similar thing more that ~3 times, make an emacs abbrev for it or a latex macro for it.
- jacobolus 18y agoI had a classmate who could with no problem TeX notes in Harvard’s Math 55 (a course with notes which went up on a chalkboard so fast I could barely keep up writing them by hand), including drawing commutative diagrams, etc. It’s just a matter of experience and a bevy of personally defined macros for common bits. “Almost impossible” is a great overstatement.
- MaysonL 18y agoNotes in math class? Pay attention to the lecture, and understand it. Taking notes is worse than useless - it gets in the way of your understanding.