[HN Gopher] I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using...
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I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim
Author : georgecmu
Score : 35 points
Date : 2021-11-07 21:32 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (castel.dev)
(TXT) w3m dump (castel.dev)
| Myrmornis wrote:
| Plug: I recently created a new LaTeX editing environment for
| Emacs with automatic inline rendering of math, TikZ diagrams, and
| tables:
|
| https://github.com/dandavison/xenops
|
| It creates plain LaTeX files that can be shared with non-Emacs
| users, but also works with org-mode. Math preview images are SVG
| by default and are crisp on high res / retina screens.
| strulovich wrote:
| For the majority of my studies I took notes in Word and it's
| equation editor (LaTeX syntax is most of what you need to know
| for it)
|
| It was great for sharing and searching notes, but definitely
| challenging.
|
| Once in a while when a diagram was needed it would be really
| challenging to do (no stylus or touchscreen back then), and when
| a new math symbol showed up for the first time it would be a
| challenge.
|
| In other times it could be useful, like if there's a lot of
| matrices being written copy and pasting helps.
|
| Overall, it was a good experience since for later math research I
| needed to know LaTeX well anyhow. But the flexibility of pen and
| paper can't be matched.
| R0b0t1 wrote:
| I used a Microsoft Surface Pro for a math course. It was great.
| The pen could be better but you learn to write with it.
| axby wrote:
| Cool, did it have a physical keyboard? And if so, what was it
| like when using it like a laptop? That's my main aversion to
| a tablet, I would prefer a laptop so I could precisely angle
| a screen and the screen wouldn't be so heavy.
|
| Also the price since I would almost exclusively use it for
| traveling.
| R0b0t1 wrote:
| Ah, I did. The type cover/keyboard is necessary. It works
| well in laptop mode while on a table. It is harder to use
| in laptop mode on a lap, but possible with practice.
|
| The price is worth it, I think -- I have a friend who I
| convinced to get one, and lo after his research group saw
| him using one handful of people bought them as well :)
| axby wrote:
| I did this back in 2011, though I used OpenOffice (and now I
| believe it's LibreOffice) at first, its equation editor syntax
| was a lot like LaTeX. I didn't realize MS Word had a text input
| option for its equation editor.
|
| Eventually I decided to switch to Vim and LaTeX though (I was
| pretty new to both). The OP's setup looks much fancier than
| what I did, I just used pdflatex and mupdf. Diagrams I would
| draw by hand on paper.
|
| I am grateful to have my notes in a nice clean searchable pdf
| now 10 years later, but unfortunately my career in software has
| yet to have me actually do differential equations again.
|
| I have to ask because I miss it so dearly: is there any modern
| alternative to a 10" netbook like what I had back then? Besides
| the GPD win that was posted a few days ago. And I don't like
| the idea of a super expensive tablet with its heavy screen.
|
| What do students take notes on now?
| axby wrote:
| And despite my love of netbooks from that era, part of what
| had me switch to Vim/LaTeX was my cheap ~$100 netbook not
| being very quick with large documents in an editor like
| LibreOffice.
|
| Also a random thought: the netbook had also come with
| "windows 7 starter edition", which didn't let you change the
| wallpaper, much to my frustration. They went so far as (I
| believe) hashing the image, so if you edited it at all then
| it would show a black screen. [1]
|
| I think that was what got me into Linux, despite years of
| losing access to wifi every time I updated and lost the
| Broadcom wifi drivers. My current laptop doesn't even have an
| ethernet port, I wonder how people get into Linux now.
|
| [1]: The argument of "this laptop is resource constrained so
| it needs a simpler version of windows" seems weak when they
| go to such great lengths to enforce it. Maybe it was more
| about selling it for cheap and expecting some people to
| upgrade? Imagine paying $60 for windows for a <$150 netbook.
| (Maybe it was actually $200, I forget)
| salamandersauce wrote:
| An 11" Chromebook maybe?
|
| I'm done with classes as of last year but I just used pen &
| paper in all my schooling. I would rewrite my notes on a
| tablet after class though. It's more common to see people
| using iPads and Surfaces than when I first started.
| axby wrote:
| I have heard that the latest chromebooks make it easier to
| switch into linux mode. I bought one a few years ago and
| had to go through some hacks to run linux, and every time I
| power it on, it would tell me to press space bar to "fix"
| everything and wipe the harddrive.
|
| Was the tablet not a good fit for real time handwriting? Is
| it a bit slower than pen and paper?
| vermilingua wrote:
| Not explained is the live-preview, both of the whole document and
| the line by line renders; how is this achieved?
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Pen and pare are much better, but congratulations for achieving
| it!
| hwers wrote:
| I did this too for a while. It's a fun challenge for yourself and
| a cool way to brag to your friends. Paper is such a better
| interface though and real time latex takes away too much of your
| attention from the lecture I found in the end (the best way to
| attend a lecture is to barely write anything imo, just some rough
| notes while mostly spending your time in your head - if you
| missed something look at a friends' notes or handouts after).
| trinovantes wrote:
| Back in school I did hand written notes in class and retyped them
| in TeX when preparing for exams. I found this to be the best way
| for me to learn and retain.
|
| I can't imagine live TeXing a graph or tree diagram
| jimhefferon wrote:
| 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).
| 63 wrote:
| 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.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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.
| sarosh wrote:
| Can you explain a bit about your personal note taking/retention
| process?
| kenniskrag wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| Forgive me, there is nothing to explain. I bring paper and
| pencil. Boring.
| macintux wrote:
| When I was in college I submitted printed assignments generated
| with LaTeX; made it easier for the teacher to grade and I was
| able to do a fair bit of copy/paste.
|
| Taking notes in real time, however, is a whole different beast.
| notRobot wrote:
| (2019)
| wanderingmind wrote:
| Maybe I'm missing something but why do I need to write notes like
| textbook when textbooks already exist. I have only taken applied
| math courses, but when I go to lectures I'm trying to create a
| mental model of how the various assumptions, statements and
| theorems relate to one another. I need to listen to the lecture
| on the arguments of how the proof works, create examples, counter
| examples and outliers to test the proof. Its very hard to even
| write basic handwritten notes when the lecture goes on without
| breaking the flow. But then maybe I'm probably just a datapoint
| around the median.
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