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How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

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Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#41

Post by writepub »

kodz4 wrote: post #34
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #7

As a feat in itself this is definitely very impressive, but I wonder if it's really worth anyone's time to spend precious lecture time with your mind fully occupied in the mechanical task of taking notes rather than actually absorbing and engaging with the content. Especially for an extremely content-dense subject like Mathematics, where you need all your concentration just to process what you are reading and follow…

Learning is learning. He has clearly learnt how to do something. And do it well. The entire article is very clear and well thought out. To me it signals a disciplined and methodical mind, that learns from doing. And we are lucky it's willing to share.

Lucky indeed. Who hasn't dreamt of being a stenographer for Math lectures in grad school, using the hardest tools for the job, including the most obscure window manager known to Linux. I mean, if one don't kill a week getting bspm to work on their laptop, is lecture note taking even worth it?

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#43

Post by kkarakk »

i use onenote to import the pdf of the textbook and then annotate that. this process seems like someone who doesn't know what to use their programming skills for in order to over engineer a solution to a vaguely defined problem(take pretty notes using software)

what is the point of recreating everything in the textbook again?

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#44

Post by kkarakk »

roel_v wrote: post #23
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At that point smuggling an audio recorder to the class might lead a better reproduction of the material.

You'd still have to transcribe them, and you'd miss what's on the blackboard.

onenote can transcribe in real time and save the audio recording as well... you can even save notes at particular timestamps so you can mark something you didn't understand for later.

all of these things are solved problems

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#45

Post by kkarakk »

writepub wrote: post #41
kodz4 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning is learning. He has clearly learnt how to do something. And do it well. The entire article is very clear and well thought out. To me it signals a disciplined and methodical mind, that learns from doing. And we are lucky it's willing to share.

Lucky indeed. Who hasn't dreamt of being a stenographer for Math lectures in grad school, using the hardest tools for the job, including the most obscure window manager known to Linux. I mean, if one don't kill a week getting bspm to work on their laptop, is lecture note taking even worth it?

i bet he looks really cool doing it though+whoever convinces him to share his notes is on easy street

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#46

Post by jjeaff »

randomsearch wrote: post #37
_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I need comprehension, my notes have always had to be pen-and-paper. I agree. However, if I want to be able to refer to them afterwards, I really need to take electronic notes.

Agreed. So we have this problem that can only be resolved by taking notes with a pen before typing them up. This has the nice opportunity of reviewing them whilst typing, and puts pressure on you to ensure understanding when making notes.

Or use one of the many handwriting recognition apps and take pictures of the hand notes. You don't actually want to convert the handwriting to text, because there will be errors. But it should be good enough to create a search index.

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#47

Post by jgtrosh »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #24
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #7

As a feat in itself this is definitely very impressive, but I wonder if it's really worth anyone's time to spend precious lecture time with your mind fully occupied in the mechanical task of taking notes rather than actually absorbing and engaging with the content. Especially for an extremely content-dense subject like Mathematics, where you need all your concentration just to process what you are reading and follow…

> mechanical task of taking notes rather than actually absorbing and engaging with the content The mechanical task of taking notes is one of the most important parts of actually absorbing the material. It is not an either-or. Hearing/seeing the information, processing it in a way that makes sense to you individually, and then mechanically writing it down in a legible manner is one of the main methods that your brain…

> There are actually even studies [2] that show that tools that assist in more efficient note taking, such as taking notes via typing rather than by hand, are actually detrimental to absorbing information, as it makes it easier for you to effectively pass the information directly from your ears to your computer without actually doing the processing that is required when writing notes by hand.

This might very well be anecdotal, but in my experience, note taking in class (by hand or on computer) was nearly always how you describe it here. Everyone was expected to copy out every word on the board, from 6 years old to ~20 years old. Maybe it works for some, but to me class was to some extent an exercise in mindless dactilography.

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#48

Post by kodz4 »

writepub wrote: post #41
kodz4 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning is learning. He has clearly learnt how to do something. And do it well. The entire article is very clear and well thought out. To me it signals a disciplined and methodical mind, that learns from doing. And we are lucky it's willing to share.

Lucky indeed. Who hasn't dreamt of being a stenographer for Math lectures in grad school, using the hardest tools for the job, including the most obscure window manager known to Linux. I mean, if one don't kill a week getting bspm to work on their laptop, is lecture note taking even worth it?

You don't need to demean the effort of anyone to put focus on how to do something better.

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#49

Post by miki123211 »

I use LaTeX for notetaking as a blind person because that's the only way to show my notes to sighted people. Nothing else comes even close. Ascimath would be much better and that's what I'd recommend for most people, unless you're required to send PDF documents and often offline.

Re: How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim

#50

Post by probably_wrong »

j7ake wrote: post #42

Beautiful notes! But I don't believe those figures are made using LaTeX and Vim... I can't see how you convert keyboard strokes to nice figures shown in the example.

I'm not following. What is it exactly that you don't believe? Those figures are exactly the type of figures one gets using LaTeX.
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