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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

#71

Post by Rainymood »

setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

>Write your notes up at the end of the day with reference material at hand and no compromises. You can structure, extrapolate and transform things into your own understandable language then.

As if the average modern day student is going to do this.

I did what OP did and it worked for me because instead of dozing off I was focused on keeping up with the lecturer. It worked for me personally.

More on topic, the standard vim-latex bindings are so incredible, for example "`a" (backtick + a) expands to "alpha", "`b" (backtick + b) expands to beta, then we also have "`/" (backtick + slash) which expands to "\frac{}{}" where "" are called bullet points that you can jump to using .

I too, was able to write LaTeX notes in class, it was awesome.

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

#72

Post by klodolph »

setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

I would never write short hand with mathematics, it’s too confusing… do you mean long hand?

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

#73

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

If this works for the guy how can you ‘disagree’?

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

#74

Post by 4thaccount »

setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

Agreed. Paper and pen is hard to beat when it comes to equations and improvising. Hats off to anyone with that level of Vim & LaTex skill though. Now that I'm in the workforce I use OneNote, Notepad, and Confluence for notes and documentation for the most part, but I still use a lot of pen and paper as well... especially when doing complex coding where I need to map out how all the data structures work before hand.

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

#75

Post by setquk »

klodolph wrote: post #72
setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

I would never write short hand with mathematics, it’s too confusing… do you mean long hand?

Sorry I should have used a different word. Write the name of the equation down / bullet points. Don't write too much. Just enough to jog your memory later or cover anything you don't think you understand.

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

#76

Post by setquk »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #73
setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

If this works for the guy how can you ‘disagree’?

Because it's very much an edge case and he hasn't passed yet. A lot of people get to the end of their course and realise they have thousands of pages of useless words and diagrams and have a nervous breakdown.

It takes a lot of discipline and time to write very high quality notes and to study. I spent more time thinking about things and experimenting with ideas and writing notes than I did in lectures or tutorials or labs.

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

#77

Post by 4thaccount »

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…

I would disagree with you on the benefits of taking notes in higher maths. If I'm taking notes, I can barely follow what is going on in the lecture. If I don't take notes I can fully concentrate on the lecture and logic, but then I have nothing to study/reference. Teachers should provide notes so you don't have to do it yourself, especially if they're just writing off a sheet of paper. They're usually just worried that people then won't show up for class.

I'm sure history is maybe different where the note taking is probably easy enough and reinforces what you learned, but with math you're not exactly comprehending everything you write down at the same speed as human language. When you're in high school: "The storming of the Bastille happened in..." is different than scribbling down the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus and wondering WTH is on your paper.

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

#78

Post by 4thaccount »

function_seven wrote: post #39
txcwpalpha wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Not that it detracts from your point, but I definitely benefited from notetaking on my computer in school. For an AP History class, I typed up—in outline style (I, II; A, B; 1, 2; a, b; etc)—all my notes on the required reading. At the end of the course, I had a few hundred pages of these notes all printed up. I never had to go back and read any of them. Just the process of typing them up in the first place firmly fi…

History Math at all. I'm an electrical engineer (pretty good at math as that's all you do for 4 years in college), but can process a history lecture much much faster and easier. Outlines are great for History (I agree), but this isn't as easy for Math. A single equation can need more explanation than a novel.

Note that I'm not at all belittling the study of history...just trying to show the counter to the parent post isn't 100% relevant here IMO.

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

#79

Post by ubercow13 »

_ux1n wrote: post #12
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…

Glad to see this at the top, agree 100%. I’m definitely going to copy some of OP’s setting and snippets, but not for real time use during a lecture. A textbook is an infinitely better reference than any notes one could take in class. Read the damn book. Lecture time should be for asking questions when you have a freaking live expert professor literally presenting the material to you. Ask all the small, nuanced questi…

>A textbook is an infinitely better reference than any notes one could take in class.

but...

>Ask all the small, nuanced questions that you can think of in the moment, which you can’t find answers to easily online or in the book.

and then what, forget them by the time you go back to the book? Why was the book so good again if it doesn't answer all the questions? It makes more sense to record the answer to those useful questions you ask, maybe in the form of some notes.

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

#80

Post by setquk »

Rainymood wrote: post #71
setquk wrote: post #65

I don't agree with this. Perhaps it's possible for someone with exceptional LaTeX and vim knowledge, but even after using both for 20 years I wouldn't do this. The point of the lecture is to assimilate structure and basic understanding, not to produce a neat set of notes instantly. To take notes to this detail means you're putting more time into the note taking than the work. Use a pen and paper. Write down structure…

>Write your notes up at the end of the day with reference material at hand and no compromises. You can structure, extrapolate and transform things into your own understandable language then. As if the average modern day student is going to do this. I did what OP did and it worked for me because instead of dozing off I was focused on keeping up with the lecturer. It worked for me personally. More on topic, the standar…

> As if the average modern day student is going to do this.

This is the problem.

Yes I dozed off in lectures too but only when I knew the material already (preparation - another modern day student failing!) or had a heavy night or a starchy breakfast.

Like I said I'm fairly experienced with LaTeX. I've used it for technical documentation for 20 years.

Picking an example, I did an EE degree. I sat there and watched a hundred students scribbling out a lecturer's slide with basic function laplace transforms in it. The lecturer moved on leaving 99 people with half a table of transforms. Me, I'm sitting there with >. I took this home, reviewed notes and added a reference to my textbook which contained it, added a sticky note to the book page sticking out of the side. Then I spent some time playing with them and trying them out and building valuable real understanding.

Now I've completely forgotten what you even use a laplace transform for 20 years later but I can find out in 10 minutes with that textbook and my notes which I still have in a concise manor.

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