How I'm able to take notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by ghaff » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:09 PM UTC

0xCMP wrote: post #136

gjulianm wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to highlight that part: "Participants using laptops are more likely to take lengthier transcription-like notes with greater verbatim overlap with the lecture" In other words, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with taking notes on a laptop if you don't copy everything verbatim. If you force yourself to process the material you should have no problem.

But they noticed that most do not go back to their notes as much as they should so a general advice, while typing is easier hand-written helps you learn and retain better using less exposure. Assuming a class isn't already being recorded (many/most at my university were), the best solution is probably to record audio on your phone and take hand written notes. Then go back and transcribe the hand written notes while r…

If you're going to do that, your best bet is probably to take handwritten notes on a tablet while recording using an app that syncs the two.

I sometimes do this; it's also nice that I can snap a photo of a slide with the tablet and insert it into the notes.

TBH, I mostly type notes, in part because my handwriting is really bad and, if I'm going to write something up about an event cutting and pasting is easier. OTOH, I sometimes prefer to have fairly cursory notes knowing that I can always go back to exactly what was said if I need/want to.

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

#142

Post by enriquto » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:09 PM UTC

securitybear wrote: post #93

Now that 'Escape' is not a real hardware key in the new Macbook Pro anymore and even otherwise 'Escape' has always been one of the hard to reach keys, what is workaround for avoiding the 'Escape' key in Vim?

i map , which is much easier to reach. Thanks to autoindent the TAB key is useless inside vim.

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

#143

Post by ghaff » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:10 PM UTC

sewercake wrote: post #129

lastUsername wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is scientifically proven that handwriting is better for your memory because it forces you to process the material more than note taking on a laptop. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/pe...

As another reply mentioned, it seems like hand-written notes are good because the limitations on writing speed force you to synthesize information as it is relayed to you. Outside of mathematical lectures, I find writing notes in something like notepad++ more fruitful. I can attempt mirror the structure of the speakers' argument using tabs/indentations, and quickly reformat the document as the logical structure becom…

I've known people who liked using mindmaps for this purpose. Personally, I could never get into them but big fans exist.

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

#144

Post by sannee » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:11 PM UTC

setquk wrote: post #76

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Because it's very much an edge case and he hasn't passed yet.

I am fairly sure he passed more than one course with this approach. The blogpost says that he started using LaTeX to take notes during his second semester. The screenshots show introductory complex analysis, which is usually taught somewhat later.

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

#145

Post by twoquestions » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:13 PM UTC

zwaps wrote: post #97

Something different, but I use this https://remarkable.com/ Think of a big Kindle, good battery, and really good writing experience (much like paper). I can note on pdfs, it has handwriting recognition, exports well and is otherwise a joy to use. I used to have a top of the line Samsung tablet before, and was never really happy with it for taking notes and reading.

How does this compare to taking notes on a Surface or iPad, color aside?

It looks really cool, but pricey for what it can do.

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

#146

Post by dspillett » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

ranc1d wrote: post #121

dspillett wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As if the average modern day student is going to do this. If that is the case, then I fear little from the upcoming students chomping at my old ankles in the jobs market! Transcribing my lecture scribbles to neater notes later in the day (or sometimes later in the week depending on scheduling) was important in solidifying the knowledge or, more importantly, realising that something hadn't twigged in my head as I th…

My handwriting is terrible,and worse when it comes writing down formulas, this could be a useful way of writing up notes a lot quicker. Also useful for cheat sheets or summarising notes

I have no objection to taking quick notes in lectures using electronic means instead of pen+paper (though the latter would still be my preference).

It was the implication that people don't have and won't make time to review, tidy, and, where relevant, expand upon or question those notes afterwards, that I was responding to.

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

#147

Post by Frost1x » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

pflats wrote: post #131

lastUsername wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is scientifically proven that handwriting is better for your memory because it forces you to process the material more than note taking on a laptop. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/pe...

That's... not true, and not supported by the study you linked. In the study, there was no measured difference in memory between the two note taking styles; the groups' factual scores were not significantly different in any of the tests. Where things vary is the non-memory questions: are the notes helping you understand and apply the material better, and how advantageous are they to your studying? In both of those cat…

I find handwritten notes far worse. For me, I'd prefer a full set of notes to a be provided if feasible (a lecture, etc.) but that doesn't work in everyday conversational meetings. I instead prefer typing notes because it requires little cognative load to accomplish and is quite efficient.

The point of notes for me is to refresh my memory after the fact because my human memory isn't reliable enough. They are especially useful for capturing finer quantified details.

During a typical lecture or discussion/meeting, I find it far more useful focus most my cognitative abilities on what's being described/presented to me and only commit critical information to memory. The majority of my energy spent is processing the language and concepts discussed, linking language and concepts togethe, connecting those concepts with previous experiences/knowledge, and generating new ideas/relationships... all in what seems a fairly random order as needed. This allows you to ask informed questions when I see things missing in the conceptual structure I have that I might otherwise miss later and have no means to extract that information because my notes may not have the relationship or fact I need.

Later on when reviewing the information, I utilize the critical conceptual structure/framework I created about the discussion to reason through it. If there are pieces of information missing, it's pretty obvious and I can refer to my notes. If I missed the concept I at least have a second shot at recovering the idea from highly detailed and clear to read notes I took.

I could not imagine trying to write LaTeX on the fly during a in depth mathematics discussion, I'd have far too much focus on syntax formulating correct notation structures than the concept at hand when it's far easier to translate using a camera phone or handwriting.

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

#148

Post by 4thaccount » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:19 PM UTC

setquk wrote: post #113

chrisan wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you referring to EOL for desktop version or OneNote entirely?

EOL for old desktop version. There's a new terribly crippled UWP desktop version and the cloud based web app available going forwards. They are absolutely terrible bits of software compared to the old desktop version.

Do they not understand customers at all? Except for high performance simulations, I will never use the cloud. Maybe they realize that and want to force cloud adoption?

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

#149

Post by rodorgas » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:23 PM UTC

securitybear wrote: post #104

feiss wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some people use Shift Lock (which is barely used, and closer to pinky), and a colleague of mine use the sequence 'ii'

Did you mean Caps Lock? Which tool do you use? I found https://github.com/susam/uncap but it does not have a MacOS binary.

You don't need any external program. Open System Preferences, go to Keyboard and click on "Modifiers Keys...", then you can map Caps Lock to Esc.

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

#150

Post by andrepd » Thu, Mar 21, 2019, 1:26 PM UTC

madengr wrote: post #114

setquk wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Ditto, EE too. I bought a copy of Abramowitz and Stegun just for the great table of Laplace Transforms. If I were a professor, I’d ban all electronics from the room. All the decent professors handed out copies of the notes anyway, or wrote them in real-time on an overhead projector, for easy copying later.

Ridiculous. You're forcing your own preferences and quirks onto a class-full of students. They are adults, they can make their own decisions and do what suits them best. As we can see from this very article what works for some does not match what works for you.