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Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

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Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#11

Post by whimsicalism »

jimhefferon wrote: post #3

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).

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.

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#12

Post by axby »

R0b0t1 wrote: post #7
strulovich wrote: post #2

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 i…

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.

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.

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#13

Post by hwers »

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).

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#14

Post by axby »

whimsicalism wrote: post #11
jimhefferon wrote: post #3

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).

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.

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.

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#17

Post by wanderingmind »

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.

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#18

Post by salamandersauce »

axby wrote: post #6
strulovich wrote: post #2

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 i…

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 p…

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.

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#19

Post by R0b0t1 »

axby wrote: post #12
R0b0t1 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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 :)

Re: Taking notes in mathematics lectures using LaTeX and Vim (2019)

#20

Post by Myrmornis »

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.

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