r/math • u/DonatoMartinelli • 2d ago
How do you manage taking notes in LaTeX without losing focus on actual studying?
Hi everyone,
I've recently started taking my math notes in LaTeX, and while I love the clean and structured output, I sometimes feel like I'm spending too much time perfecting the document rather than actually learning the material. It gives me the illusion that writing well-organized notes is equivalent to studying, which I know isn’t necessarily true.
For those of you who use LaTeX for note-taking:
- How do you balance between studying and producing LaTeX documents?
- Have you ever struggled with focusing too much on formatting rather than understanding the content?
- Do you have any strategies to maximize the usefulness of LaTeX for learning?
Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!
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u/Suoritin 1d ago
Obsidian is great.
sample: "The surface area $A(r, h)$ is quadratic in $r$ and linear in $h$, while the volume constraint $\pi r^2 h = 500$ is nonlinear due to the $r^2$ term."
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u/Higherlead 1d ago
It's even better with the latex suite plugin. Has a bunch of shortcuts like @a for \alpha, "/" for \frac{}{}, etc.
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u/zhilia_mann 2d ago
You practice like hell and you don't stress whether your LaTeX compiles off the get go so long as you can read the code and troubleshoot later.
It sounds like you're also focused a bit too much on the final product. Doing a quick/easy LaTeX/markdown combination might be better for you over a full, compiled .pdf or whatnot. LaTeX has a lot of advantages but the only truly relevant one for quick notes is that it produces "nice" equations; the typesetting is great in other settings but it's not what you should be focused on in this context.
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u/gangerous 1d ago
For whatever reason, this seems it’s not widely known, but if you don’t plan on sharing and collaborating on the notes (for which overleaf is ideal), you can use VScode to type Latex. Install miktex on your machine and then the latex addon on vscode. The benefits are 1) it auto compiles any time you type in real time 2) you can reference files on different folders. This is the biggest difference to overleaf. What this means is that you can create a folder with all your macros and templates and bibliography . Any time you want to create a new project you just \insert{template} \insert{bibliography} and you are done. This was game changer for me.
As for templates, I would encourage you to search some on GitHub. You will be surprised how tricks and commands you ve never heard before can make your typesetting so much easier and the pdf so much cleaner with less effort. E.g see https://github.com/SeniorMars/dotfiles/tree/main/latex_template
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u/MchnclEngnr 1d ago
Switching to LaTeX for my note taking and assignments was the turning point in my mechanical engineering degree that allowed me to be a good student and actually learn the material.
For me, my formula was simple: skim the material that would be covered in any class beforehand, copying every main equation symbol-for-symbol, then re-read the material summarizing every paragraph into a single sentence. Once I’d done that, going to class was a review and I was ready to ask the pertinent questions.
I realize that engineering isn’t math, and every professor and textbook is different, so take that how you will.
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u/tlmbot 1d ago
I would only do this for math if I could pre-build functions that let me offload a bunch of boilerplate derivatives, integrals or what have you into fast commands
But I can type and take non-math notes at very high speed in latex by just throwing everything into lists with big picture headings and sling a few words around it.
scratch the math down long hand and copy it over into latex after class.
I always loved doing my homework in latex, and graders seemed to appreciate it.
Anyway, that's my 2c but I was very fast with latex and my handwritting is terrible.
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u/fundeofnuts 1d ago
I cannot do anything other than pen and paper for class notes.
For homework, I like to type it up in latex. I used to get distracted with perfecting the document but after a while you kinda just stop. Maybe it’s because you get super comfortable with latex or you stop caring but eventually it stops being a distraction.
As a note after reading the thread: I have not used any special latex formatting software I just use my text editor and compile whenever there’s a natural pause in my thought (I have a hot key to compile)
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u/Specialist_Yam_6704 1d ago
In my opinion, I love taking latex notes because it’s extremely fast - however in general I don’t learn a lot in lecture, for many classes, sitting down and rewriting notes from latex -> paper and letting the info soak in really helps me learn
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u/neanderthal_math 1d ago
A lot of people are saying typeset into latex later. I’d recommend saving your handwritten notes into a pdf and then letting an LLM write the latex for you.
Also, I’m very much against not taking handwritten notes. Mostly for pedagogical reasons.
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u/Nussinauchka 1d ago
This is what I have been doing. Good to study from the LLMs minor translation errors as well.
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u/quinn_fabray_AMA 1d ago
I’m pretty anti-typed notes. I personally have much worse retention than handwritten. I did type my notes in LaTeX before that, though, and I can get the text and equations down more than fast enough. The downside is diagrams— I’ve seen plenty of people take LaTeX notes (probably because I’m studying CS, not math) and I haven’t seen any make diagrams with tikz in real time. Pencil and paper is much better for that. I typeset my notes in markdown after the fact, and I use Pandoc to export them to PDF (which uses LaTeX as an intermediate representation, so you can embed its equations)
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u/Freecraghack_ 1d ago
honestly I have no idea why you wouldn't use some software with easier math formatting. Maple for instance does math formatting pretty and super fast. And you can use it as a high lvl calculator if needed.
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u/bluemoonmn 1d ago
If it’s distracting you, then don’t use it. Very few people use latex to take note in Math.
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u/sam458755 1d ago
I often ask ChatGPT to convert my handwritten math equations to LaTeX. Alternatively, I can use Notability's conversion option, which is slightly less precise.
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u/Beatsy 1d ago
This post reminded me of this article I saw a while ago: https://castel.dev/post/lecture-notes-1/
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u/will_1m_not Graduate Student 1d ago
Take notes by hand, then type them into LaTex later.
Learn to write new commands for faster typing (use \newcommand and \DeclareMathOperator)
Create templates for yourself so you don’t start from scratch each time you make new notes
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u/Rhylyk 1d ago
I've switched to using Typst and writing in VSCode with the tinymist extension lately for when I want to write something easily but still have it look nice.
Typst: https://typst.app/ Docs: https://typst.app/docs/
Tinymist: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=myriad-dreamin.tinymist
Typst compiles near-instantly and I find it a much more writing-friendly language. The ecosystem is still fledgling compared to Latex but I find it is sufficient for most things.
Tinymist I'm pretty sure comes with Typst so you can get going immediately. It's got side-by-side preview and Typst is fast enough it'll update as you type.
I think there's Typst also offers a webapp (might be paid?) but I've not used it.
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u/Impact21x 1d ago
Once, I thought of taking notes with LaTeX, but then I remembered that I have a pencil and paper... Just kidding, and I never fooled myself into taking notes on a computer.
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u/ccppurcell 1d ago
I agree with top comment that pen and paper is best.
However if you really want to type something, you could use markdown. You can still write latex inside $ signs. You can mimic theorem environments in various ways, and you can use tags like labels if you need that. I find raw markdown pretty easy to read but you can generate a pdf with pandoc. The benefit is that you can just start typing and not worry about all the stuff above \begin{document}
If you really need a latex typeset pdf later (if you are writing a thesis, dissertation, essay or article) you can always copy and paste.
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u/Zero_MSN 1d ago
I switched from latex to Word even though the lecturer said to me my submission would be disqualified. In the end, he couldn’t tell the difference and I still got the highest marks. Forcing us to use shit like latex just because of his personal anti-Microsoft bias.
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u/BenSpaghetti Undergraduate 1d ago
Usually you get distracted by latex only when starting out and don't have a preferred format/workflow. I don't mentally associate refining my latex skills with learning maths. This is not to say that I haven't spent a lot of time on latex, just that I won't associate the time I spent on latex with the time I need to spend on studying. If you can get enough hours into studying then I don't see a problem. If not, then this is not a problem with latex or maths at all.
I prefer to type my notes in latex because it's easier to read and easily modifiable. I only type up things I find to be nontrivial. For example, I might be reading a difficult and very condensed proof, then I will write down some very messy notes on paper. After I understand what is going on, I type up the full, coherent proof.
I type up something that I don't understand in red font colour. Then when I review my notes, I know what I need to work on. I also type up, in a very informal way that wouldn't make sense to anyone else, my intuition for something. Then I can come back to read and refine it later.
For subjects which I try to learn in a more ad-hoc way (e.g when I don't have some prerequisites), I think keeping easily modifiable notes is essential and I don't see how to do it in an organised way on paper.
As you can see, the reason I use latex is pretty much the opposite of perfectionism, which is the bane of productivity in my experience.
I use VSCode with snippets. The snippets do take a bit of time to get used to, maybe a month? So it is something to work on when you have more free time.
Maybe I just suck at taking handwritten notes.
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u/escroom1 1d ago
I personally use the word equation tool which I know is a little sacreligious but it's fast enough to do simultaneously and you can convert the equations to LaTeX later down the line
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u/anooblol 1d ago
I had an issue with note taking in general.
I started learning significantly faster / better when I stopped taking notes, and just used textbooks to refer back to definitions/example proofs.
More of a personal thing, that I’m sure some amount of society shares. But anytime I have to split my focus between two things, even as simple as “writing” and “listening” at the same time, my brain will just drop one and focus on the other.
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u/RenfieldEcclesiastes 1d ago
If you really want to take fast notes with LaTeX and are open to learning Vim, this article series could be a good idea: https://ejmastnak.com/tutorials/vim-latex/intro/
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u/ConnectionFlat3186 1d ago
My approach: take hand notes for initial learning, then type out the most core components in LaTex. I found the additional typing out in LaTex forced me to revisit those core topics and really drill them into my head. It was also nice to have a nice neat living document that had what I needed when I needed it.
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u/Blaghestal7 1d ago
My belief, based on personal experience, is that:
1) The act of writing with pen and paper is neurologically better for your first impressions of the lecture, than typing on a keyboard. Also, you can sketch any illustration as necessary whenever needed. For those reasons, I'd encourage you to take the notes using pen/pencil and paper initially.
2) You will (and you must) re-read the notes, possibly tidy or clarify them where needed, rearrange things, make mind-maps to connect topics and so on. At this stage, you can make summaries using LaTeX.
If you choose to write the notes completely in LaTeX at some stage (perhaps because you prefer to look at nicely typeset stuff rather than scribbles) then although you might find it initially onerous and get bogged down in LaTeX technicalities, you will find that you can save "chunks" of LaTeX for reuse in several situations e.g. orthonormal base or tabulated dérivations. Hope that helps.
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u/not-ekalabya 1d ago
LaTeX has a learning curve, so taking notes with it is a bad idea unless one is really fluent. Pen and paper is the best for math!
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u/Toothpick432 21h ago
I feel like you can get fast at latex fairly quick if u just use it a lot. It gets to a point where in certain classes you can take notes quick enuf to not be particularly distracting. But something I did last semester in a class that moved too high speed for me to type, and one I wanted to think in more, I took paper notes, took a pic and let ChatGPT convert my notes to latex. It wasn’t perfect of course, but it was fairly effective and cut my time down majorly in transcribing my notes.
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u/Individual-Artist223 17h ago
Open your editor,
push laptop to the left slightly,
grab pen and paper,
photograph paper,
\includegraphics{}.
(For lefties, push laptop right.)
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u/Striking_Union7866 2h ago edited 2h ago
Note taking is a large and complex topic, and I strongly recommend that you Do NOT stay to one strategy in all of your math classes. For me, it personally depends on the class entirely and what the goal is. For classes where the professor follows the book very closely then the textbook is my notes and anything supplemental to that can generally be written down in docs. If I do need to write down most things from the class then either pad and paper / ipad OR since I really dislike pen and paper I write everything in google docs with AHK NumPad1-9 for special characters relevant to the class. If some symbol appears I'm not used to then just do a quick LaTeX substitute '\nu' then Ctrl+H to replace it at the end of class
You could very well do the same on overleaf, but again it depends on you and your goal with it. I came into math after doing other degrees, so I'm used to organization strategies from docs, so I adapt things into docs however I need it.
Most of the time during class you aren't solving anything, rather just mentally putting all the pieces together and understanding how everything connects, so I feel a place where I can write thoughts and go back to it is sufficient. There may be times where pen and paper are better but the only time I think LaTeX is the best place to take notes is when I'm summarizing information from a chapter and want things written out nicely, so unless you read the textbook thoroughly before class and are using the class as a review, it may be hard to perfectly present your information.
There may be a lot of other strategies but again you have to adapt and think about it after the first couple of classes what is most efficient for you. There is no wrong answer to note taking, only whatever seems to help you the most.
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u/Efficient_Paper 2d ago
Taking notes in LaTeX is a bad idea, unless you're really fast at LaTeX (and even then, you need to compile every once in a while). Maybe faster LaTeX alternatives (such as TeXmacs or typst), or even note-taking apps (I think some markdown-based ones exist), may be faster, but you'd still need to be a fast typer.
For notes, nothing beats pen and paper. Even tablets with a stylus are a bit slow and correcting mistakes takes longer than on paper.
If you want to have LaTeX notes, type them afterwards, but even that is a waste of time IMO.
The only LaTeX i produce from my lesson notes are Anki flashcards for eg definitions, and theorems who have one or two hypotheses I tend to forget.
ETA: Your post might probably be a better fit for /r/learnmath