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How do you take notes for Maths?

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How do you take Maths notes?

Hello! I'm a Maths undergraduate, and my younger brother is also big on the subject.

We have differing opinions when it comes to note-taking, however. I'm fundamentally traditional. I take all my notes on paper. He, however, uses a tablet! I've said to him that I don't really know anyone who makes notes that way, and he rebutts that everyone at his sixth form college makes notes that way.

So, I'd like to settle it. Which do you use and why?
Either typed in MS Word if I'm making them in my room or handwritten in lectures. The only reason I don't use latex regularly for notes is because sometimes it can be hard to see what you're doing.

Don't see what's so surprising about tablet. It's basically no different to handwriting and will eventually replace pen and paper.
Original post by _gcx
Either typed in MS Word if I'm making them in my room or handwritten in lectures. The only reason I don't use latex regularly for notes is because sometimes it can be hard to see what you're doing.

Don't see what's so surprising about tablet. It's basically no different to handwriting and will eventually replace pen and paper.

Heyyyy, i am jaaaferrr btw if you didnt know like yaaa. anyways, listen, like yeah, i recently got a ehh bad grade in my maths uggh 12 out of 70. listen i know, its bad but i was, uh whatever, so how dop i stop being so bad at maths. HELP ME!!! agggh btw my name is jaafer if u didnt know
Original post by Jaaferrrr!!!
Heyyyy, i am jaaaferrr btw if you didnt know like yaaa. anyways, listen, like yeah, i recently got a ehh bad grade in my maths uggh 12 out of 70. listen i know, its bad but i was, uh whatever, so how dop i stop being so bad at maths. HELP ME!!! agggh btw my name is jaafer if u didnt know

can just about decipher this.

not to derail the thread but just look what you did wrong. if you got 12/70 then you probably have massive gaps in your knowledge and you should try to resolve those.
A-Level and I don't
Original post by Glaz
A-Level and I don't


Lol! Sums it up very well, year 12?

I don’t do maths but someone yesterday did their maths mock and only answered one question from a 2 hour paper
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by Greywolftwo
Lol! Sums it up very well, year 12?

I don’t do maths but someone yesterday did their maths mock and only answered one question from a 2 hour paper


Year 13 :lol:
Original post by _gcx
can just about decipher this.

not to derail the thread but just look what you did wrong. if you got 12/70 then you probably have massive gaps in your knowledge and you should try to resolve those.

Sorry for the extra words, I'll try make this one more clear. Anyways, I've taken on what you said, and I discovered a revision technique that shocked me. I now use past papers to revise and help find gaps in knowledge to revise, thanks for the advice (my name is jaafer btw). So, I told my teacher that I have started to study and improve my maths using this new technique and they very kindly allowed me to redo the further math test, and I am now proud to say I got 14!! out of 70, omg yaaa, sorry I can't keep my excitement in, I improved and btw I didn't look at the mark scheme of the test I redid, omg like yaa my name is jaafer btw and thx for the help
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Avatar for vicvic38
vicvic38
OP
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Original post by _gcx
Either typed in MS Word if I'm making them in my room or handwritten in lectures. The only reason I don't use latex regularly for notes is because sometimes it can be hard to see what you're doing.

Don't see what's so surprising about tablet. It's basically no different to handwriting and will eventually replace pen and paper.

I dunno man. I might just be an old fuddy-duddy, but I don't like the way I can't see all of my notes at once. Searching through digital archives of notes doesn't gel with the way my brain processes things.

It's no different to handwriting in terms of the act of taking notes, but honestly the act of using them is so different.
Reply 9
Avatar for vicvic38
vicvic38
OP
19
Original post by Glaz
A-Level and I don't

Ah, that was me two years back. I just used to only do past papers.

That came back to bite me when I hit doing my degree.
Original post by vicvic38
Hello! I'm a Maths undergraduate, and my younger brother is also big on the subject.

We have differing opinions when it comes to note-taking, however. I'm fundamentally traditional. I take all my notes on paper. He, however, uses a tablet! I've said to him that I don't really know anyone who makes notes that way, and he rebutts that everyone at his sixth form college makes notes that way.

So, I'd like to settle it. Which do you use and why?


tbh (i don't do Maths) but handwriting with a pen and paper or tablet and stylus is soo much easier than typing it on a keyboard as when you you're making Maths notes using a keyboard you're waste your time trying to find the symbols and you can't do rough work easily etc
Original post by vicvic38
I dunno man. I might just be an old fuddy-duddy, but I don't like the way I can't see all of my notes at once. Searching through digital archives of notes doesn't gel with the way my brain processes things.

It's no different to handwriting in terms of the act of taking notes, but honestly the act of using them is so different.

Dunno what you mean. You can be even more particular with organising notes on a computer than you can on paper.

That's fair - I don't use my own notes to revise, I make them to learn the content.
Original post by 1st superstar
tbh (i don't do Maths) but handwriting with a pen and paper or tablet and stylus is soo much easier than typing it on a keyboard as when you you're making Maths notes using a keyboard you're waste your time trying to find the symbols and you can't do rough work easily etc

You would have to learn LaTeX or "learn" math-mode in MS Word for that reason. You'll have to remember how to get each symbol, though, but this often isn't too counterintuitive. The greek letters are just \(name of that letter). Eg \alpha for α\alpha. If you are a slow typer it probably isn't for you.
if I can be bothered pen and paper, some Latex, some Microsoft word.

It isn't uncommon to see people using tablets in my lectures. I just don't think tablets are optimised yet, because of simplification to appease a technologically deficient generation.
Original post by 5hyl33n
You revised and only got 14/70 and are consequently proud? Isn’t that a grade U?

I understand further maths is very hard, but seriously?

I improved and got 2 marks on the question type I was struggling with, I was so happy for this achievement and I saw myself improving my further maths more and upping the mark to about 50/70 after 4 past papers, but with your comment I am consequently not proud anymore, nor am I motivated like I was before. 😪 my name is jaafer btw
Original post by Jaaferrrr!!!
I improved and got 2 marks on the question type I was struggling with, I was so happy for this achievement and I saw myself improving my further maths more and upping the mark to about 50/70 after 4 past papers, but with your comment I am consequently not proud anymore, nor am I motivated like I was before. 😪 my name is jaafer btw


Oh wow! I didn’t know you had improved so much after only 4 tests. I take it back, you should be really proud of yourself, Jaafer.

Good luck with your exams!
Original post by 5hyl33n
Oh wow! I didn’t know you had improved so much after only 4 tests. I take it back, you should be really proud of yourself, Jaafer.

Good luck with your exams!

Oh, no, I've improved from 12 to 14 after 1 past paper, and I predicted myself to get 50 marks after 4 past papers, I haven't done it yet. sorry for the misunderstanding, but no, you were right before, I shouldn't be proud of myself, I realise this now, sorry for being harsh, hopefully I can improve it but I think my prediction is too unrealistic so I might as well stop...idk, anyways thanks and my name is jaafer BTW

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