up vote 12 down vote favorite
2
share [g+] share [fb]

Let me first just say that I know about La-Tex, and that doesn't fast enough. I use it for papers, but for "real-time" note taking it's just to heavy. I'm talking two math classes this semester. Linear algebra and discrete math, I just got a laptop with 10 hour battery life which makes me want to take notes on it!!!

Openoffice with formula thingy is what I use now. Now I have to pay attention lol. Thanks.

link|improve this question
67% accept rate
2  
possible duplicate: superuser.com/questions/51854/… ... is there anything you need that this question and its answers doesn't cover? – quack quixote Mar 16 '10 at 12:52
1  
personally I would use pen and paper...makes you think and would solidify it in your brain a lot faster. – kiwiburger Mar 17 '10 at 15:46
feedback

protected by studiohack♦ Oct 18 '11 at 3:48

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

9 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Mathtype - one can either work in normal Mathtype mode and enter equations by using icons and keyboard shortcuts (very fast once you define your own which fit you the most), or one can use Windows 7 and take advantage of its (Mathtype's) handwriting recognition capabilities.

alt text

As much as I like LaTeX, this is much faster.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 7 down vote

Pen(cil) and paper. I can't take notes faster than that.

In my opinion, LaTeX is the only viable option, even though it's a pain when taking notes. Especially if the people giving lectures write fast.

Using latex-suite with vim, can really speed up things, but you'll still struggle for a while.

link|improve this answer
I know! And it pisses me off that in 2010 there is no good software for this. The only way is apparently to learn La-Tex really well. And hack away on that. – data_jepp Mar 16 '10 at 12:48
@data_jepp: Frankly, this looks to me like a classical X-Y problem. Instead of ranting about lack of good software for this task, you can pester your teachers to prepare a digital document and share it with students. Unfortunately, certain countries have retarded laws concerning IP (Intellectual property), so these documents might fall under those. Oh well. – geek Mar 16 '10 at 13:57
@geek: I think it's pretty clear that passing out notes to students is not the same thing as the students taking notes. (And... really? IP complaints? Teachers can and do distribute copies of material they create themselves.) – Jefromi Mar 16 '10 at 15:59
@fjut: You can add on to latex-suite with abbreviations (:help :ab) - reducing all common LaTeX commands to a few characters makes it really, really fast to type. – Jefromi Mar 16 '10 at 16:01
It's a bit like asking what's the quickest way to transcribe a music score... – PP. Mar 17 '10 at 15:53
show 1 more comment
feedback
up vote 6 down vote

Tablet PC + Math Input Panel + TexTablet

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 4 down vote

Personally, I used a regular text editor and typed formulae using the function names from C's math library (sqrt, cos, abs, etc).

Might not be ideal, but it was pretty fast for me :)

link|improve this answer
2  
yeah, i prefer pencil & paper, but if i'm taking notes on a computer this is the method i use for math. input & read the file with any standard text editor. :) – quack quixote Mar 16 '10 at 13:18
feedback
up vote 4 down vote

You might consider just taking notes on paper, then scanning them. Probably easier and faster than any software solution.

I don't think there's any software for actually entering math formulas as formulas (like in LaTeX or some formula editor); I think the only feasible option is to capture pen input as graphics. Edit: Actually, at least the "Math Input Panel" in Windows 7 apparently will do just that (handwriting recognition for formulas). Haven't tried it, but looks really nifty.

That said, you might want to check out Digital paper. It's basically a special pen & paper. You write normally, just like regular paper, but the pen digitizes "on-the-fly". You still only get graphics of your pages as output, but you save the hassle of scanning, plus it will really only digitize what you write, so no messy artifacts from fingerprints, background pattern of paper etc. which you would get from scanning notes.

An acquaintance uses one of these, and is quite satisfied.

link|improve this answer
@sleske, @data_jepp: sleske has a point, you could scan the paper notes, then import them into Evernote (evernote.com) which supports handwriting recognition...did I mention that it makes it searchable also? Free version has plenty of space for everyday use. – studiohack♦ Mar 17 '10 at 2:29
feedback
up vote 3 down vote

Microsoft OneNote is pretty sweet : ]

link|improve this answer
1  
Is this not for notebooks with a touchscreen? – data_jepp Mar 16 '10 at 12:35
1  
office.microsoft.com/en-gb/onenote/default.aspx Certainly not. – user31334 Mar 16 '10 at 12:39
1  
OneNote has no math markup, though. It's great for note-taking and admittedly, on a tablet it's even better. But it has nothing that specifically helps for taking notes in math classes. – Joey Mar 16 '10 at 12:54
feedback
up vote 3 down vote

I've used Word 2007 for this which worked rather well. The math notation syntax is similar to the one LaTeX uses, but more streamlined and seeing the formula instantly greatly helps in avoiding markup mistakes. Generally, typing has been faster for me than writing with pen, except for drawing pictures and very complex formulas. Usually I scribbled figures by hand onto paper and re-drew them later at the computer. Was pretty much the only thing I couldn't keep up with, though.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

I'm taking 2 math and 3 electrical engineering courses and I do real-time LaTeX in class with Lyx. Once I learned the shortcuts (which are extremely intuitive and built-in) I found myself taking notes faster (and more accurately... you have to be stricter about subtle math notation, something easy to mess up with pen and paper) than I did with my notebook.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

I agree with kiwiburger. Pen and paper seems to be most effective. I did not find any easier way to create notes consisting of written text, schemes and formulas (or even chemical structures).

Maybe, there could be alternative solution using a tablet pc with resistive display and written notes as on the paper or devices like ACECAD Digimemo (Genius has something similar) or the digital pen by Staedtler, which produce both normal written notes on paper and digital copy on the memory card.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.