Favourite maths tools |
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Writing
I’m open to the idea that pen n paper are superior to typing, for learning.
- But I stick everything in Roam. Nested lists, LaTeX, PDFs, images and videos, all in one doc.
e.g.
- I am no longer sure if it’s worth learning LaTeX, but if you want to or have to, for the love of god use Overleaf. Saves hours a year on install headaches.
- Years and years in, I still sometimes encounter symbols I don’t know the name for. Detexify has saved me many hours
- MathPix is an AI maths recogniser, so you can go from e.g. handwritten notes to Latex. Very good accuracy, though the formatting often needs cleaning up.
Computer algebra (“solve this for me”)
- WolframAlpha. Obvs! Pro is worthwhile for absolute beginners, gives you infinite stepped examples.
- Maxima. If you need something heavier and free. I see no point in Mathematica or SAGE or even Octave.
- SymPy. Satisfying but not productive. Only if you’re 10x stronger at programming than maths, as I was.
- I’m surprised there’s no product of this yet (neural net beats Mathematica on univariable integration)
References
- I’ve probably spent more time on MathOverflow than I have in textbooks.
- Search engine for formulae. Wolfram does this a bit too.
- Catalogue of groups
- Catalogue of graphs
- Catalogue of categories
- I’ve never actually used OEIS but some people seem to get real life use out of it.
- Currently open problems ranked by importance
Viz
- draw.io is way better than it looks. You can easily make publication-quality vector graphics. The good bits of Powerpoint.
- Loads of graphing tools at Desmos (e.g. teaching linear programming in 2 variables). Amazing to play with transformations and dumb visual optimisation of illustrative curves.
- Geogebra looks fine too
- Never used either, but for generating beautiful video with a lot of work you now have MathBox and Manim
Challenges
- Project Euler is the second best way to learn a new programming language (once you know one deeply). Some people do way better at the computational than the analytic, and this is one bridge you can take.
Courses
I have only ever liked and finished one MOOC (and in general I dislike learning from video).
- But people seem to love OpenCourseWare.
See also
Comments
Jonas commented on 01 March 2022 :
I’d say that LaTex isn’t worth learning. Lyx helps a lot (WYSIWYG editor), both with editing and reading. You can do almost any basic LaTex task in Lyx, such as writing integrals and so on. If I need something fancy done (almost never), I can hack it in LaTex afterwards. (I find it much easier to use Lyx rather than markdown + MathJax too.)
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Tags: maths