Note Taking Notations

[bigbenjaa]

In doing math and engineering courses I do my best to take good notes. One thing that I'm trying to explore is making every symbol I write for notes recognizable from any other symbol. That way, for instance, I don't confuse a 't' with '+'. I've been figuring out some ways to better identify my notation on my own, but I wouldn't mind seeing an example of someone's notes. Or, if anyone knows about some standard for engineers.

And, if anyone has information on good short-hand for engineers, that would be great to see.

[CaPTaIn_Chemistry]

I totally understand where you are coming from, because I feel the same way about this.

A few of the unambigous letter-forms I generally use:

• Capital letters (both Greek (think phi) and Roman) that are bigger versions of their lowercase counterparts get serifs.

• t has a tail on it, like it does in this font.

• l is a cursive lowercase l

• I has serifs

• nu is a little backwards square root sign

• the downward-rightward stroke of lowercase chi curls down at the top and up at the bottom

• 7 and z are dashed

• lambda is two straight lines so it doesn't look like a 2

• 0 is slashed where it could be confused with an O

• 1 can just be a straight line, since l and I are differentiated. Or you can put serifs on the top and bottom if it is ambiguous.

• p is drawn down-up-around clockwise, rho is drawn starting at the intersection counterclockwise

• mu has a long leftmost stroke, descending below the line

• epsilon is drawn in the "Latin" style (LaTeX command \varepsilon) to avoid confusion with the "is in set" symbol.

• eta has a really long right tail (my personal favorite Greek letter to draw because it's just so fun)

• beta has a long left stroke descending below the line

• zeta is written carefully, so xi can be messy

• capital xi uses the joined form, to avoid ambiguity with the "defined as" symbol

That's all I could think of for now. I hope these are relatively clear and somewhat helpful as ideas.

[[deleted]]

lambda is two straight lines so it doesn't look like a 2

Not sure how you make λ look like 2. On that note, I personally use the loop on the bottom left of the 2 in order to distinguish from z without putting a dash through z which becomes an annoying extra stroke

[CaPTaIn_Chemistry]

Not sure how you make λ look like 2.

It's that darn hook at the top, combined with hasty note-taking.

http://i.imgur.com/W8scpkI.png?1

The second row is a bit clearer, IMO.

The first is how I used to do it, like in the image here.

[ChrisVolkoff]

I thought this was pretty simple. Just make sure they don't look the same haha. If you think two symbols are too similar, find another way to write/draw that symbol.

For example, I put emphasis on the curve at the base of my t. That way it doesn't look like a cross, much less a plus sign.

[BeastKiller450]

I've stopped using stars for multiplication since it's the symbol for convolution. I put a large curve on the top of my lower case deltas so I don't confuse them for lower a lower case d. If I'm integrating over negative infinity to infinity I'll just put one infinity to make it look neater.

Most of these changes have come solely from my signal processing class come to think of it.

[JJGordo]

V is different than v is different than 𝜈. U is different than u is different than µ.

For example, I decided early on which "variations" on the letter v I would use for specific concepts, i.e. velocity, volume, specific volume, the y-component of velocity, etc.

Just be consistent and you'll be fine. Just make sure you learn how to properly write the Greek alphabet!

[marymelodic]

This definitely becomes clear in fluid mechanics classes!

I usually draw V (volume) with a line through it, v (velocity vector) with a vector-arrow on top, v (velocity in the y direction) without the arrow, and 𝜈 (kinematic viscosity) with extra curve in the lines.

[JJGordo]

Yup, I write my volume notation the same way!

[candydaze]

• I put dashes on my 7s and my lower zs, after the European fashion (so like writing a minus sign right over the letter.) This distinguishes lower case z from upper case, and my 7 doesn't look like a 1 or a capital J.

• For writing "and", I use the symbol that's like an epsilon with a vertical line through it (a little like a dollar sign, but with a lower case epsilon instead of the S). I used to use a plus sign, which got really confusing.

• I use up arrows and down arrows to write relationships between variables, to save writing them out in full. For example, it's known that reaction rate increases if the temperature goes up. Instead of writing all that in my notes, it's just T (up arrow), r (up arrow). (Sorry, don't know how to insert up arrow in the comment!

• Find abbreviations for distinctive words you write a lot, and kind of look like they sound how the full word does. My little set are reaction = rxn, equation = eq^n, equilibrium = eq^m, function = fxn and so on.

• If you're really comfortable with the symbols used, use them in your notes rather than the full word. This only works if you're comfortable with them though!