How can I effectively take notes from math textbooks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cod
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Textbooks
AI Thread Summary
Effective note-taking from math textbooks can be achieved by highlighting key definitions and theorems, rather than writing extensive notes. Skimming the material first helps identify important examples and concepts, making it easier to discern what to focus on. Some recommend writing down solutions to problems that lack answers in the back of the book. Others find that taking notes aids in concentration and summarization, even if they rarely refer back to them later. Overall, a combination of highlighting and selective note-taking can enhance understanding and retention of mathematical concepts.
Cod
Messages
324
Reaction score
4
I recently enlisted in the US Air Force so I am not attending school this semester; however, I'm still trying to continue strengthening my mathematical skills as well as adventure into new parts of mathematics. I've recently purchased a few new textbooks on an assortment of math subjects and I have run into a problem. That problem is simple. I do not know a good way to take notes from a textbook. Usually, I just take lecture notes from my professors since they basically serve you the important points on a platter. So how do I know which points I should write down and which I should not? Is there an easy method to note-taking from math textbooks?

Any help, information, or tips are greatly appreciated.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
Cod said:
I recently enlisted in the US Air Force so I am not attending school this semester; however, I'm still trying to continue strengthening my mathematical skills as well as adventure into new parts of mathematics. I've recently purchased a few new textbooks on an assortment of math subjects and I have run into a problem. That problem is simple. I do not know a good way to take notes from a textbook. Usually, I just take lecture notes from my professors since they basically serve you the important points on a platter. So how do I know which points I should write down and which I should not? Is there an easy method to note-taking from math textbooks?

Any help, information, or tips are greatly appreciated.

I don't write notes if I'm doing independent studying. I just highlight certain things like important definitions, and theorems. I won't highlight obvious statements.

I'd go with highlighting.

If you choose not to, just write down important definitions and theorems (as well as the page number). I would also write down the solutions to the questions who don't have solutions in the back of the text (I always do this).
 
i don't like vandalizing my books with a highlighter so i write down the important stuff, like theorems that have names.
 
How I do it is I simply skim through the first few pages, until the first example. Then take note of how the example is done, at least have a rough idea, then go back again to the first part of the topic and you'l sieve out the useful stuff much easier. When you're confident that you know the process, then go do the example without looking at the solutions first, then when you're done check it.

But i think note taking when learning from a textbook is good. I do take down notes myself when learning from textbooks but hardly refer to them after that. The note taking is meant to help me get into focus and summarize whatever I need to know.
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. In Dirac’s Principles of Quantum Mechanics published in 1930 he introduced a “convenient notation” he referred to as a “delta function” which he treated as a continuum analog to the discrete Kronecker delta. The Kronecker delta is simply the indexed components of the identity operator in matrix algebra Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-exactly-is-diracs-delta-function/ by...
Suppose ,instead of the usual x,y coordinate system with an I basis vector along the x -axis and a corresponding j basis vector along the y-axis we instead have a different pair of basis vectors ,call them e and f along their respective axes. I have seen that this is an important subject in maths My question is what physical applications does such a model apply to? I am asking here because I have devoted quite a lot of time in the past to understanding convectors and the dual...
Thread 'Imaginary Pythagoras'
I posted this in the Lame Math thread, but it's got me thinking. Is there any validity to this? Or is it really just a mathematical trick? Naively, I see that i2 + plus 12 does equal zero2. But does this have a meaning? I know one can treat the imaginary number line as just another axis like the reals, but does that mean this does represent a triangle in the complex plane with a hypotenuse of length zero? Ibix offered a rendering of the diagram using what I assume is matrix* notation...

Similar threads

Back
Top