[comp.sys.next] Jotting down math ideas on NeXT

gsg0384@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (07/08/89)

Hi,

What do you think is the best way to jot down mathematical idea on a
computer?  I mean I need Greek characters easily typed into any sort of
file.  So what is your idea among the following options?

1.  Use a word processor like Write-Now.
2.  Write into a computer in TeX.  It is not actually easy without a VorTeX-
    type processor running concurrently.
3.  Become a typesetting program expert and use either Interleaf or
    Ventura all the time.
4.  Forget electronic paper and jot down on a sheet of paer all the time.  And
    put that sheet in a place you will easily forget.

Normal CS guys don't need Greek characters, subscript, super script.  But
Physicists, Engineers, and Mathematicians like me want to see some kind of
innovation desperately.  What do you thinnk about this situation, NeXT owners?

       Hugh          gsg0384@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu

UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (07/10/89)

In article <246300016@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>, gsg0384@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu says:
>
>What do you think is the best way to jot down mathematical idea on a
>computer?  I mean I need Greek characters easily typed into any sort of

Did you omit Mathematica from your list of options on purpose?  Surely,
in many cases we'll still doodle mathematically on paper, but if
you are going to jot down mathematical notation directly into your
computer, then Mathematica seems like a good way to go.

o It uses a TeX-like notation.  This means that jotting down ideas
  will be a lot slower than paper.  It is hard to imagine what kind of
  keyboard would make computer-jotting as fast as paper-jotting.  Perhaps
  a pen digitizer pad with character recognition software, but I don't
  think were quite there yet.

o However, after initial jotting, Mathematica manipulates the equations
  for you automagically.  This produces a speedup which *could* makeup
  for the original slowdown at jot-entry time.

o Mathematica also outputs any of your intermediate or final results as
  either TeX or PostScript, which means you won't have to re-enter them
  when you write papers.

Anyway, of your original choices, I'd use TeX because I already know it.
On the Amiga, you can type into your editor, send immediately to TeX running
in the background, and have TeX send the results directly to a screen
previewer running in another window, so you a very powerful variety of
WYSIWYG --- all the power of TeX with nearly immediate visual display of
the results.  The author of Amiga TeX has been sighted lurking around
comp.sys.next, so perhaps we can hope to see the same capability on NeXT
soon.