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Comment by eachro | Hacker News Reader

Best model of this I have is math professors from undergrad. I never saw any notes on their desks during office hours. Just pages and pages of scribbles everywhere, crumped on the ground, in the trash bin, etc. I remember asking one how he retained any of the info when reading dense papers, and he said "Oh I never do. I just figure out the details again each time and eventually it sticks."

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Math seems like the discipline best suited to such a process. Experimental sciences are less so -- the quintissential example perhaps being medicine / biochem.

Indeed, a measure of good science record keeping is not having to repeat something just to figure out what you actually did.

Thats a great comparison! Math is more about keeping the mind vice strong and well-lubricated, so you're ready to crack that nut when it comes down the pipe.

I bet some of that sloppiness is a strategy. Mental confusion like muscle confusion - if there's no plan/organizational schema/notes, your brain has to be ready for anything.

This is very much like me. Going through same process until it gets into the head. However, I feel like I need to remember some fundamentals every now and then. As time passes, our brain can barely hold enough information.

I do not want to lose what I know. So, I am stuck in this limbo of retaining what I learnt and using it. Because not everything I learnt gets used everytime at all!

It happens over different period of time. And when it happens, it just sucks not remembering these!

Most relevant: DSA and interviews.

My maths supervisor always had a bunch of papers on his desk. I never figured out how someone with such a logical mind could have so much stuff everywhere. One feature was a huge vertical pile of papers. I always joked that he knew where everything was, it was just a case of measuring from the ground upwards.

This is one that is hard for me. In my, clearly incorrect, mind, notes are beautiful things you would be proud to show someone. Best I've ever done is something I'm not embarrassed to throw away in my trash can.

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