Notes Key

Here are some things to keep in mind as you read my hand written notes. These are the conventions I usually use to write my notes.

Only a DRAFT!

May change/be updated - still in progress - may still contain inaccuracies

General

I use math signs a lot like greater then (>) and less then (<)
Usually I don't care about spelling (sorry)
- If I have the letters "sp" and an arrow pointing to a word, it's probably spelled wrong
"?" means I don't understand or are confused about something. The Question mark will sometimes be in a circle.

Circle Problem Number

If I am unsure about a problem, or it is taking me a longer time then usual to solve, I will circle it
I will half circle problems I am kinda sure about, but not totally convinced my answer is correct
Forth circled problems means I am pretty sure my answer is right, but again it might not be
I mostly do the partial circles on timed, fast paced (usually standardized) tests where I don't care about neatness of work and scribble quickly over the answer booklet.

Abbreviations

Prob. = Probably
"sp" = Spelling error
V. Good = Very Good

Red Pen

Red pen is usually used to correct incorrect problems - sometimes even before I turn something in
In review for tests, I sometimes use red to fill in problems I had to "cheat" and look up in the book
When taking notes from lectures, I use red sometimes to highlight key points of facts'
So in general, pencil is for my work, and red is for other's work

Color

Notes are scanned dark so that they can be read. This is sometimes a problem with double-sided notes however. However, its better then it being too light.

Size

You can click on the image preview to get it bigger. An image will be the biggest when all of the words which are normally on the side of the page are gone and the URL (web address) ends in .JPG. However, your browser might still be scaling down images. Look for a box in the lower right hand corner. You might have to hover over it to make it appear. Click that to stop the browser from scaling down that image. There is some way to turn that off if you want.

Checking System

To check work, usually in a math problem

'Check mark colon' means that the next section is where I will check my work
'Check in a circle' means that the work has been checked using a method different then who the problem was solved
'Check divided by 2' I went over my work again, looks right, but not totaly confirmed because I just repeated the same process again
'Check divided by 4' I am not very sure about my answers, but I tried the process again and it came out right
'X in a circle' problem is wrong, I need to fix it

Math

Drawings are not to scale - especially triangles
I am to keep the purest numbers possible in answers. I do this by storing partial answers and using the "Ans" variable to get the last answer up to 9 decimal places. I usually don't write down the whole number. That means that I use more exact numbers that what I write in the process. This might change the result slightly or give you less exact answers.
I might follow rounding rules or I might just always round down, or I might just round to where I feel like.
Final answers are circled. Interim answers which are important are enclosed in a square.