The _New York Times_ article on fountain pens

[BinomialSpider]

Hello, I've used fountain pens since last November, when I bought a clear plastic Lamy Safari. It was $25. Before that I used Uni-ball Vision pens. I went through about a pen every two weeks. With the fountain pen, I go through about a cartridge a week.

 

I took a lot of notes because I am a graduate student in math. I don't like taking notes with Bics, although the department provides them for free. I was using roller ball pens because I found them much easier to write with than ballpoints--and I was writing maybe 2-3 hours a day taking notes, plus maybe a few hours more working on homework (but not writing constantly). The main problem I had was keeping up with the speaker--it's hard to write that fast, that accurately, for that long!

 

The rollerballs were very loose, which made them easy to write with but hard to control. I found my handwriting got a little better with a fountain pen, and it was a bit easier to use--the fountain pen was pretty easy to use to write quickly, but didn't slide around as much as a rollerball. Also, the ink dried faster so I got less ink on my hands.

 

I think people who don't write (by hand) can't imagine what it would be like to write (by hand). A ballpoint is great if you never actually use it. Mathematics is, still to this day, primarily done by hand--the speaker often writes his notes by hand on a chalkboard; listeners then copy the notes on paper. Homework--calculations, proofs, etc.--is done on paper, primarily I think because the symbols don't work well with typing.

 

(LaTeX, the typesetting standard for math, has commands like, \int_a^b \int_{c+1}^d e^{2x + \sqrt{y}} \, dx dy, which is almost readable if you've used it a lot. But it's much easier to read and write the corresponding symbols.)

 

I use a fountain pen primarily because I find it better to use--and (as I noted above) I use pens a lot. Japanese, and Chinese, characters come out much nicer with a fountain pen than with a ballpoint--one of the interesting things about English script is that it can be written reasonably well with a ballpoint pen. Mathematical symbols, though less dense than Chinese characters, come out a little nicer with a fountain pen. Several of my colleagues in the dept.--all students, all relatively young I guess--use fountain pens as well.

 

I lost the clear Lamy and replaced it with a grey Safari (F tip). This fall I bought a Namiki VP, with an F tip; unfortunately, it doesn't work very well on the cheap soft paper the dept. provides for free. However, on decent paper it writes very cleanly--my handwriting is much better than with the Safari, and only marginally slower. Readability is an issue because I often have to refer to my notes--much modern mathematics isn't transmitted in books, but rather in notes, and talks, and so on. I also have a Pilot "desk pen," a plastic-bodied fountain pen shaped like a brush, used to correct papers. It has what I guess must be an EF tip--it doesn't say.

 

I was thinking of maybe getting a Rotring pen, when I get a job. I don't consider pens an unreasonable expense--provided you don't lose them. Since entering graduate school in fall 2003 I have kept as many of my empty pens and cartridges as I could remember, to keep count. So far I have 18 empty Uni-ball Visions, 2 empty Uni-ball Signo refills, 22 empty Lamy cartridges, and 5 empty Pilot cartridges. I am undercounting the Lamy cartridges because I feel a bit odd carrying empty cartridges home from school.

[tntaylor]

...A ballpoint is great if you never actually use it...

LOLOL!! I might have to nick that one. Welcome, B!

 

t!

[southpaw]

Great intro! Thanks for all the info. I have a Lamy AL-Star with a wonderfully smooth fine nib. I keep it inked with Lamy Turquoise in the converter. It always writes immediately, no matter how long it's sat inactive. Welcome aboard and see you around!

[Roger]

Wow, a grad student in math! Beyond vector analysis I was a lost pup, and that was so many years ago, I can't remember back that far.

 

Welcome and we'll try not to dazzle you with our prowess at adding up how much money we're spending on FPs.

 

Where are you in school?

[Guest Denis Richard]

Welcome Binomial

 

I agree with you that mathematical symbols gain in elegance when written with a fountain pen. LaTex is a little wonder though. Publication would not be what it is today without it. After a while Tex symbols become so familiar that you end up using them everywhere

 

Grab a chair and enjoy the forums.

 

Denis.

[Sonnet]

When I was in 4th grade (9 years old), I got a 45 out of 100 on the math final exam :blink:

 

Welcome to the club.

[Guest Denis Richard]

When I was in 4th grade (9 years old), I got a 45 out of 100 on the math final exam :blink:

One day in junior highschool, as I was holding my copy to our biology teacher half of the distance between her and me, she said that I should be good in maths, because lazy people generally are. Scientists or Mathematicians look at something complex and extract simplicity, while Artists look at simple things and see complexity. So, people who are not math-minded can always advocate that it is because they are not naturally lazy

[Viseguy]

Hi, Bi, glad you found us!

 

I've always suspected that FPs + math would make a good combo -- and now you've confirmed my suspicion.

 

Welcome!

 

P.S. You need an avatar worthy of your screen name. Bet you'll come up with a good one.

[Maja]

Hi 'Spider and welcome to FPN!

 

Thanks for the introduction; it brought back a lot of memories of university calculus ( :blink: ) and statistics ( :bonk: ) courses

(P.S. I majored in life sciences, not math!)

 

I have a red Lamy Safari with a sharp italic nib and it's an excellent pen. I personally like the design but it's not everyone's cuppa....

[JimStrutton]

Hi Spider,

 

LaTex, help I am now hiding in the cupboard having a nasty dream about Fortran!!

 

Punch up your solution on a deck of 80 col cards, then some numbnuts drops the deck, or it fails on an error of card 123!

 

I wish you well, brought me back to the days of my computing course days, working for The Friends Provident and Century Life Office as a sandwich course student sponsored by Honeywell EDP.

 

Welcome, your note made me go and find my old Rotring 2000 that I used in the 70's for coding forms.

 

Jim

[Sonnet]

Aack, all this talk about LaTex reminded me of my statistics class three years ago, when we had to use SPSS in the labs :bonk:

[grasshopper]

...A ballpoint is great if you never actually use it...

LOLOL!! I might have to nick that one.

Yeah, me too!

 

Welcome, Spider. A seat's reserved for you for whenever you'd like to take a break from solving/creating puzzles.

 

 

G.

[Mannenhitsu]

Hello Spider and welcome to the Fountain Pen Nuthouse!

 

I like your idea about writing and math. I use to use ballpoints when I did my math tests and since I tense up when it comes to math exams, my handwriting became worse. Now if I would have only known about the benefits of fine point nibs like I do today, back then... :bonk: