r/LaTeX

I've been building a faster way to type math: a tolerant shorthand that resolves into LaTeX as you go. To stress-test it, I turned it into a game. An equation appears, you race to reproduce it.

What you see me typing is the shorthand, not raw LaTeX. It commits to LaTeX under the hood, so the output is the real thing and the input takes fewer keystrokes.

My own times: integrals land around 6-7 seconds, limits a bit more once the \to, the bounds and a \frac stack up (7-8s). That's about handwriting speed, except the output compiles.

Here's where I need you. If you're fluent in raw LaTeX, how long does an integral or a limit take you from memory? That's the comparison I can't run myself, and it's the one that tells me whether this shorthand is worth anything.

It comes from MathCursor (a VS Code plugin); the game runs in the browser, so you can try it without installing anything:

Yes, this overlaps with snippet setups (UltiSnips and friends). The difference I'm chasing is tolerance and disambiguation instead of fixed expansions, so fast, slightly-off typing still resolves to the structure I meant. Curious whether that's worthwhile, or whether good snippets already cover it. Roast welcome.