Using AI to Write Math

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), we are still far from the days where we can ask a computer to write proofs for us. However, there are tools available today that can concretely assist with writing mathematics.

I made a video on the topic, with blog post below.

While I left research mathematics some time ago, I still find myself typing up some math from time to time. For me this has become a bit easier with Github Copilot.

I am now VSCode as my text editor to write LaTex. VSCode is a free and powerful IDE used by millions of software engineers. With it, one can access GitHub Copilot (for $100/year).

GitHub Copilot saves quite a bit of time in Latexing. Let’s see it in action suggesting useful LaTex code for a matrix.

The lighter text “\begin{pmatrix}” is what is suggested by Github Copilot. You can simply hit tab to accept the suggestion or keep typing to reject it. Let’s keep accepting:

This eventually gives the final result.

As you can see it quite accurately gives the LaTex code for a matrix, and only takes about 3 seconds real-time to do so.

Funny enough, it suggests some non-sense afterwards, about A having integer entries and some other things.

Vscode has a lot of flexibility in itself. There are many extensions that are useful. For instance, to work with latex, you’ll at the very least need a latex and pdf viewer extension. There is also git integration, which allows you to store your work remotely with the click of a couple of buttons.

Another reason to get familiar with VSCode is that it is a powerful tool for programming. That way, if you do every need to do some programming, you will already have a leg up on getting started!

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