Pen for doing math

[matt385]

Hi -- I'm pretty new to fountain pens. I recently discovered the awesomeness of using them and I now already have a MB 146 and a Lamy Studio. But I've found that either of them don't really work very well when I am trying to do math, so I'm looking for one that writes a little sharper. I realize that this mostly has to do with my nib, but I am also happy with the nibs I am using on the other two pens. I've been looking at the new Pilot M90 or a Pilot VP. Any suggestions? My price range probably is topped at around $250.

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

An Esterbrook with an accountants nib.

 

+1 on the Esterbrook. You can buy the pen and any nib you want to try for less that $50. Since the nibs unscrew and are not that expensive you can try all the nibs you want until you get the perfect nib.

 

I, however, always use a pencil so I got an Esterbrook pen and pencil set.

 

[acyso]

Wow, thanks so much for your suggestions, examples, and all. Obviously there's a lot more to consider than what I originally thought, but I will bring your suggestions to a local store (I'm from Chicago) and try them out. It's gonna be a great weekend.

[Richard]

Richard Binder has rediscovered a technique of grinding very fine nibs while maintaining smoothness - a technique that was originally developed by Shaeffer - the Waverly Nib.

Slight correction: The Waverley nib was invented in 1864 by Duncan Cameron, of MacNiven & Cameron, Edinborough, Scotland. When MacNiven & Cameron set up shop to make fountain pens in Birmingham, England, in 1900, the Waverley design went along, and one of their pen brands was Waverley (pictured here is a Waverley "Cameron"):

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/ref_info/glossary/zoomed/cameron.jpg

 

Sheaffer seems to have rediscovered the technique in the late 1930s.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Richard

[Stylo]

This thread is very relevant to me as well. I have never felt the need for anything finer than just a fine. And mediums that aren't gushers and are about true mediums work most of the time as well, assuming the paper isn't of too low quality (makes the ink spread and is I think the main reason why so many people think their mediums are just too wide).

 

[dmmcf]

What's wrong with a larger sheet of paper?

 

There's something to be said for this approach. Some ideas just aren't letter-sized.

 

My favorite pen for math is a Pelikan M600 with an XF nib from Richard Binder. That may not quite be within your budget, but FP budgets have been known to stretch a bit after people spend time on this forum.

 

Michael

[DrScott]

I use three pens for my proofs and general scientific writing...

1.) Edison Pearl with an extra fine 18k nib

2.) Parker '51 demi with an extra fine nib

3.) Pilot MYU with a fine nib

 

All perform well, and I interchange them quite often.

[ebargoum]

When I do calculations I tend to use the Pilot 78G Fine point. It lays down a very fine point. I also use a Lamy Safari EF and F or a Hero 616 for calculations.

[Fanatyk]

Slight correction: The Waverley nib was invented in 1864 by Duncan Cameron, of MacNiven & Cameron, Edinborough, Scotland. When MacNiven & Cameron set up shop to make fountain pens in Birmingham, England, in 1900, the Waverley design went along, and one of their pen brands was Waverley (pictured here is a Waverley "Cameron"):

 

You mean Edinburgh, right ;-) Well, I live here, and Waverley nib is actually named after Edinburgh's main train station ;-)

 

For maths purposes I use my 1930's sheaffer balance with EEF nib (or maybe even EEEF). It writes nicely, isn't scratchy (although there is more resistance, than in F nib in Sheaffer Imperial). It's perfect - you can read all the subscripts etc. without any problems.

 

Cheers,

Adam

 

[cymric]

Very fine nibs are best for math and science to resolve all the subscripts and superscripts. But as nibs are ground finer and finer, they often loose the glassy smoothness that most fountain pen users like.

Nibs aren't everything; the way one writes definitely has an influence to. Take for example my probatio pennae of the equations shown above using a Cross Century II with fine nib (yes, I am aware there are a few minor errors in them):

 

 

Now before I go further I should add that I've really abused this fountain pen as I found it to be 'scritchy' when I had just purchased it. This was before I learnt of the existence of various nib sizes, by the way. So when I broke it in by writing a lot of pages in my science journal, I used more force than necessary to write it into submission, so to speak. It still isn't as silky and as broad as I want it to be, which is the main reason I'm looking for a different fountain pen to replace this one. Anyway, you can see that in comparison to the other examples shown I have a rather broad hand (the image is a tad less wide than the original) and simply use more room to allow for various mathematical appendages, so I don't need an extra fine nib in order to squeeze those all unto one line; in addition, it allows me to mix maths and plain text much more easily as the maths is just a form of special text to me.

 

In the last equation I've turned the pen upside down, writing with the top of the nib, to show what happens if the line becomes much finer. I use less space, but the script becomes too thin and spidery for my liking. I think this is what would happen were I given a pen with a very fine nib... Not for me, really.

 

Unfortunately, changing one's hand is very difficult, so perhaps I'm just lucky with the way I write. Still, I think some form of adaptation of the hand might in the end be better and more satisfying than purchasing a pen with a nib too fine for comfortably writing ordinary text in between the formulas.

[terrykrohe]

... it's less than your budget, but ...

 

I use a Safari Vista with EF nib with a blue ink ... on graph paper.