Turn a badly formatted equations website into a printable two-page handout with Claude
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- by David Shane (@david_shane)
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Evidence: Described by posterThe person describes what happened in words, without screenshots or video.
Outcome
David Shane, a teacher, found a website full of useful equations for students but with terrible formatting. Shane asked Claude to pull all of it into a clean, printable two-page PDF, then read through the result to make sure everything was still correct before making copies for the class. Shane used it as an example for students: the tool saved time, but the output still had to be checked.
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Prompt Recreated prompt
The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Turn the reference material on a web page into a clean, printable handout. Fill in before running: - The page link or pasted content: [LINK] - How long it can be: [NUMBER OF PAGES] - Who it's for: [CLASS OR LEVEL] Rules: - Keep every equation, symbol and unit exactly as in the source; don't add or drop items. - Group related items under short headings and lay them out so they fit the page limit. - List anything in the source that looked wrong or unclear, rather than silently fixing it. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: A print-ready PDF and a short list of anything I should double-check. You'll know it worked when: the handout fits on the pages and every item matches the source when I check it.
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Your prompt
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Turn the reference material on a web page into a clean, printable handout. Fill in before running: - The page link or pasted content: [LINK] - How long it can be: [NUMBER OF PAGES] - Who it's for: [CLASS OR LEVEL] Rules: - Keep every equation, symbol and unit exactly as in the source; don't add or drop items. - Group related items under short headings and lay them out so they fit the page limit. - List anything in the source that looked wrong or unclear, rather than silently fixing it. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. Output: A print-ready PDF and a short list of anything I should double-check. You'll know it worked when: the handout fits on the pages and every item matches the source when I check it.
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Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Turn the reference material on a web page into a clean, printable handout. Fill in before running: - The page link or pasted content: [LINK] - How long it can be: [NUMBER OF PAGES] - Who it's for: [CLASS OR LEVEL] Rules: - Keep every equation, symbol and unit exactly as in the source; don't add or drop items. - Group related items under short headings and lay them out so they fit the page limit. - List anything in the source that looked wrong or unclear, rather than silently fixing it. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Put the source link in small print at the bottom of the last page. Output: A print-ready PDF and a short list of anything I should double-check. You'll know it worked when: the handout fits on the pages and every item matches the source when I check it. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Source
https://x.com/david_shane/status/2093059799667691989
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