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Maths like differential equations, calculus and very much more.

At what point does the math one take start to be limited by intellectual capability? How do I know if I am a math person?

JaVaPG
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aspiring
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  • This is my personal opinion: math is a very particular subject, if you like it very much and you like learning new concepts and stuff you'll be a good mathematician. – AlienRem Aug 15 '15 at 13:30
  • Personal: Your math skills grow if you get more and more accustomed to math. However, getting accustomed to it can only take place if you dive into it again and again. This on its turn can only take place if that goes together with some sort of enjoyment. – drhab Aug 15 '15 at 13:53
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    I think so, assuming no physiological brain disorders. Even babies have (rudimentary but quite effective) reasoning skills. The brain - even the most uneducated one - is a highly efficient pattern detector. What's lacking is not intellectual capacity (What's that anyway? How is it measured?). Rather, what's lacking in most cases is the motivation, interest and time to put in the necessary effort. Given those, I see no reason for anyone not to be able to do "higher math". – wltrup Aug 15 '15 at 13:53
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    I'm of the opinion that it is not available to everyone and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. I've seen firsthand people who just cannot understand any sort of abstraction in math despite trying for a long period of time. Some people do not make the right neural connections to do math, just like some don't make the right connections to write literature or even great critiques of pieces of literature. This isn't bad since it allows us to be diverse as a species. If we all loved and were great at math, other aspects of society would suffer. – Cameron Williams Aug 15 '15 at 14:08
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    I would imagine this question has been investigated more scientifically from the point of view of cognitive psychology / neuroscience... anyhow, I personally view it as a skill (just like music, a sport, etc...), for which practice, persistence, and love for the skill are the factors that mostly determine one's capabilities asymptotically. Then again, initial conditions like guidance seem important, too. Hmm. – Chester Aug 15 '15 at 14:17
  • @CameronWilliams The fact that some people don't make the right brain connections for math is not proof that it's not available to everyone. In fact, it's been shown that the brain is very plastic, even in adulthood. Here's a woman with a severe brain disorder who managed to re-wire her brain. Granted, she didn't learn higher math but I think she's living proof that one cannot say that abstract and logical reasoning is not available to everyone on the basis of lacking the necessary neural connections. – wltrup Aug 15 '15 at 14:26
  • @CameronWilliams "If we all loved and were great at math, other aspects of society would suffer." - That's a non-sequitur. – wltrup Aug 15 '15 at 14:30
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    There are a lot of ways to answer this. And a lot of good answers above. So I'll try my best to add just one more point of view. Ask yourself this: do you love maths? I am of the opinion that if you love maths, then you are a math person. It doesn't matter whether your mathematical activities bring us any closer towards resolving the Riemann hypothesis. What matters is that you feel joy, excitement, enthusiasm, motivation by discovering, conjecturing, understanding- even if it is the most basic thing like a fundamental understanding of $a \times b = b \times a$. – Colm Bhandal Aug 15 '15 at 15:08

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