Can Talent and Passion Coexist in Applied Mathematics?

[Bladibla]

Hey all

I just talked to a 'friend' in my class, who gets really good in mathematics and stuff.

We were just talking about (or he, to be more precise) the grades we and he got. Not necessarily saying he was boasting or anything.

I was shocked to find out he didn't actually like mathematics, but did it because he had to

From my point of view i found this a bit dissappointing. I won't say i am the most prolific genius of maths in our school, but i do enjoy it, and i would love to have (if there was a ny oppotunity) work on applied mathematics, i.e. quantum mechanics and other mathematically heavy sciences.

What d oyou think about this?

 

[HallsofIvy]

It certainly would be nice to enjoy doing what you have to do (which is a good reason for learning to enjoy a lot of different things- mathematics, English, history, ...) but with sufficient will power, yes one can work hard and do well in subjects one doesn't enjoy. It's unfortunate for your friend that he doesn't enjoy doing something he obviously needs to spend a lot of time on it but there is no reason for you to be "disappointed".

 

[selfAdjoint]

Well Halls, there is a matter of talent too. My daughter has excellent math talent, and always aced her exams; her teachers were always pushing her to do more. But she really doesn't like math, because it's abstract, she is intensly a people person. She wound up an engineer, but has gradually worked herself out of that quantitative job into one where she develops product ideas based on deep market research of customers. Her advantage in her company is that unlike many people who do that, she has the "crystalized g" necessary to communicate with the engineering types who run it.