Should i still do math if i am not the next Euler?

[lisab]

But in the end you did understand it, many who studies maths don't bother with understanding things at all. I would say that it is a strength to go so far in order to make yourself satisfied with the concept rather than just accepting the explanation provided by the book.

That is a very shortsighted view to have, dismissing them as boring braggarts and most likely liars just makes you hide from the issue. There are certainly people who work a lot less than you and still do better in every regard, your viewpoint would hurt your prospects for socializing with these people for no other reason than that they are better than you at for example maths. Of course many of them might be boring (Like most people) and/or braggarts (Like most people who have something to brag about) and some might even be lying, but most likely this do not hold for all of them and it is dumb to dismiss them just because of your issues.

It's true, I prefer to socialize with humble, modest, smart people, rather than braggarts (who may or may not be as smart as they think they are). If you want to call that an "issue" well ok. There are only so many minutes in a lifetime and lots of great people, why waste time on those who are obnoxious?

Perhaps I am missing something by not socializing with them, but somehow I doubt that.

 

[DocMuffinZ]

If mathematics is what makes you happy then you should pursue mathematics. Work harder. Use your insecurities and doubts as self-motivation. Each of the famous scientists and mathematicians that you listed were driven by something. Once you find your drive, whether it be positive or negative, use it.

 

[FieldDuck]

Hello, I'm new here but I'll like to say some things.

I don't think it particularly matters at all if you find a lot of concepts in mathematics difficult or easy, I believe what determines your ultimate success is your ability to simply push through the obstacles in front of you and do the best YOU can do. If your best happens to be better than everyone else, great, if not, that's fine too, because at least you are doing what you can do in a field you love to learn about, right?

 

[Jake4]

I heard it said on this forum before.

Throughout the years, there are numerous physicists and mathematicians that work their asses off, and make strides but no huge breakthroughs. Then an einstein etc comes along and puts all of their work together in their own way and produces the theory of relativity.

It's a group effort. I'm just starting my physics major, so I can't give you much for specific knowledge, but I would say a couple things.

1. For me, it's never even come to mind that I'm doing this to be known. I've always wanted to be at the forefront of knowledge, whether or not I'm getting a fields medal for math, or nobel or something.

2. Who's to say you won't be the lucky douche (: P) that puts a bunch of stuff together with his own work, and comes across something groundbreaking, and ends up in the history books?


Do it because you love it

 

[Klockan3]

It's true, I prefer to socialize with humble, modest, smart people, rather than braggarts (who may or may not be as smart as they think they are). If you want to call that an "issue" well ok. There are only so many minutes in a lifetime and lots of great people, why waste time on those who are obnoxious?

Perhaps I am missing something by not socializing with them, but somehow I doubt that.

The point was that you don't need to be a braggart to say that a course or a concept in general is easy. Many says that high school is easy for example, are they braggarts? If someone say that college maths in general is easy is he a braggart? To many college maths is a breeze, the concepts taught there aren't all that complex etc.

I am sure that a lot of people would see your statements about things as being boastful just because to them those achievements seems unreal, do that mean that you are an obnoxious braggart?

I am sorry for bringing this up in the discussion, but I find it highly offensive that you have that opinion. Basically you require that anyone who is significantly smarter than you shut the hell up with his/her opinions or you dismiss him/her as an obnoxious braggart. No wonder smart people tend to get so introverted...

 

[lisab]

The point was that you don't need to be a braggart to say that a course or a concept in general is easy. Many says that high school is easy for example, are they braggarts? If someone say that college maths in general is easy is he a braggart? To many college maths is a breeze, the concepts taught there aren't all that complex etc.

I am sure that a lot of people would see your statements about things as being boastful just because to them those achievements seems unreal, do that mean that you are an obnoxious braggart?

I am sorry for bringing this up in the discussion, but I find it highly offensive that you have that opinion. Basically you require that anyone who is significantly smarter than you shut the hell up with his/her opinions or you dismiss him/her as an obnoxious braggart. No wonder smart people tend to get so introverted...

Do not tell me "basically what I require"; you're reading far more into my posts than what is actually there.

Braggart: One given to loud, empty boasting; a bragger.

Look, if you want to surround yourself with loud empty boasters, feel free! I have better ways to spend my time.

With respect to this thread: a young person writes that he's feeling a bit down, and has some doubts about his talents in a subject. He gives an example of something he struggled to understand (which he later said was not a representative example).

Some posters wrote into inform him that his example is sooooo easy to understand, blah blah blah. Not helping the OP one bit, but letting everyone know that it's not difficult to them. Now, why would someone insert themselves into someone else's thread simply to boast? That's obnoxious!

My inclination is to *help* the guy, to give some encouragement. Because at some point, most of us have felt down and doubted our ability to master this difficult subject. But that's no reason to quit.

The whole purpose of PF is to help people.

 

[Klockan3]

Do not tell me "basically what I require"; you're reading far more into my posts than what is actually there.

Braggart: One given to loud, empty boasting; a bragger.

Look, if you want to surround yourself with loud empty boasters, feel free! I have better ways to spend my time.

Read your post again:

Frankly I find people who say that it's easy to be boring braggarts (and they're likely liars, too).

Basically you are saying that those who say that it is easy are also boring braggarts. I agree that braggarts are not that nice to be around but that wasn't what I (Or this comment) was talking about.

Edit: I also agree that the guys making the "That is so easy" posts really served no function in this thread, if that was what you talked about then I excuse myself for the misconception.

 

[Mu naught]

Don't get too worried. Some people will simply have to work harder at math and science than others - that's the way of the world. If you love it, you'll be driven to work hard. If you find you don't have the ambition to work hard, then you're in the wrong field.

 

[D H]

Thank you Lisab

The same from me.

Could you just give it a rest Klockan?

Once again, the same from me.

------------------------------------

So you are having doubts about yourself, pdidy. Lots of people your age do. Lots of people of all ages do. Welcome to humanity!

I'll go with the mathematical odds and hazard that you are not the smartest person on the planet. That's not a dig at you, pdidy. It's just playing the odds. I suspect that the smartest person on the planet, whoever he or she is, is plagued with self-doubt. Questioning one's own capabilities is a sign of intelligence and maturity.

That you most likely will not be the next Euler (or Newton, or Einstein, or Nash) certainly is a bit crushing, but it is also liberating. You are free to do that which you are capable of, and without the pressure to win the Fields medal. Learn your capabilities, learn your limitations, and learn to overcome them.

 

[Aerithria]

I decided to major in math because I happen to have a natural talent for it, rather than physics, which I have to work every second in order to understand properly. And ever since I stopped taking physics, my average dropped from an A to a C+.

Talent means nothing. Passion means everything. Screw talent. If you aren't passionate about something, you can never be great at it.

And besides, the reason people go on in math is for the satisfaction of having something click in your brain after spending a frustrating amount of time working on it. Believe me when I say that it's extremely dull studying this stuff if you have nothing left to figure out.

 

[bignum]

I think the hard truth is, talent does matter, but without motivation and passion, talent is useless.

Newton didn't became who is he today by mere talent. A quote from him when someone asked how he developed his law of Gravitation, Newton answered "By thinking about it day and night"

 

[Aerithria]

I think you guys are downplaying talent. It is very important. Some mathematicians just have that x factor that others do not have.

Okay, well there's a difference between being downright terrible at something and 'kind of okay' at something. I came in assuming the latter. My opinion is, if you can eventually get it to the point where you're not failing abysmally, you probably have the ability to push through if you work hard enough. Essentially, if you're at the point where it is an option to stay (i.e. not on academic probation), you have talent. You just don't have genius-level talent. Which is fine. By "screw talent", I meant, screw going into something just because it comes to you more naturally if you don't love it, because you'll probably end up doing worse at that than what you're actually interested in.

 

[mal4mac]

How do you know you won't become famous? Remember that chemist who fell asleep and dreamt of snakes grabbing their tales thereby discovering the structure of Benzene? How could you have predicted such a strange but highly effective method of discovery? Just keep working hard, do the standard drudge work to get yourself technical qualifications, and who knows, you might also dream up a big idea. If not, all that everyday physics drudge work, and teaching, is very useful, and you'll get paid well for it. I remember seeing some Nobel prize winner on a pop sci programme saying he loved teaching 'cause for a long time he was never sure if his research would get anywhere, but if it didn't, he could still look back and see how useful he had been in teaching others. And he really enjoyed learning new physics and teaching it! As it happens his work did get somewhere big, but he was probably in the same state you are in for a long time - apart from keeping his gander up by realising he could have physics fun in other ways...

 

[eveo]

he just wants attention, I've been talking to him on MSN. he wants to do math for the prestige of being an intellectual, nothing more, nothing less.

he's just lost.

 

[ronaldoshaky]

Two orthogonal comments:

How did Euler know he was going to be the first Euler?

What is it with science and mathematics that provokes questions like this? You don't see it in other fields:

"If I can't be the star pitcher for the Red Sox, why learn to play baseball?"
"If I can't be a general - and also receive the medal of honor - why enlist in the army?"
"If I can't be a CEO of a Fortune 100 company, why go into business?"

It strikes me that the original poster wants to be famous, not a physicist or mathematician.

 

[Acut]

Some people want to get famous in science olympiads too (I don't know "real science" context enough to have a opinion about those fame-seeking people in it. However it's hilarious that some people publish their crazy unfounded theories on the internet and try to "challenge modern science", "make a revolution", "uncover a scientific conspiracy" or claiming "to have found critical errors in Einstein's relativity. It's fun the way they name their theory - "Peter field equation" - when their name happens to be Peter).

Two comments:
1)There are many easier ways of getting famous - science is simply not popular.
2)Those people never do any significant progress in olympiads. I believe they won't do any significant progress in "real science" either.

In fact, I dislike the fact many people know me simply because I do olympiads. I've found this is common in most students who do well in them.

@pdidy: If you want to be a "intelectual" there are other ways that wouldn't harm science. Please consider them.

 

[deRham]

"Should i still do mathematics if i don't have that Gift? Honestly i need help in deciding wether its ok and if so, how to motivate myself to continue..."

You need to develop an internal drive to study something by getting excited about the field. Once you find yourself understanding some of the deeper secrets of it, you will actually feel less like a nobody. Nay, you'll be able to appreciate WHY it is some of these famous people are famous. That breaks the mystique a little.

You will probably realize you don't necessarily have what it takes to do as groundbreaking work in the fields, because you have to make a living, and can't spend all your time obsessing about making a groundbreaking feat which may or may not come.

However, once you know what the experts are thinking, you can focus on making highly interesting contributions [which is hard to do, but doable, as opposed to revolutionizing a field].

 

[TMFKAN64]

I think you guys are downplaying talent. It is very important. Some mathematicians just have that x factor that others do not have.

Talent is important, just not as important as motivation and hard work.

The very best in any field have both in abundance, but you can be successful with lots of motivation and hard work, and only a bit of talent.

 

[i_emanuel]

The only person that can truly judge your commitment to science is you, instead of comparisons, tell us what are working on right now? is there a subject that truly captures your attention and passion to the extent of selfless dedication?

perhaps it is your soul which needs guidance, good luck :)

 

[sudarshanabcd]

the main thing is enjoying maths.
u shoud be curious enough to know what will happen next.
doin math for the sake of math is the best medicine.
not all intellectuals get rewarded , its just luck,
u shoud be at the right place at the right time, and
ready to take what nature gives,it could be an idea,
just some extra information,anything.

 

[Feldoh]

Perhaps our pdidy here and the rap singer are one and the same

How sweet would that be?! Rapping (Raping?) about physics and math lol

 

[estro]

It's like asking, should I still love my girlfriend if she is not Jessica Alba and will never be?

 

[jf22901]

It's like asking, should I still love my girlfriend if she is not Jessica Alba and will never be?

No you shouldn't!

 

[gretun]

Go for Engineering then

 

[stevenb]

Go for Engineering then

But, should he do engineering if he is not the next Nikola Tesla?

 

[gretun]

But, should he do engineering if he is not the next Nikola Tesla?

Oh, I thought he was just worried about finance.

 

[ronaldoshaky]

How sweet would that be?! Rapping (Raping?) about physics and math lol

ah yo yo yo yo i slapped a cap in yo Fourier transform azz
and ghost yo' spooky action at a distance muthafuqa. lol.

 

[h00zah]

The head of my maths department actually entered into university looking to get a degree in English, but discovered his passion for math and eventually became very good at it. What I mean is, he was by no means the next Euler or else he would have discovered math much sooner, but he found something he was passionate about and worked hard at it and eventually became successful. Some people can read a page and know the words on the page inside and out, while others have to spend an hour just trying to grasp ahold of the concepts, but a little bit of patience and determination will get you to the same place.

 

[n.karthick]

@OP
I feel it is natural for people who wants to make breakthrough often compare themselves with giants and worry about their inabilities. For example the great Fourier on his 21st birthday wrote

Yesterday was my 21st birthday, at that age Newton and Pascal had already acquired many claims to immortality.

who later published his greatest work "The Analytical Theory of Heat" when he was 54, in which he mentioned that

Profound study of Nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discoveries.


What I mean to say is if you have the ambition to become Euler, yes you can, provided you have the patience, confidence and most importantly HARD WORK

All the best

 

[bjnartowt]

I'm just fresh off my first year in grad physics, and I've been asking myself this same (excellent) question.

What I do in the face of this "crisis" is: find the ways I'm Not The Next Euler, and not try and hide it. We're scientists: our "major" is honesty, and I find it helpful to be honest with myself about my weaknesses. I think some of the greatest scientists came from not Being Good, but also knowing their weaknesses.

Any of you who said that the great minds of our field got there because of luck, well, I disagree: it just seems to me that there's no such thing as luck. I believe that greatness in math, science, and physics comes not just from the know-how of crunching through the equations, but also personal greatness. I know plenty of smart people who are so smart and work so hard they claim rigid-ownership of their work, and get really disillusioned if they are not rewarded for their hard work. I think the great minds somehow worked just as hard but made peace with not beign rewarded or lauded for all their hard endeavours... which has taught me detachment...which has, in turn, helped in many other non-science avenues in life (including personal relationships and my faith [I am a Catholic]).

So if you're not the next Euler: congratulations! You've become acquainted with your shortcomings, which everyone, even Euler, must have had in spades! The next step is to be honest about your shortcomings, and then work hard.

For instance: I'm studying, right now, for the Physics GRE. I'm looking at lots of Griffiths electrodynamics problems, but I don't have time to look at them all, because like you and perhaps like Euler too: I'm not perfect. So: I am being honest with myself: I write a note to myself saying "You skipped this problem". But I don't feel good or bad about that "fact" that I skipped teh problem...I just treat that as some objective fact I saw in the laboratory: it's the truth. It's honesty. And: that's right in line with the Mission Statement I've got for myself as a scientist: utter honesty.

Even as I write this, I'm kind of excited, anew, for my choice to be a scientist. It's so fortunate to have a path in life where I can follow personal principles. If I were an engineer or businessman, I'd have to swallow some corporation's mission statement and sacrifice a lot of principles. I just can't do that. So: Euler or not, I'm a scientist, b!tches : )