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I think the vast majority of math students don't fit the extremes you've mentioned. Personally I find it hard to blame anything but the system, at least in US s

I think the vast majority of math students don't fit the extremes you've mentioned. Personally I find it hard to blame anything but the system, at least in US schools. I began school in 2 Commonwealth countries and was a very average student, underperforming compared to my siblings. I moved to the US in 7th grade and was considered a genius, always getting in "gifted programs", etc. I was in possession of math books from my siblings high school and enjoyed them - ultimately finding that my bachelor's degree from an engineering school still didn't require math classes that got close to those books. So I have a hard time saying it's inherent ability holding math classes back.

andrewem 7y ago
What are some topics which were covered in your siblings' high school math textbooks which weren't required for your degree from a university? (You say "from an engineering school", but it's not clear if it was an engineering degree.)
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  Degree was computer engineering - less calculus than mechanical engineering, but all degrees from that department had a base standard of some 200-level courses from the math dept. for science & engineering majors. Linear algebra was probably most lacking - as it only covered system of equations and basic matrix operations and properties. Eigenvectors, subspaces, etc. I've had to learn all that myself. Calculus never actually exceeded AP calculus as taught in a US high school. Statistics included a pretty similar set of concepts, though the problems were much simpler (fewer layers of conditional probability) and didn't cover quite as many example of tests & methods, etc.
jasode 7y ago
>So I have a hard time saying it's inherent ability holding math classes back. I wasn't saying anything about holding math classes back. My reply to jacobolus was specifically about the 10x difference in math skills progression and exploring what the underlying reasons could be.

andrewem 7y ago

What are some topics which were covered in your siblings' high school math textbooks which weren't required for your degree from a university? (You say "from an engineering school", but it's not clear if it was an engineering degree.)

TallGuyShort 7y ago
Degree was computer engineering - less calculus than mechanical engineering, but all degrees from that department had a base standard of some 200-level courses from the math dept. for science & engineering majors. Linear algebra was probably most lacking - as it only covered system of equations and basic matrix operations and properties. Eigenvectors, subspaces, etc. I've had to learn all that myself. Calculus never actually exceeded AP calculus as taught in a US high school. Statistics included a pretty similar set of concepts, though the problems were much simpler (fewer layers of conditional probability) and didn't cover quite as many example of tests & methods, etc.

jasode 7y ago

>So I have a hard time saying it's inherent ability holding math classes back. I wasn't saying anything about holding math classes back. My reply to jacobolus was specifically about the 10x difference in math skills progression and exploring what the underlying reasons could be.