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What do you all think about the role of genius in making discoveries in mathematics today? Are you screwed if you're not a genius? Or is working hard, good coll

What do you all think about the role of genius in making discoveries in mathematics today? Are you screwed if you're not a genius? Or is working hard, good collaboration, and wide-reading all that is needed?

sharikous 4y ago
You need to have a knack for math. This is necessary. Then you need hard work and good collaboration, also necessary . But if you have the latter without the former you risk to end up miserable
- Datenstrom 4y ago
  For pure math you certainly need a knack for math, not so for Science in general though with notable cases like Faraday.
SiempreViernes 4y ago
I think a genius is a lucky person whose hard work is not very blatant and has got a good hype-man. If you're unlucky you work hard on a dead end, if people can see you work hard all the time your results are not effortless enough to be the work of a genius, and if you don't have a hype-man you'll at most be seen as very good.
hamiltonians 4y ago
is this a trick question. of course u have to be a genius to make interesting, original research. it was that way 200 years, why would it be different now.
- hcta 4y ago
  Almost every hard thing people have been doing for 200 years is easier now than it was 200 years ago.
  - hamiltonians 4y ago
    then why do kids still struggle at algebra and other ancient concepts
    - Jensson 4y ago
      More kids learn those than before. But that is better explained by everyone spending thousands of hours learning math today, kids spending that much time on math 200 years ago likely learned algebra as well.
    - naniwaduni 4y ago
      Ancient kids struggled less with algebra by not being expected to learn it at all...
  - perryizgr8 4y ago
    Can you give one single example of a mental/intellectual task that humans have generally gotten better at in the last 200 years?
    - naniwaduni 4y ago
      Reading? Arithmetic? Prose composition? Everything in a high school curriculum? Not to belabor the point, but 200 years ago was the early 1800s.
      - perryizgr8 4y ago
        We've built upon the collective knowledgebase, true. But it is as hard for a person today to do arithmetic and logical reasoning as it was in the 1800s.
      - vt85 4y ago
joe_the_user 4y ago
Anyone who makes a remarkable discovery in mathematics is going to be considered a genius nearly by definition, so by this, "genius" is all that is involved. But oppositely, the definition of genius overall is fairly fuzzy. And especially, people have made important contributions to mathematics without showing "early promise".
goethes_kind 4y ago
You 100% need to have a significantly above average IQ, just to get to the level where you can start working on any given known mathematical problem. Once you are at that level, then one could conceivably think that luck+hardwork might be enough to get you results, but when you are considerably smarter, you can work much faster than others, and maybe even make connections that others will never be able to make.

sharikous 4y ago

You need to have a knack for math. This is necessary. Then you need hard work and good collaboration, also necessary . But if you have the latter without the former you risk to end up miserable

Datenstrom 4y ago
For pure math you certainly need a knack for math, not so for Science in general though with notable cases like Faraday.

SiempreViernes 4y ago

I think a genius is a lucky person whose hard work is not very blatant and has got a good hype-man. If you're unlucky you work hard on a dead end, if people can see you work hard all the time your results are not effortless enough to be the work of a genius, and if you don't have a hype-man you'll at most be seen as very good.

hamiltonians 4y ago

is this a trick question. of course u have to be a genius to make interesting, original research. it was that way 200 years, why would it be different now.

hcta 4y ago
Almost every hard thing people have been doing for 200 years is easier now than it was 200 years ago.
- hamiltonians 4y ago
  then why do kids still struggle at algebra and other ancient concepts
  - Jensson 4y ago
    More kids learn those than before. But that is better explained by everyone spending thousands of hours learning math today, kids spending that much time on math 200 years ago likely learned algebra as well.
  - naniwaduni 4y ago
    Ancient kids struggled less with algebra by not being expected to learn it at all...
- perryizgr8 4y ago
  Can you give one single example of a mental/intellectual task that humans have generally gotten better at in the last 200 years?
  - naniwaduni 4y ago
    Reading? Arithmetic? Prose composition? Everything in a high school curriculum? Not to belabor the point, but 200 years ago was the early 1800s.
    - perryizgr8 4y ago
      We've built upon the collective knowledgebase, true. But it is as hard for a person today to do arithmetic and logical reasoning as it was in the 1800s.
    - vt85 4y ago

joe_the_user 4y ago

Anyone who makes a remarkable discovery in mathematics is going to be considered a genius nearly by definition, so by this, "genius" is all that is involved. But oppositely, the definition of genius overall is fairly fuzzy. And especially, people have made important contributions to mathematics without showing "early promise".

goethes_kind 4y ago

You 100% need to have a significantly above average IQ, just to get to the level where you can start working on any given known mathematical problem. Once you are at that level, then one could conceivably think that luck+hardwork might be enough to get you results, but when you are considerably smarter, you can work much faster than others, and maybe even make connections that others will never be able to make.