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Some people will learn maths much faster than others. A person of IQ 140 will learn calculus in much less time than someone with an IQ of 70. Even if everyone h

Some people will learn maths much faster than others. A person of IQ 140 will learn calculus in much less time than someone with an IQ of 70. Even if everyone had infinite time I think we would all hit a limit, and that limit would span a very large range of ability. Hence the answer is no, not all brains are 'good' at math.

yboris 4y ago
It seems you're answering a narrow question focusing on "all". At this point, you may as well argue "there are people in persistent vegetative state, so 'no, not all brains are good at math'". This doesn't seem like a charitable interpretation of what the focus is on. If we are looking at the 95% of the population, excluding the obvious examples, your argument might not apply very much. I think the claim is also contingent on what is meant by math (how far do you need to go to be proclaimed "good" at it) - and I doubt calculus is a requirement. For your argument to work, you'd need to confront whether in fact at least 95% of the general population would be capable of understanding enough math for (and here we can differ on what "good" is, but I'd say something like) general understanding of algebra and its application towards regular life activities (e.g. understanding percents, exponential growth, loan interest payments, solving for an unknown, etc).
- abdulhaq 4y ago
  Yes it comes down to 'good' meaning having achieved a certain level, or 'good' implying the existence of a significant spread in ability across e.g a central 95% of people. I've chosen the second meaning, and do believe the spread remains significant.
- zmgsabst 4y ago
  At my university, almost all of the math majors and a fair number of engineering students graduated high school with calculus credits. I think the person is making a fair distinction that most brains are okay at math — and some at each end of the bell curve are good or bad at math. - - - - - A few asides: - really understanding exponential growth requires derivatives/rates of change - we do a bad job at conveying math subjects in education; you can teach kids the basics of abstract algebra and calculus if you tie the ideas to familiar concepts - we should definitely rework the curriculum in light of computers
troon-lover 4y ago
desindol 4y ago
IQ doesn’t help you understand higher math concepts if you got burned by bad mathematical education early in your life.

yboris 4y ago

It seems you're answering a narrow question focusing on "all". At this point, you may as well argue "there are people in persistent vegetative state, so 'no, not all brains are good at math'". This doesn't seem like a charitable interpretation of what the focus is on. If we are looking at the 95% of the population, excluding the obvious examples, your argument might not apply very much. I think the claim is also contingent on what is meant by math (how far do you need to go to be proclaimed "good" at it) - and I doubt calculus is a requirement. For your argument to work, you'd need to confront whether in fact at least 95% of the general population would be capable of understanding enough math for (and here we can differ on what "good" is, but I'd say something like) general understanding of algebra and its application towards regular life activities (e.g. understanding percents, exponential growth, loan interest payments, solving for an unknown, etc).

abdulhaq 4y ago
Yes it comes down to 'good' meaning having achieved a certain level, or 'good' implying the existence of a significant spread in ability across e.g a central 95% of people. I've chosen the second meaning, and do believe the spread remains significant.
zmgsabst 4y ago
At my university, almost all of the math majors and a fair number of engineering students graduated high school with calculus credits. I think the person is making a fair distinction that most brains are okay at math — and some at each end of the bell curve are good or bad at math. - - - - - A few asides: - really understanding exponential growth requires derivatives/rates of change - we do a bad job at conveying math subjects in education; you can teach kids the basics of abstract algebra and calculus if you tie the ideas to familiar concepts - we should definitely rework the curriculum in light of computers

troon-lover 4y ago

desindol 4y ago

IQ doesn’t help you understand higher math concepts if you got burned by bad mathematical education early in your life.