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How to tell if you would be good at Maths?

AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

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Reply 1

AQuestion1

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

???

Reply 2

Absent Agent

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

I guess before that you need to have faith in your ability. The fact that you are asking this question suggests otherwise but I'm sure you are just one of the people who hasn't found himself. Maybe @TeeEm would be able to help you with that since I don't have experience to say anything on the matter.
Good luck!

Reply 3

TeeEm

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

Maths at what level?

Reply 4

kkboyk

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

Your interest and passion for the subject: everyone that likes the field would study extremely hard for it even if they have no potential, to the point they are deemed talented.

Stephen Smale is a very good example (read his biography on Wikipedia).

Reply 5

karate-kid

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

The question you should be asking is how much time you expect to put into the subject. The more you practice, the better you get :P

Reply 6

Jibola240

Anyone with average intelligence can do well at GCSE maths if they had the interest. If you're talking about a maths proligy, then, I'd say someone very smart who has also has a strong interest in maths.

Reply 7

AQuestion1

Original post by TeeEm

Maths at what level?

University.

Reply 8

TeeEm

Original post by AQuestion1

University.

If you are a first Year you are experience what practically every conscientious student experiences. (I went through that too)

Most people hit a minimum around end of November.
It is too early to tell if you have it or not, and also it depends on your own standards and goals.
Do not give up mentally because regardless of ability it will be all over.

Reply 9

AQuestion1

Original post by TeeEm

Why did you decide to study Maths?

Reply 10

TeeEm

Original post by AQuestion1

Why did you decide to study Maths?

Longish story but I will try to inspire you if you are feeling doubts.

my degree started in 1984.

I started with Maths and Computer science because my peers and family "strongly" advised me.

After 3 weeks I switched to straight maths (I could not stand computing)

After the first year I switched to Maths with Theoretical Physics (The first year was identical for both degrees) because I did not enjoy Pure maths.

I felt extremely depressed during the first Year first term, thinking everybody else was better than me ... Things clicked during exam leave in the first year (very long exam leave in UCL in those days).
Applied courses I understood well by then.
For the Pure courses I memorized 100+ theorems/proofs and results.

in the second year I came first in the department (I got the Andrew Rosen Prize or something like that)

My three Year weighted average was exactly 90% on graduation.

I can assure you at degree level I consider myself mathematically average however my productivity/motivation is very high.

As I said the shock at the start of a Mathematics degree is very common. I warn my own students about it so they can deal better with it when/if it comes.

All the best.

Reply 11

TeeEm

very lucky indeed!!!
We even used to get a grants, to help with living costs even though we lived at home...

(PS not a high-school teacher. Private teacher and former lecturer among some of my previous jobs)

Reply 12

username2151383

actually yeah, my teacher said that even if you get an A* in gcse maths, you could get a U at A level
why???
what's so different?

Reply 13

British Jesus

Everyone has the potential to be good or even outstanding in Mathematics but Maths is a skill and you need to put the work into it to be good at it. Just like any other skill.

Reply 14

Johann von Gauss

Original post by defenestrated

actually yeah, my teacher said that even if you get an A* in gcse maths, you could get a U at A level
why???
what's so different?

GCSE: Spell "23" in words

A-level: Find the centre of mass of a cone from its base, using calculus

CIE IGCSE Additional Maths, on the other hand, is another story :wink:

Original post by British Jesus

Everyone has the potential to be good or even outstanding in Mathematics but Maths is a skill and you need to put the work into it to be good at it. Just like any other skill.

Not everyone...

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

TeeEm

Original post by British Jesus

Everyone has the potential to be good or even outstanding in Mathematics but Maths is a skill and you need to put the work into it to be good at it. Just like any other skill.

Not everyone.
but a high proportion of failures is simply lack of work and motivation

Reply 16

Duke Glacia

Original post by AQuestion1

How to know whether you have the potential to be good at Maths?

It depends but i guess peopke with deep interest tends to di well. By intuition you can tell (not always)whether the person has a flair for math.
But maths ability is also sonething by birth. Can you expect all thirteen year ilds to win in the imo.i doubt it.
Checj about this guy. Hes pretty much the type i would cobsider "genius by birth"Arran Fernandez

Reply 17

TeeEm

Original post by defenestrated

actually yeah, my teacher said that even if you get an A* in gcse maths, you could get a U at A level
why???
what's so different?

Maths really starts at A level but it begins its glory at degree level

Reply 18

math42

Original post by defenestrated

actually yeah, my teacher said that even if you get an A* in gcse maths, you could get a U at A level
why???
what's so different?

Most of GCSE maths is pretty obvious stuff that you can pick up by just attending lessons. A Level gets into more conceptually challenging topics, plus it demands far more in terms of algebraic manipulations.
But that's not to say A Level is all that hard. I suspect GCSE success probably is more closely correlated with ability than A Level success. I have a friend who did better than me in UKMT SMC and some kind of IQ-test style mathematical thing we did a long time ago and he got a U in A level while I got an A*. Simply because I worked hard on maths and he did nothing. At GCSE any student with some mathematical inclination can hardly fail to do decently.