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Are people born with a natural ability to do certain things really well? e.g maths

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Original post by sweetiemelx
If someone is really bad at maths through hard work would they be able to achieve an A at a-level or is maths only for those that have the natural ability?

Is it possible to become excellent at something if you don't have the natural ability?

Because in our society a lot of people assume that people are born intelligent which I think is true, but if your not born intelligent and you don't have the natural ability to study maths or sciences is it the end? You can't get into a STEM degree so you will be most likely unemployed.

So what do you guys think?



Noo!! A-level maths is not just for those who have a natural ability/are gifted. It's for thise who are hard working. If you're gufted jn maths, but dont work hard, you will fail. If you're not gifted in maths, and work hard you will strive:h:

YES, i have always been dumb at maths since primary(i still dont know all my timetables) but i worked hard and i am hoping to get that A* in my gcse maths

THIS IS NOT FULLY TRUE. Yes, intelligence can be genetic, but it only works until gcse, after that you need to be hardworking to get good grades.

An answer to all your question:
The road to success comes through hard working and determination and nothing else.:biggrin:
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Engineering a hierarchy of ability in your mind has as much practical utility as solipsism.

There is only one thing you need to know:

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by xylas
Never heard of him before, reading his wiki he seemed to be able to do uni maths at an early age but what is your point exactly? It seems like he really likes maths and spends all his time doing it so yes I would say he works harder than nearly everyone else at maths.



I can do that too, but I still prefer maths over art. I would tell myself I have an innate skill in it if it made me feel better :smile:
.


Unless you do a lot of maths it's hard to Describe just how ridiculous he is


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Reply 63
Original post by drandy76
Unless you do a lot of maths it's hard to Describe just how ridiculous he is


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You're ridiculous
Original post by xylas
Never heard of him before, reading his wiki he seemed to be able to do uni maths at an early age but what is your point exactly? It seems like he really likes maths and spends all his time doing it so yes I would say he works harder than nearly everyone else at maths.


Mate I don't think you understood his point. Do you really think that doing UNI maths at AGE 9 is just due to him working harder than other people?

Original post by xylas

You can always say you didn't try lol. You're the only person I know who would prefer to be that guy who says he didn't try. I would rather be living on the street than be that guy.

Your point which I've underlined is exactly what I was saying that you are less likely to get depressed if you work hard.


Hah why would you say that? Whats wrong if i say I don't try if i really dont try? I dont get you

And you didn't understand my point, I would be most likely to get sad/depressed if I did try hard and did bad, thats why I said i would pefer to not try and do bad
Original post by xylas
You're ridiculous


Lol cba with you


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I think anyone can learn to do most things but that everyone has different aptitudes. At uni I found that talent would win out over hard work more times than not. But I guess this is where everyone is putting in effort rather than relying completely on natural abilities.
Original post by sweetiemelx
If someone is really bad at maths through hard work would they be able to achieve an A at a-level or is maths only for those that have the natural ability?

Is it possible to become excellent at something if you don't have the natural ability?

Because in our society a lot of people assume that people are born intelligent which I think is true, but if your not born intelligent and you don't have the natural ability to study maths or sciences is it the end? You can't get into a STEM degree so you will be most likely unemployed.

So what do you guys think?
Nope, if you work really hard you won't get an A, you would get an A*! :smile:
Reply 68
Original post by theBranicAc
Mate I don't think you understood his point. Do you really think that doing UNI maths at AGE 9 is just due to him working harder than other people?

Hah why would you say that? Whats wrong if i say I don't try if i really dont try? I dont get you

And you didn't understand my point, I would be most likely to get sad/depressed if I did try hard and did bad, thats why I said i would pefer to not try and do bad


He worked harder and he wanted it more.

No-one listens to the person who say they didn't try. People take homeless people more seriously than losers who tell themselves and others they didn't try.

You said " I would keep on working hard so that i can improve" which is the opposite of depression.
Original post by xylas
He worked harder and he wanted it more.

No-one listens to the person who say they didn't try. People take homeless people more seriously than losers who tell themselves and others they didn't try.

You said " I would keep on working hard so that i can improve" which is the opposite of depression.


No its because he was born a genius, not just because he worked harder?

Fair enough, people don't take you that serious if you say that I didn't try because they think that your lying

Sorry you must of mis intepreted what I meant . If I do try hard and get bad results, I would be pretty sad and depressed for a while, BUT instead of dwelling on it I will keep on working hard so that i can improve, like I said
Original post by theBranicAc
No its because he was born a genius, not just because he worked harder?

Fair enough, people don't take you that serious if you say that I didn't try because they think that your lying

Sorry you must of mis intepreted what I meant . If I do try hard and get bad results, I would be pretty sad and depressed for a while, BUT instead of dwelling on it I will keep on working hard so that i can improve, like I said


I concur!
I believe that some people are destined to succeed at certain things, which others could never achieve no matter how hard they work for it. Sad truth really. :frown:
To some extent, it does influence it yes.

I find myself putting in much less effort than other people and still doing as well as or better - I have the highest predictions for Further Maths even though I know full well that the others put in much more study time than me.

However, even though I dedicated a huge amount of time to my Art GCSE, I still wasn't able to pull out anything above a B. So there's that contrast.
(edited 7 years ago)
I have a very good brain. It's tremendous. It's true, It's true...
Reply 74
I wasn't born with a talent in anything but I have the ability to easily reach a standard level in pretty much any topic, I can easily understand and get to grips with most things without an effort but if I'm to be great at it I need to put in that extra effort, so I'm quite all round but Maths is the best for me, it just clicks to me at the higher level without the need for much effort.

Science however is the one thing I struggled with, perhaps because it was boring and I put in no effort till the last minute, it's did work hard for the last month and mastered to get a standard grade of C but I think trying to become really good at a subject you have no natural ability or interest in is quite difficult without a doubt albeit possible
Well i think if you try hard enough you will get better at things, for example in primary school i used to be terrible at maths i mean like bottom table maths in years 1 2 3 and 4 5 6 bottom sets. This also happened for any other subject at primary school as well and i was not academically gifted according to my teachers and parents. These events have made me scared of maths and to this day I freeze whenever i have to do mental arithmetic.




By the time i reached secondary school, i applied myself and tried to understand what was being taught to me and i ended up getting a respectable B grade in GCSE maths at the end of year 11. Kinda ****ed up AS maths due to giving up rather early in the course, but the point is if you try hard enough in something you will improve, rather than just having talent itself because i was the most retarded kid ever in primary school and had 0 talent in any of my subjects but with a little motivation and hard work understanding the concepts I did decently in my gcse's with 1A*, 2A's, a load of B's and a C in french and i am currently awaiting my A levels so I can study Biochemistry.
yes, i think that they are, there are going to be certain things people are good at and some which they arent good at, but that is the way life is for someone, like in maths i was pretty average and i passed at at GCSE, but at A-levels i didnt pick it as i knew that i would struggle, but english is totally different it allows me to have my own perceptions of certain novels and add it in my writing :smile:
Reply 77
Original post by sweetiemelx
If someone is really bad at maths through hard work would they be able to achieve an A at a-level or is maths only for those that have the natural ability?

Is it possible to become excellent at something if you don't have the natural ability?

Because in our society a lot of people assume that people are born intelligent which I think is true, but if your not born intelligent and you don't have the natural ability to study maths or sciences is it the end? You can't get into a STEM degree so you will be most likely unemployed.

So what do you guys think?


Firstly i would like to say that no one i is born with information about science or maths embedded into their head; we all have to learn things in order to seem knowledgable in a subject. However, people are born with different learning speeds which is why a person may seem more intelligent than an other. If we consider what learning actualy means we would most likely think of the word practice; so all that is rally different between people is how much they have to practice in order to understand something. This means that even if someone is quicker at learning things than you, working hat or in other words practicing more frequently can easily get you to the level you want to be ati think that it all comes down to work ethic as and if you have that, your good to go for A level maths👍
Everyone in this thread that has provided a straight yes or no answer so far is clearly silly (so most of the first page)

The correct answer is we don't yet know how much of "intelligence" is genetically determined and how much isn't. But with that being said, the research is pointing to genetics playing a significant role.

That does NOT mean people are born good at maths. Whoever said everyone starts bad was correct. What you are born with however, is the ability to improve faster than others. And the ability to reach a higher peak.
Original post by xylas
Never heard of him before, reading his wiki he seemed to be able to do uni maths at an early age but what is your point exactly? It seems like he really likes maths and spends all his time doing it so yes I would say he works harder than nearly everyone else at maths.



I can do that too, but I still prefer maths over art. I would tell myself I have an innate skill in it if it made me feel better :smile:



You can always say you didn't try lol. You're the only person I know who would prefer to be that guy who says he didn't try. I would rather be living on the street than be that guy.

Your point which I've underlined is exactly what I was saying that you are less likely to get depressed if you work hard.


And this is where personal sentiment takes over a rational debate.

All other things being equal (time invested, socio-economic factors, etc.), the most talented individual will do better. Terrence Tao has and works extremely hard but you can't take away the fact that he's a one-of-a-kind genius. You can take 100,000 babies, or any arbitrary number, from a good upbringing and make them do as much maths as possible, and it would be near impossible for any one of them to be as competent as him in maths.

Secondly, like the other poster and many others (if not the majority of people), I would always prefer being in the position where you succeed without hard work than the contrary. The world is what it is, and there isn't an absolute "natural justice" for the hard workers - you either succeed, or you don't.

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