I'm just looking for honest opinions. For most of my life, for reasons I've never entirely been able to figure out, I've pretty well sucked at math. I was always able to pass the classes, but it never seemed to come as naturally to me as it did for the "good at math" crew. I'm in uni now, and I had to drop my calc class because I was having too much trouble with it.
Here's the thing though: on all those standardized tests that we took in hs, I always scored in the upper 90th percentiles. People seem to think I'm smart, pegging me as a "science guy" without me bringing anything up related to it, and commenting on how smart I seem.
But if I actually am smart, shouldn't I be able to pass calculus? I feel like there's something missing here
math's got nothing to do with intelligence. absolutely nothing. /thread
Nolan Bell
you should go back and review your algebra, geometry, or even further back then that. A good place to do that is kahn academy.
Matthew Scott
you should go back and review your algebra, geometry, or even further back then that. A good place to do that is kahn academy
Christopher Reyes
Well kind of, calculus is easy math. Maybe you just don't like math, which is different. If you feel like your brain just "shuts off" when you're studying something that's a good sign that you're studying the wrong thing. I don't think I'm dumb and yet I would never be able to study linguistics or history, I just can't deal with that kind of thing.
Julian Wood
>brain shuts off from boring stuff >smart pick one
Robert Watson
boring is subjective, lad
Elijah Foster
If you can't concentrate on something just because you think it's boring, you're a brainlet.
Nathaniel Campbell
Could be a lack of motivation. Or the fact that uni maths is waay harder than high school maths depending on where you study
Jason Robinson
>Is it possible to be smart and suck at math? No, since being smart implies that you are good at solving problems and that you have the ability to understand things, and guess what? Math involves both things. Don't even try to fagging around "intelligence types" since that is a psychology meme (like if psychology on its own wasn't a meme).
Adam Evans
fpbp
Grayson Roberts
>I mine coal all day even though I don't want to >I am very smart
You aren't alive to chase unpleasant experiences. Obviously there's wisdom in doing things you don't want to do but need to do, but there's also no point in forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do in the long run.
Happy + 30k year > sad + 1M a year
David Parker
If you are smart then Mathematics (as well as what underlies it: logic and philosophy) will come easily to you. Even if you don't appreciate it beyond surface-level applied mathematics, you would still excel at said part of mathematics. Though I would argue lack of interest in mathematics as a whole, especially the actual structure and theory of it, indicates a lack or limitation of intelligence.
Jonathan Reyes
How can one user misinterpret one post this much?
Hudson Edwards
Standerdized tests are a terrible measure of math skills. What you learn in school doesn't prepare you for actual math problems.
Cooper Cooper
Ez, I remember thinking about that earlier so I was just looking for an opportunity to point that out within realizing it
Levi Morris
Humans didn't evolve to look at some fucking numbers. We evolved to analyze fitness information. Everything else we're capable of is an unintended by-product of our evolution. There's nothing special about being good at math.
There's nothing wrong with not liking math, but most people on a science board are going to laugh at you. It's like going to a cars show and asking people if it's fine to ride a bicycle instead.
>psychology >not a pseudoscience Don't you have a personality test to take lmao
Camden Allen
>People (i.e. retarded normies) SEEM to think I'm smart, pegging me as a "science guy" without me bringing anything up related to it, and commenting on how smart I SEEM. I think I see the discrepancy
Jackson Reyes
>psychometry >not the only part of psychology that's highly reproducible and half a shit
Kevin Foster
If you don't train math you're gonna suck at it, regardless of intelligence.
But if you do train and still suck, then yeah you're probably not very smart.
Hunter Fisher
>Is it possible to be good at sports and still suck at weight lifting? >I'm just looking for honest opinions because I can run a 3.8 second 40 meter dash, but whenever I go to lift weights I can barely bench 180 This is what you sound like
Michael Smith
that's a pretty good analogy
Ian Sullivan
Don't listen to anyone in this thread, you can be smart and bad at math—it's just not likely.
Jose Jones
Both Darwin and Faraday sucked at math so you can be smart but not good at math
Adam Thomas
...
Aaron Martinez
What's the definition of "intelligent" here?
Charles Diaz
It is really all about practicing. I finished my school this year, and was very bad all the time. But I practiced days for the final exam, in which at the end, math was my best subject. It really is all about practicing, don't be lazy, even if it hurts.
Gabriel Morales
>Is it possible to be smart and suck at math?
Charles Darwin seems like an exception. Darwin probably sucked at math just like most of Biologists. It
However Darwin wasn't a Scientific Genius, just a clever observer. His insight came from just observation. Darwin contribution of Science is undeniable however.
It's very difficult to be/become a Scientific Genius like Newton, Einstein or Von Neumann if you suck at Math.
Mozart, Shakespeare & Michelangelo were Artistic Genius, but They were not Scientific Genius.
Socrates, Plato, Kant, Hegel & Marx were influential thinkers. But they were also not Scientific.
Everybody knows that you can be a Top Artist, Thinker, Biologist, Medical Doctor, Business Man, Lawyer, or Government Officer if you suck at Math. But most of these are Brainlets when compared to the Physics/Math Geniuses.