The truth about talent
“What makes mathematicians’ brains special is the capacity to become obsessed with a maths problem.”
Most people think they know whether they’re good at math. In fact, most people think it’s obvious who’s good at math: whoever finishes the tests first, with the fewest errors, is good at math. It’s as simple as that.
Except that it turns out it’s not as simple as that — not by a long shot, in fact. Even for mathematicians, it’s notoriously hard to tell who’s good at math, and the history of the subject provides many striking examples of great mathematicians who did poorly on tests. You don’t have to dazzle as a six-year-old either, since some of the greatest mathematicians of all time didn't even begin to pursue the subject seriously until well into their twenties. In this art, it’s not just the whiz kids who matter.
So before you decide you’re not good enough at math to benefit from attending our Circle, consider this: unless you’re from a mathematical family, chances are you’ve never even seen a math problem that’s really worth your time. And until you do, you really can’t know whether your brain has that special capacity to become obsessed with a math problem that makes all the difference in this art.