Are math skills natural, or rather acquired?

tetrahedr0n
Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:03:05 +0000

but math contest math- there’s a lot more natural ability needed IMO… there’s only so much you can study



You’re dead wrong. When it comes to math competitions, “natural” ability, whatever that is, is absolutely meaningless. You need to do practice. Lots and lots of practice. By many estimations, to reach the highest level of math competitions one needs a similar amount of work as an undergrad math major.

Most people in this thread who are trying to defend the “natural” position point to either people struggling in various math classes or people who seem to “get” them easier. Neither is proof of anything. For example, if my parents taught me calculus in 8th grade, I might seem to “naturally” get the concepts faster. That doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t natural, it was acquired. (Of course, I wouldn’t be telling my friends that - I’d go for “I’m a genius, yeah.” :)). Struggling in a math class? OK, that happens. Some who struggle eventually end up focusing on it, loving the subject, and end up majoring in it in college. There’s no real evidence of any kind of threshold.



You’re either logical or you’re not…



So why do we even bother to have logic classes? Logic is a learned discipline.