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Everyone is capable of, and can benefit from, mathematical thinking

(www.quantamagazine.org)
260 points sonabinu | 2 comments | 21 Nov 24 01:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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tracerbulletx ◴[21 Nov 24 04:57 UTC] No.42201269[source]▶
A nice sentiment but clearly a large % of people never do learn even basic mathematical thinking and seem very confused by it. So is there some scientific study backing up the claim that all these people could easily learn it or are we just making it up because its a nice egalitarian thesis for a math popularization book?
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physicsguy ◴[21 Nov 24 06:17 UTC] No.42201622[source]▶
That certain countries both now and in the past have had significantly higher mathematical ability among the general population and much higher proportions going on to further study suggests that ability isn’t innate but that people don’t choose it. In the Soviet Union more time was spent teaching mathematics and a whole culture developed around mathematics being fun.
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1. strken ◴[21 Nov 24 09:40 UTC] No.42202585{3}[source]▶
Why would ability not be innate just because some people with the ability don't use it?

Or more specifically, two of my friends teach special needs children in the 50 to 70 IQ band. Who are we going to blame for them not becoming mathematicians? The teachers, for not unlocking their hidden potential? The kids, for not trying hard enough? Claiming that the only thing holding them back is choice seems as cruel as it is wrong, to me.

Yeah, we're probably not cultivating anywhere near the potential that we could, but I personally guarantee you I am not Ramanujan or Terence Tao.

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2. physicsguy ◴[21 Nov 24 12:43 UTC] No.42203786[source]▶
Well, I guess what I mean is that most people have some level of general intelligence that when applied correctly can generally give good results in most subjects. In general the people who do well in school do well in everything, even if they have a preference, and as such could do well in most of those subjects if they went on to further study. The evidence tends to be that in lower income countries people push towards subjects more likely to bring financial stability than those they prefer which bears this out somewhat.

There are some extreme cases of course but I’m not sure the general public needs to worry too much about those, most of us aren’t an Einstein nor do we have learning disabilities.