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

(www.quantamagazine.org)
669 points sonabinu | 1 comments | 21 Nov 24 01:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.233s | source
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gsabo ◴[21 Nov 24 05:19 UTC] No.42201370[source]▶
I agree with the sentiment of this. I think our obsession with innate mathematical skill and genius is so detrimental to the growth mindset that you need to have in order to learn things.

I've been working a lot on my math skills lately (as an adult). A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's easy, then it means you already know this material, and you're wasting your time.

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1. setopt ◴[21 Nov 24 12:28 UTC] No.42203649[source]▶
> A mindset I've had in the past is that "if it's hard, then that means you've hit your ceiling and you're wasting your time." But really, the opposite is true. If it's easy, then it means you already know this material, and you're wasting your time.

It’s a well-established effect in pedagogics that learning vs. difficulty has a non-monotonic relationship, where you don’t learn efficiently if the material is either too hard or too easy compared to your current level. There is an optimum learning point somewhere in-between where the material is “challenging” – but neither “trivial” nor “insurmountable” – to put it that way.