>there are kids going to Harvard to study mathematics who

>>8580785
I killed myself years ago

Good news for you and everyone else who is depressed by this, although your overall achievement may not match these prodigies, there are enough branches and subfields of math so that you may always find a niche of research for you to work on.

Ehh, by the time they're in their mid 20's things have essentially balanced out and they're no more special than the students who didn't have the same options when they were 12.

And what >>8580789 said is completely right. Generally the feeling of competition disappears by the time you get to grad school. Everyone wants to do something different, and if you and another person have the same goals, you'll probably become best friends.

>>8580788
Any pro tips?

>>8580785
just read this, as written by your very own pic related

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/does-one-have-to-be-a-genius-to-do-maths/

>>8580785
>How do you even compete?

I don't. I come from a small country that is never in spotlight and not once has a single important mathematician come out of this little piece of land. I didn't even know I wanted to especialize in pure mathematics until I was fucking 17. At this point who cares. Where I am studying at I am already the top student.

I will be the king of my little hill and no one will ever take that from me. I will study the topics I like for the sake of it and if something cool ever comes out then maybe I wil expand my kindgom. If not then that is fine, a king only needs one castle.

So literally I don't give a shit and from my perspective, I don't think I would trade my childhood for a childhood of forced mathematical training, as much as it would benefit where I am now. It is you eurocucks and americucks who have to compete with the top, never having any kind of even local notoriety because not graduating uni at the age of 16 is already a dishonor. Kek. But me? I'll be fucking great. It doesn't even hurt me that I probably won't be the one to crack one of the "big" problems. I don't do mathematics for other people, I do it for my own pleasure and just like I don't have to be a fit pornstar to feel good about sex, I don't have to be a top world mathematician to feel good about math.

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>>8580815
> I come from a small country

>especialize
>you eurocucks and americucks
>I I I me me me I I I I I me me me me

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>>8580805
Esentially what >>8580789 suggested. I used to have high aspirations but then as time went on I figured out that there's no way any of that is happening so I kept lowering them more and more until I specialized in a tiny but important™ part of my field that the big dogs don't care about. If you can't eat the meat, go for the bones. I'm the boneman.

>>8580824
>>I I I me me me I I I I I me me me me

Well, OP asked directly for our opinion. My opinion.

If you want I can google someone else's opinion on the matter and then write that in second person, you absolute autist.

>>8580785

Do a contribution to any field requires hard work, more than intelligence.

>>8580785

Just work hard and steadily.
You never know when you might have an eureka moment.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20130519-unheralded-mathematician-bridges-the-prime-gap/

>>8580785
Protip: normies can't tell. If you work in pure mathematics they assume you're the smartest person on earth (especially women do this). I've been exploiting this for YEARS. [spoiler] I'm actually mediocre [/spoiler]

>>8580785
>>8580868

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIIyKWxGhEA

>>8580872
Lol @ at all those uncomfortable mathfags at the beginning, disappointed they didn't make the headway. Always wondered what that'd look like.

Why do people pursue math? What makes you go "wow I really want to learn this stuff"?

>>8580895
>DUDE PURE LMAO

>>8580810
Literally the academic equivalent of "just be yourself".

>>8580895
brainlet

they're just one person

there's room in the world for more than 1 person

>>8580895
>Be born too smart for business or the humanities so have to do STEM
>Not a monkey so don't want to do manual labor like labs and other "practical" assignments
>Not a brainlet so don't want to do group projects with potential brainlets
>The only degrees that satisfies all those qualities is a degree in pure mathematics

It is not like we have another choice. Academia is fucking gay. Every other faggot ass STEM degree has some kind of laboratories and some even have the nerve to make a "final semester group project". Holy fuck.

I don't want none of that shit.

And then when you graduate no doors have been closed. Jobs in finance, engineering, technology, education, academia, etc. are all open for people with an education in mathematics.

No math degree is complete without statistics and probability theory and literally every line of business needs someone who knows those subjects.

There is no industry where you cannot get a job at and you can achieve that wihout ever, EVER doing anything more than to draw up some pretty symbols on a piece of paper.

It is the absolute alpha no-nonsense degree of academia. And the only one for STEM. Degrees in other areas like the humanities and business get away with this, but obviously their careers are severely limited.

>>8580789

But why do anything if those geniuses would do it better if only they bothered?

You're telling me to not be deppressed for not living in a mansion since I can always live in a shitty shack.

>>8580902
>>8580905
I'm serious. Medfags want to make money and feel better than everybody else. Pharm fags for the same reason but they couldn't get into med school. Ecologists like being hippies. What's the reason to study math? And if you're just doing it for fun, is it because your parents are well off enough to support you?

>>8580895
(You)

>>8580917
>What's the reason to study math?
Because studying math makes you look smart, and there are people who like making themselves look smart, at the expense of doing something that is actually enjoyable or provides a practical benefit.

tl;dr autism + egotism

>>8580912
Thank you, that was a pretty thorough answer. I'm a biofag so it's a completely different setup. The only math I've taken is applied calculus. I enjoy learning about things that I can visualize or apply to other things. Is it like that in the higher math courses? Or does it stay kinda dry?

>>8580941
>Is it like that in the higher math courses? Or does it stay kinda dry?

Everything in math can be visualized very easily. This should be obvious from the fact that even the most abstract part of mathematics, its foundations as given by category theory, are represented by a bunch of diagrams. It doesn't get more visual than that.

>>8580912
absolutely this, too much brainlets and too much fags

You don't worry about it.

Just do math because you like doing it. Stop caring about try to achieve Tao and Mochizuki status and just be the best you can.

>>8580785

What's the point of learning to walk when countless others learned it before me?

>be me
>20 yo
>can't even do a simple logarithm question

;_;

>>8581030
Not everyone can be perfect like me. Don't worry.

>>8581030

You think that's bad? I don't even know how to read or write!

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>>8581022

> just bee urself :)

>>8581027
>he's comparing an everyday task like walking to an arduous effort to study a field requiring significant mental prowess

>>8580913
I'm not here to convince you of anything, I do not care about you

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>>8581069
>an arduous effort to study a field requiring significant mental prowess

Brain

Let.

>>8580824
Way more Is and less mes To Be Honest

>>8580785
>using a terry tau pic when james maynard is the real hero of prime gaps

pleb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bereitschaftspotential

Plus their gene's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_completeness

>>8581075
>posting weeb shit as a counterargument
Castrate yourself

>itt plebs who don't know how to live an enlightened life

sad.

>>8580866
All fields require more hard work than intelligence

>>8580913
>But why do anything if those geniuses would do it better if only they bothered?
The thing is: they don't bother, and it all comes down to that.
Greatness is not about potential, but about action. Feynman had an IQ of 124. Christopher Langan has a far higher IQ, yet he has not accomplished a fraction of what Feynman has. Guess who's the most known of the two?

How many of these people actually make contributions rather than just showing everyone how smart they are and how much stuff they know?

>>8580835
>I'm the boneman.
kek

>>8581160
i mean, you could make the same argument about anyone who excercises and isnt a WR holder or athlete

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>>8581149
>Christopher Langan

Are there really a significant number of kids running around at Ivy leagues that learned complex analysis and category theory at age 12? Seems like that would be pretty fucking rare.

>>8580903
just be yourself is amazing advice if you're not an idiot. in that case, you're fucked either way

>>8580913
stop
there's a shitload of work that needs to be done in math
if you don't like math then fuck off
otherwise fucking go study you brainlet
the only way to suck and not do shit is to be lazy

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Look up at the uberman schedule.
Say 20 hours of mathematics a day for 365 days.
That's 7300 hours.
Do that for decades.
You're bound to get results.
Mathematics requires a lot of mental stamina.
It's not like anyone can put the effort for even a few hours a day.

>I wish I was an autistic nerd virgin too

if you don't have like competitive IMO background going into maths you're so omg fucked

early on these guys get picked up by the faculty, getting more or less individual mode of studying, while the rest (i'm talking 95% of students) gets bunched up as "lol, no talent" and shitted out a few years later with a degree and superficial knowledge of maths

at this point your options are:

a) grabbing one of these guy and forcing him to mentor / tutor you, while working your ass through problem books for like semester or summer (Putnam and Beyond, for example)

b) saying fuck this shit and going applied / cs / bioinf whatever, turning mathematical models into code, tweaking them here and there

>>8581194

I like maths, and I care about them, that's why I don't want to be dead weight, anon, I don't want people to waste their time and money on me, I don't want to be a cancer.

No matter how much I work, and how much I study, I'll always suck immensely.

>>8580930
This post pretty much sums it up, especially when you read the other posts that read like a fedora tippers musing on academia
>heh those brainlets could never keep up with someone as euphorically magnificent as me

Being a math prodigy doesn't guarantee you'll make a significant contribution to mathematics.
And vice versa for less-gifted student.

Check past IMO winners.

>>8580815
I like the "feel good about sex" line

I know Iranians who put e before sp.

>>8581252
>No matter how much I work, and how much I study, I'll always suck immensely.
with that mindset, sure
work hard faggot

>>8581183
What? He's smart as fuck. Anyone can see that

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>>8580785
The goal isn't to compete. It's to survive.

>>8580912
I agree, but hasn't the idea of being in the business field just to make a lot of money crossed your mind?

>>8581290

A lot of people work hard, it's not a guarantee of anything.

>>8581190
It would definitely be uncommon, even among the kids who like math. Most kids who love math when they're young usually go into contest math type stuff and just solve problems from elementary geometry and number theory. Very few will actually begin doing modern math like analysis, algebra, or topology at a young age. A kid would need to be mentored by a successful mathematician, since basically no one outside of math would actually know what math to teach them.

>>8581323
stop fucking around and go work hard
you clearly don't

>>8581230
See >>8581278
Those problem books and IMO problems have nothing to do with modern math. You don't need an individual study method either. Just look up the chicago math bibliography and pick up some books. Learn analysis, algebra, and topology and onward. This stuff is so abstract and different from the problems involved in the IMO even IMO winners never manage to make any contributions.

>>8580912
my STEM degree has a final project that spans three semesters lol

I'm 25 getting a CS degree, I'm also a musician,
I've gotten offers from people solely for the
fact that I'm good with people, have an eye for aesthetics, and know how to program.
It's okay to be a well-rounded individual.
The demand is so high, who the fuck cares how old you are as long as you can do it.

>>8580785
I love how /sci/ can actually counter this type of questions desu.

/sci/ is a really smart board, and actually knows their shit and what is he capable of.
Also OP, you know that some great mathematicians didn't study at Harvard as an undergraduate, right? You just posted one.

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>>8581227
I AM an autistic nerd virgin, but I don't have the brain.

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>>8581036
First world problems right there, at least you are not blind like me!
Pic probably unrelated.

>>8581323
But most people that work hard don't think about what to do, they simply do, and that's stupid as fuck. If you work hard and do so much as little thinking about how you can improve your result, you are going to go far

>>8581340

> Work hard and you'll be just as good as Tao, or Gauss, or whoever you want! :)

If it were that easy there'd be a lot more people at the top.

>>8581748
And if tao hadnt worked his ass off, he wouldn't be there you absolute faggot


Your logic demeans those who did just rely on assbusting like Feynman, Seaborg/etc.

If you want to commit hari kari, just do it already, the world is plagued by your complaining and doing nothing. My research professor is a total brainlet, but he still pumps out decent papers because he's a fucking boss.

tl;Dr
>quit being inaction less, as that's the only route to guaranteed failure, everything else is just conjecture

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>>8581294
https://youtu.be/--Nbz6flw5A?t=40s
Look at the boards.
He's a worthless retard.

>>8581748
Do this
>>8581211
only for one year instead of whining.
Chances are you won't.
Not even accomplished mathematicians do that much.
Why are you whining then?

>>8580785
You don't need to be a "prodigy" to get riches and fame.

You can still get to become world class in your field if you work your ass off.

>>8580785
It's more about how curious subject is for you. Bigger the curiosity, bigger the mental stamina. Hard work without interest leads to nothing. Intelligence is a very strange thing, being good at solving problems and puzzles, doesn't relate to your potential to make something new, good example would be Feynman.

>>8581822
>>8581849
Good posts

OP don't be discouraged by other people's natural talent. That doesn't mean you can't hold your own in the field that you cherish and certainly doesn't disqualify you from being a source of innovation, assuming you work hard enough.

>>8581801

> Just work hard bro! It's what Tao did!

Yeah, but an hour of his thinking time is probably worth 5-10 of mine. I already work hard and see no result, and working "smart" means nothing by itself. I can't work 5 to 10 times more than someone who already works his ass off in a smart and effective manner.

My mind is like a fog I barely have any control over. My logic is not demeaning to those who worked hard, I'm just saying that neither me nor my time are worth as much, and being at their level is, as I see it now, the only way I'd feel deserving of anything and satisfied with myself (sad truth is that probably not even then would I be happy, but it's my only chance).

>>8581817

Überman schedule is a meme. It'd be far more effective to take amphetamines, but I'm worried about the long term consequences.

>>8580912
Without doubt, a lot of people will come here and say you are delusional, or autistic or whatever. But I just want to say I completely agree with what you said.

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>>8581888
This.
Don't be afraid to be yourself OP.
You're effort matters.
Work hard and you will succeed.

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>>8581230
False. I used to know plenty of IMO medalists, all of them gave up on maths after finishing BSc and moved into theoretical computer science (algorithms mostly). Two of them (both silver medalists in their final year + several honorable mentions before) told me honestly that they struggled with the amount of theory one needs to master before even starting doing some interesting stuff. On the other hand in algorithms you can start to track serious and satisfying problems out of the scratch.

I'm a perfect example of a mediocre guy comparing to them in terms of problem solving skills. In my final year of high school I managed to made it to national finals (and therefore I was exempted from entrance exams for uni), and as I said these guys were both in top 6 in national competition, and then got silver medals at IMO. However, I don't have any problem with putting a lot of effort to get deep into theory and have a rather good work ethics. Now I'm about to graduate from my MSc programme in pure mathematics and have already some easily publishable results in my research project that I started working on about half a year ago. Two of my letter of recommendation writers have told me that I'm overpreparred for a PhD in pure math and recommended me top10 schools in US (however, I'm not sure if I'll make it in - I have average grades from my 2 first years of BSc when I struggled with depression, ironically, exactly because of feeling mediocre comparing to these IMO guys). So by hard work you can definitely make it to a top pure math phd programme.

When it comes to PhD (and later) it seems to me that not being autistic (but still hardworking!) give you good odds of getting some top results. I mean, just remember to not being overly concentrated on one project - but to track a couple of problems. My supervisor told me about plenty of his genius peers that worked for months and years on one problem and got no results. Research in math is a perfect example of Black Swan.

>>8580917
>pharmcfags couldn't get into med school
No, I did it becuase I'm 24 making 110k a year, with no debt or obligations. I don't have to work 100hours a week for the "respect" you get from being a doctor.
And anyway thinking of getting stem phd after I retire

>>8581950
> In my final year of high school I managed to made it to national finals (and therefore I was exempted from entrance exams for uni)
> have already some easily publishable results in my research project that I started working on about half a year ago.
> Two of my letter of recommendation writers have told me that I'm overpreparred for a PhD in pure math and recommended me top10 schools in US

I want you to be perfectly honest with yourself and answer me these three questions:

1) Do you really think ANYONE of your undergrad peers could have done what you did?

2) Did any of those peers work harder than you and still got worse results? (Whether in grades or career wise)

3) Don't you feel you're simply better than at least some of them?

I really doubt it was just hard work, anon.

Also

> When it comes to PhD (and later) it seems to me that not being autistic (but still hardworking!) give you good odds of getting some top results.
> it seems to me
> good odds
> some top results

>>8581972
reading a post like this, which not only deliberately misses the point of what it's responding to but also doesn't even fucking read the post it is responding to, is infuriating

>>8581991

I'm sorry anon, no sarcasm, I really tried to understand. I want to understand. I want convince myself, I don't want to have any doubts ever again.

I still don't see why I'm wrong, I don't do this with ill-intent (at least I'm not aware).

>>8581999
any math professor will tell you that research math is pretty unrelated to competition math
his post said that he is finishing a master's, in which case it is not too surprising that he has publishable results and is overprepared for a PhD
the point of his post was that he was never an outstanding individual, but by following the tracks laid out for him, he was able to end up doing something pretty cool.
if you're worried about never being "the most smartest" person with "the most important discovery," welcome to the reality for all of us. if you're lucky, you'll stumble into that extraordinary greatness like everyone who found it previously did. i'll redirect you to Miley Cyrus' hit song "The Climb" and hope that clears up what the meaning of life should be for you.

>>8580785
>How do you even compete?
You don't.

That's like dreaming to be in the NBA when you're 5'2.
It's genetic. You can't win, so move on.

>>8582007

Thanks anon.

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>>8582014

>Sports Comparison

Fuck off, unlike the NBA you can actually carve a niche for yourself because those "prodigies" and "geniuses" are going to be too busy with popular meme theories and research.

I am here to save you OP.
These kids usually burn out in their early 20s and don't achieve anything grand. I'm doing a PhD in theoretical physics(QCD) - when I started my undergrad, I was less than average amongst the other theory students; they'd learned more maths, more programming and more physics in their early teens than me and found solutions to the problem sheets much quicker than me.

Fast forward 4 years: out of a group of 20-30 during undergrad, about 10 were these child genius types. The majority of them dropped out of the theory course around quantum field theory/gauge theories. Of those of us who went onto a PhD in the field(8), only a couple were from the "child genius" group.

Being early out the gate isn't everything - these guys usually don't have the social skills or humility to float in academia.

>>8581950
Just realised I'm (>>8582055) almost perfectly echoing this guy

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For 1) + 2) it is very hard to compare anon. I was always going my own ways. At the end of my fifth semester, after an oral exam of differential geometry, I asked my current supervisor for some papers to read (e.g. I wasn't the best student in his class), since I wanted to start working on something more interesting than exercise sheets. Then I read more and more, later he asked pretty well-known friend of his to host me for a week at his university. That way I got a super cool research project from that professor, that was actually approachable for a fresh first year master's student which on the other hand was pretty interesting and not completely trivial. However, you should not imagine that I had developed some new theory or something - I just carefully read some papers and generalized their results. There was a little trickery, but mostly I built everything upon already existing results. For sure I am lucky to have such a supervisor - he could not give me any project himself or never contacted with his friend. I am also pretty lucky that the topic of my research project is pretty active, so I can publish my results. But I think that hard work is a main factor.
Basically the main difference between me and my peers is that I always concentrated more on my stuff than classes - usually they did plenty of them more than I did. However, I had some kind of plan for myself and knew what interests me at pretty early stage.
I don't know how does it look like at your university - unfortunately at mine work ethic was a kind of taboo. Everyone seemed to not work at all, signalizing that they owe everything to their intelligence and also deriding those who worked hard. That was the main reason for that depression. However, now I see that it really doesn't matter, one needs just to do his job and don't look at others. I remember how I used to feel during my undergraduate years and really empathize with some posters here.

>>8582059
meant to answer
>>8581972

For 3) - surely I am better than guys doing some financial mathematics or something. But I also have peers doing some crazy algebraic geometry and stuff. I can't compare apples to oranges.

>>8582007
This anon get the gist.

>>8582044
If you're not solving something related to
>popular meme theories
then why work on it at all?

>>8582055
I think you give good advice.
But ... QCD is a field with imho ugly subfields. Strange states that will not be experimentally relevant in your lifetime, at least the will not have application, or convoluted numerical tasks, all leading to results nobody but older generation of Post-docs could honestly care about. You'll be cruising around to two conferences a year, with fat bald dudes and ugly women. What's the point? OP wants glory. People are doing QFT since the 30's, and there are a million people. Going into it with the expectation of glory is going into algebraic geometry. 10.000 other academics do it, fuck that.

>Hey, anon, how do you become a famous mathematician?

>>You just gotta work your ass off, bro!

>Okay, cool. So why aren't you a famous mathematician?

>>I-I-I guess I just didn't work hard enough!!! STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!!!!!!

Literally worse than religitards.

>>8582078
>Hey, anon, how do you become a famous mathematician?

>>You just gotta work your ass off, bro!

No one having already graduate education completed would say you that. Here is your problem.
I know that everyone imagines himself being Tao or Perelman up to some point. But honestly being a specialist in your own field, who regularly publishes solid articles in his field is also pretty comfy.

>>8582044
>carving a niche in something no one gives a fuck about that one of these geniuses could prove if it mattered in a quarter the time as you and will more likely prove you wrong
yeah good luck with that.

>>8580785
You don't. That's the point. They're competing with other wunderkinds and shit, why would you want to compete with that? Try your best, and aim for something you know you can accomplish. They'll be doing their thing, and you your thing. Show them support, and if they're not cunts they'll show you support as well.

>>8582055
>These kids usually burn out in their early 20s and don't achieve anything grand.
[citation needed]

OP is talking about the people who get PhDs around the age you got your bachelor's.

>>8582101
>[citation needed]
The citation is: wishful thinking.

>>8580789
>Good news for you and everyone else who is depressed by this, although your overall achievement may not match these prodigies, there are enough branches and subfields of math so that you may always find a niche of research for you to work on.
this is what is believed by people who see math as just a tool, like excel.

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>>8582059
>I just carefully read some papers and generalized their results. There was a little trickery, but mostly I built everything upon already existing results. For sure I am lucky to have such a supervisor
yes this is what most people in phds do, but very few go beyond this where they see something new

>>8582059
>>8582066

> I don't know how does it look like at your university - unfortunately at mine work ethic was a kind of taboo. Everyone seemed to not work at all, signalizing that they owe everything to their intelligence and also deriding those who worked hard. That was the main reason for that depression.

That's really weird anon. People at my uni respect hard working students.

> However, now I see that it really doesn't matter, one needs just to do his job and don't look at others.

I really wish I could do this.

>>8580785

I'm a poor black kid who discovered an interest in mathematics during his senior year. I somehow found my way into a prestigious university with a famous math department, and, as a returning graduate student, I recently took courses with some of these students. It didn't take any copious amount of effort for me, somebody with little rigorous mathematical training, to match or exceed their performance in these 'hard' courses.

I'm convinced that the only discrepancy between most of these students and most 'normal' students relates to how much opportunity was given to them as children.

>>8582101
citation: a prof in my department

>>8580815
I love this

>muh intellect

cringe 2bh

>>8582179
thats not a citation that a confirmation biased anecdote

i thought this was a board of science?

>>8580785
>prodigies
>somehow winners of nobel prizes are normal people
Every so called genius in math and physics wasn't a prodigy (except Newton probably)

>>8580815
>Not wanting to be challenged
Beta male detected

>>8582355
>t.brainlet

>>8582449
Theres no nobel prize in math

>>8582014
>That's like dreaming to be in the NBA when you're 5'2
Except the brain is a lot more shapeable than bones.
Ever heard of plasticity?

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>>8580785
Analysis and abstract algebra aren't that hard desu.

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>>8582014
>NBA is like math guys.

Merk yourself.

>>8581190
Actually, MIT tends to have a lot of very young students like this. My friend told me about seeing the group walk around on campus. Maybe not 12 but definitely early teens.

>>8582141
>I somehow found my way into a prestigious university
Affirmative action

>>8580802
>if you and another person have the same goals, you'll probably become best friends.

:)

>>8580912
This is why I pursued math. Not to mention that mathematics is vastly interesting, and there seems to be more to learn about it than most other fields.

>>8582531
at age 12 it is

>>8580785
most of these kids are result of having wealthy, educated parents... so they make their kid take calculus i-iii, analysis, abstract algebra, topology, linear algebra by the time they are a senior in high school... they aren't necessarily smarter but people think they are because of their ''''advance knowledge''' given their age.

by the time they are freshman (these are the kids that get into ivies and mit) they are already taking graduate level courses. they take 4 years worth of grad courses and then apply to the same schools for a PhD program and get in easily.

>>8582115
fucking hell steve's doing well

>>8581027
top aha

>>8581679
KEK^KEK integrated over KEK

>>8581907
>Überman schedule is a meme

no it fucking works. its just that after ~ 1 month you will need 2 people on shifts to make sure that you don't have an inadvertent oversleep.

>>8582483
the shitskin could beat your sissy ass

>>8583416

What if you do anything remotely physical like working out? That schedule would kill all of your physical activities.

I don't want to be the best, I just want enough money to have a decent car and apartment, and a beach house some day.

>>8581748
Do you understand how many mathematicians there have existed besides Tao or Gauss? Go to your nearest university and you'll see a bunch of relatively normal dudes (smart dudes but not Gauss level) working as professional mathematicians. You won't be Tao but you could be one of them.

If you don't like that then you don't care about math, you're an asshole who cares about being better than everyone else.

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>>8581013
>too much
>calls people brainlets, uses incorrect grammar
singular/mass noun -> much
plural noun -> many

>>8580913
>I can't be happy because there will always be someone who has it better

If your dream is to be the best then yeah I guess you're shit out of luck.

I was really depressed about this a few years ago as well, but then as I grew up I stopped caring about being the best and instead was content just to pursue the subject at my own pace and skill level with my own mediocre or below average achievements, not because I felt as if I was the best, but because I liked the subject, and I knew my achievements, while underwhelming in an objective context, were still impressive for me. There's more to be proud of than intelligence anon, perseverance and resilience are other important traits that every successful person has to master in every field.

>>8581950
>False
>I'm a perfect example of a mediocre guy
>I managed to made it to national finals

shit man, i don't even know what to say

>>8580835
I admire you. I feel like you could teach me things.

>>8584165

It's not that I want to be the best, I just want to feel like I deserve self-respect and other's approval. Being the best is just a means to an end.

>>8584112

Anon, being like my proffessors is my dream.

>>8580785
>How do you even compete?

I'm a PoC. I can get in by quotas.

>>8580785
To be honest, you probably can't compete. Unless... you slowly drive yourself insane by reading cat theory.

I'm in a different field, but I've thought about how I might never make a truly great discovery. I didn't take calculus in middle school, I wasn't solving pdes while my peers were learning to drive.

However, I am a decent communicator. Even if I never become the next Keynes or Von Neumann, I can still bring the discoveries of my field to the various generations. My contribution will be in sharing knowledge.

That's what people who are smart but aren't geniuses must be satisfied with.

>>8580785
Ever trying meditating and using autosuggestion to get insights? Ramanujan used to do that, in his own way. I believe part of his genius is because of his mental preparation

>>8580785
>prodigy

All they are, is kids who were exposed to undergrad math early and learned how to solve problems. Don Knuth has a great story on how he became such a good mathematician as he too as a young kid won all kinds of math competitions.

He went to some Catholic school which was the best at teaching math at the time (60s) and he was way out of his depth as they were learning from an advanced calculus book (University back then was much harder than today, they basically threw you into Cambridge's Math Tripos class with no safety net) and anyway, his professor told the class that by the end of the year, some of you won't be here because you'll flunk this course.

That spooked Knuth so what he did was solve every single problem in the math book on his own in his spare time. He also wrote down all the examples in class, and made absolutely sure he could solve them spending a huge amount of time doing so. Cal Newton also did this, explained here: http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/11/25/case-study-how-i-got-the-highest-grade-in-my-discrete-math-class/

Knuth then told the interviewer he could coast through the rest of his math classes because "I learned how to solve problems" and that's the key, that's all math is, solving a problem, reasoning, ect. There's nothing incredibly genius about it just some people work at more than others and get ahead faster.

>>8584603
Ramanujan used 'Deep Work', like Carl Jung did in order to rapidly make advances in his knowledge.

Deep Work is just 90mins or so of uninterrupted pure concentration. You have to train your brain to do this, so just try it and after a few weeks you'll get better and soon can easily get lost in concentration and really study something.

After you go for a work, and ponder what you just studied. Every great mind on earth has done this, such as Einstein's famous walks, or Newton's walks or Jung's walks.

Then you go about your day as regular. Repeat for a year straight and you'll see how rapid progress you make, such as being able to be highly productive turning out multiple academic papers ect.

>>8582483
It is not that I don't want to be challenged. That is not what OP is even asking.

The entire point of this discussion is that you can't really change who you are 20 years after you were born. Did your parents realize, when you were 3, that you had talent and hired a tutor for you? Great. If not then you are kinda fucked and you cannot change that. All you can do is make the best of what you have. That is not the same as no wanting to be challenged, it is accepting your reality.

Do I dream of solving a big problem and becoming the greatest mathematician that no one ever was? Obviously I do but I am not delusional. The odds of me catching up to Terence Tao and snatching the twin prime conjecture out of his hands are preeetty slim. But my entire point is that even if Terence Tao beats me, that will not hurt me. What will I do? Read his proof and enjoy it. It is like I wanted to a fuck a really hot girl but I can't. But then, out of nowhere, Terence Tao releases his sex tape fucking the shit out of that same girl. What am I going to do? I AM GOING TO MASTURBATE TO THAT SHIT DAY AND NIGHT.

>>8584616
There's absolutely no reason you can't go to run of the mill state university (or wherever you are in the world) and excel greatly at their math BsC in order to apply to get into Harvard/Princeton or wherever for a Math PHD, often with full scholarship. Then you too can be Terence Tao

>>8584626
I will try, no doubt, I am doing pretty good. If I am able to keep my record as it is now all the way through graduation and then I use my skin color then who knows, maybe I'll get to Harvard for my PhD. That would be nice.

But even then, it is different. Terence Tao got his PhD by the time I will be getting my BSc. I am not saying that I won't try, I am just saying that is how the world is.

>>8584612
Thank you, anon. I am the guy you replied and I'm looking for that

>>8584642
Get Deep Work the book
http://calnewport.com/books/

It's on libgen.io (free). Read Cal Newport's blog on his strategy for being a winning graduate student. http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/10/08/monday-master-class-how-to-solve-hard-problem-sets-without-staying-up-all-night/

I hate to be a shill but I used his books to increase my paper output to 8 published and cited works per year, something unheard of in my gradschool and yet I have tons of time at night and the weekends to do nothing like shitpost here (because morning deep work). I've never worked past 5:30pm and there's much, much smarter people in terms of brilliance at category theory where I go to school and their output is shit, some can't even cobble together a decent paper. Academia truly is just a bunch of strategy your actual genius is unimportant if you can't produce

>>8584653

Who is this Cal Newport guy? Why should I trust anything he says?

>>8584666
A prof at Georgetown with tenure http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/08/25/a-brief-note-on-tenure/

He started a blog when he was just an english major at a shitty university about college strategy. That turned into a PhD at MIT, and now he's got tenure at age 33.

>>8584616
Cuckold.

>>8584685
Be honest with yourself. If Terence Tao uploaded a sex tape everyone here would watch it and love it. I personally wanna see how he handles big primes, if you know what I'm saying.

>>8584676

I've been reading a bit of it, seems like a huge load of the typical motivational bullshit. Do you know of any way I could convince myself aside from reading his stuff? I don't want my mind to get accidentally polluted with filth.

>>8584698
Speak for yourself, faggot.

>>8584706
All you really need is his advice on daily scheduling, and how he accomplishes deep wor which is all in the book 'Deep Work'. Basically during grad school he would find a library on campus nobody used and spend 90mins working in the corner by himself solving lecture problems. End of the year he had the top grade in the school. The methods work, up to you to judge if they have merit or not by trying them.

>>8584712
I second
have to stick up for Terry

>>8584719
So you mean to say this man has invented the revolutionary strategy of working through lectures on your own?
Truly amazing.

>>8584726
I think he "invented" the strategy of working in a isolated place like a library in order to better get into the "studying" mood; however, you have to realize a lot of people reading that stuff have no idea where to go.

>>8584736
Wow I've been doing that for a solid year now, I should write my own book and cash in on the lazy goy shekels

>>8580785
That's a retarded mentality for retarded people.

>>8584741
Pretty much, you gotta have good exposition though.

>>8584736
It's much more than just that obviously. I use his scheduling method and deep work routine to get published in journals relative to my field far more than any other student in my department and I never work past 5:30pm M-F while I get texts of panic from my friends pulling all nighters trying to just finish their courses while I'm already publishing. It works for me, got a grant to work on Peloton dbms at CMU which includes gradschool credit and in my field, this is good (i don't even go to CMU).

>>8584616
Terence Tao doesn't enjoy math because he's good at it. It's the other way around. He's good at it because he enjoys it. When he was a kid he loved solving problems and learning new things, not running around on a playground. That's the biggest difference between you and him. The reason why you can't compete. Because he enjoys what he does regardless of outside validation. I think that even if you were born with the greatest math genes of all time you would still be unhappy with yourself. Most people struggle with this same problem. If only I was taller. If only I was smarter. If only I had a better job. If only I had a wife... The truth is that if you keep looking for outside validation you'll never be content with yourself.

Just do what you love and base your life around that. Some people are lucky in that they love doing things like building things, doing math, studying, solving problems, crunching numbers, and so on. These people get to have a job they love. The rest of us get jobs we either hate or are neutral towards so that we can do the things we do enjoy with the money we earn.

>>8584760
>while I get texts of panic from my friends pulling all nighters trying to just finish their courses
Things that never happened.

>>8584775
Not the anon you responded to. This has never happened to you? My close friends who actually know my number text me for help before some hw or tests and the ones that don't usually ask me in person in the morning.

>>8584775
You've obv never done an Advanced Distributed Operating Systems course where the final project is to write an entire kernel

>>8584784
What's the point of that?

>>8584626
Does anyone have experience with this for cambridge?
I'm currently studying maths in college(Alevels) in the UK and loving it, would like to know if anyone can provide some tips on how to go about on doing this

>>8581211
It require less mental stamina than composing musing for 120 musicians.

>>8584089
negative. I guess if you're really bulking then you want the most lethargic metabolism possible (r&r periods too) but you muscles recover while you're awake too. You feel like you have energy on polyphasics, and that overcomes the usual key hindrance of going to the gym: motivation.
The sheer amount of time and continuation/connectivity of tasks means you're always looking for more shit to do.

>>8580835
best advice in thread

>>8580895
memes

>>8584626
>BsC
>PHD

>>8584606
Did anyone tried this Deep Work stuff?

>>8580785
You can contribute if you have talent above a certain threshold. You don't need to be a prodigy but the sad truth is that you can't be dumb too.
And academic life mostly sucks, you can always go work in finance and data analysis and shit.

>>8580895
All theory and no lab

>>8582112
It can be at times.

>>8580785
because most of the time they have no idea what they are doing, anyone can follow the methodology but when it comes to interpretation and application they are complete buffoons, bumbling, stumbling idiots

>>8580785

You don't compete

You make meme drives in your garage and invalidate everything they've learnt

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>>8580912
>(you)

>>8580785
Does learning have to be a competition? Can I not learn for the sake of learning?

>>8580785
they don't innovate. they're pretty much academiabots, jar-heads, it's often child abuse tbqh, or pure autism.

they'll probably lack key real life intelligence, social intelligence, etc.

worse is that generally they're no different from some 20 something math student except their parents noticed they had a talent and nurtured it. so it's not so much that they're impressive by age 12 it's that instead of going "oh stevie's favorite subject is maths" they pull the kid out of school and give him or her a private tutor and send letters to every institution possible and send them to some sort of Montessori.

1 in a million? doubt it, more like 1 in 40 with observant, manipulative and overbearing parents likely autists from the STEM field themselves.

>>8586999
with computers now, everything is just substitute the parameters and click solve

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>>8584676
"when he was just an english major at a SHITTY university".... that shitty university was Dartmouth, far from a shitty university. Dartmouth is on the level of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. That is not shitty.

>>8587040
Literally the best answer itt