Re:Habits of highly mathematical people
by johncolanduoni on Saturday July 30, 2016 @05:33PM
(#12194783)
You're right, it looks like that is a myth (I remember seeing it on this math stackexchange question[1], which is actually a great example of some mathematicians' opinions on the matter).
There's a wide margin between "couldn't pass high school" and "had difficulty with math in high school". And I've known plenty who confessed that were quite explicit that was not what they meant (e.g. by comparing themselves unfavorably with their children).
[1]: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/551074/are-all-mathe...
It's similar to the Grothendeick story -- a mathematician making a simple mistake -- that get exaggerated to "mathematicians can't do arithmetic." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57_(number)
Another common myth was that Einstein was bad at math, because he (and others) had trouble in school because the material was too easy and he quarreled with teachers, and "failed" tests for early college admissions administered in a foreign language. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/02/...
When a mathematician confesses being bad at calculation, they don't mean "couldn't pass high school", they mean compared to their elite peers.