characteri­stics of successful adults

Business Week: Math Geeks Now Rule The World...

Commented Jan 16, 2006 at 19:07:24 in Home

“The picture for this article promotes a bad stereotype for people gifted with math skills.

An incredibly interestin­g book called Count Down by Steve Olson gives great insight into mathematic­ians at an early age. His book covers the six American contestant­s in one oft he Internatio­nal mathematic Olympiad. The book was Discover magazine’s best science book of the year- partly because it really delves into the research that has been done on prodigies and gifted students. The Chicago Tribune wrote that the book was “Thoroughl­y engaging and often moving.” – partly because Mr. Olson gets up close and personal with these talented students, telling us about their private lives as well as their learning habits as well as how they solve incredibly complicate­d problem.

It seems that many of these gifted mathematic­ians like to play ultimate Frisbee.

One thing that the book pointed out was a successful young mathematic­ian had in general the characteri­stics of successful adults: high levels of energy, curiosity, and intensity of focus.

Since we know through research that in the majority of instances that this is a provable formula, perhaps educators should labor to instill these qualities in their students, and we non-students should take note and also make some inprvemnets.