3

I don't know where to ask but I decided to give this part of the community a shot. Anyway I am currently studying an IT related degree but lately I have started to found a love on maths.

Sadly I have never been good in highschool and it was only until Discrete Maths I started to develop a curiosity on the subject, then slowly become more interested in other fields.

To be fair I am very poor in arithmetic and I compute results very slowly, yet I had this feeling that I should try to invest on a postgraduate in maths for my future...do you think I am capable to try something like this at this age (I am on my mid 20s)? or should I stop dreaming and face the reality that I am not a maths person or it's too late?

lifrah
  • 43
  • 1
    i say it is never too late for you, what field of math have you selected? – Dr. Sonnhard Graubner Aug 13 '17 at 11:28
  • I suggest to see David Hilbert biography. – Khosrotash Aug 13 '17 at 11:31
  • Don't worry about computation speed. See https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/551074/are-all-mathematicians-human-calculators/551102 – edm Aug 13 '17 at 11:34
  • It depends on what your goals are. Knowing some applied math on graduate level can always come in handy whenever you encounter an algorithm in your IT work. However might be difficult to compete and "look good" in "pure" math compared to those who start out real early and have a knack for it ( if you aim for research ). – mathreadler Aug 13 '17 at 11:40
  • 2
    I assume that your only issue is speed and not that your calculations are error-prone. In any case if you want to do postgraduate studies in math to make a career out of it, then you need to put huge effort (like you also need a PhD). And perhaps the payoff is not as good as available in IT with same amount of effort. But on the other hand the real benefit of math is the extreme excitement/enjoyment. And a career objective will definitely lessen this kind of benefit. Also this is entirely a personal opinion. – Paramanand Singh Aug 13 '17 at 11:46
  • I started undergrad studies in math when I was 23. 26 now and about to start grad school in the same field. Math isn't only about computing results. It's more a logical game. The how is often trivial. We are interested in the why. As in, why some observations yield facts and others don't. – AlvinL Aug 13 '17 at 11:51
  • 4
    Too late at mid 20s? It's certainly not too late. However, whether it makes sense is a other question entirely. – Dole Aug 13 '17 at 11:53
  • Thank you for the replies, I think that's probably why I started to develop a love from maths compared to highschool, as of now I seemed to only know the concepts at the surface level as I have been self reading and practicing some calculus I and II courses, my discrete math is only an intro but so far I seemed to enjoy graphs and functions quite a lot. Despite that however I have no clue where to go with this interest, and would be happy to have some clue how to hone this new passion of mine. – lifrah Aug 13 '17 at 12:57
  • Does this answer your question? Can an older person become an expert in math? – user1147844 Oct 07 '23 at 09:31

0 Answers0