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For those of you who think “math people” have it any easier, I suggest you read this phenomenal Nautilus (my favorite magazine) article “What Does Any of This Have To Do with Physics?” by Bob Henderson (personal website). He writes of the mental struggles that all aspiring physicists feel as they brawl with Jackson’s E&M and the unattainable standards set by Richard Feynman decades ago. The truth is that the complexities of mathematics can never be avoided. Being skilled in any subject, not just mathematics ensures that you just find more challenging problems to work on. However, there is a little-known secret about mathematics: there is no so-called math gene.
People aren’t born skilled in mathematics any more than Arnold Schwarzenegger was born a body builder. Skills must be earned through hard work. Those that seem to be gifted in an area likely developed the basics at an earlier age even if the skills were only tangential.
It’s rather unfortunate that us outsiders try to pick up skills later in life without…
