> Do you think I really am in the ~50% of the population in terms of mathematical ability?
I don't know nearly enough about your personal background to make any sort of judgement on to what extent your success up through university came from innate "mathematical ability" versus other factors.
But I do know that making it through a Masters-level program makes you a very capable mathematician, even if were unable to start a career in pure mathematics.
You made it further along in your mathematical education than 99.9%+ of students, and I have a very hard time believing that "biological predisposition" is what's stopping many people from making it past high-school level math.
I am not a mathematician at all and I have never been. My contributions to mathematics are exactly zero.
But even if I were, why did the hundreds of people I studied with in school and university fail far more than I did. No, I didn't work especially hard and often times I was explaining things to other students, it weren't the teachers, we all had the same. It also wasn't motivation, I didn't need all that much to succeed. Was it just luck that I outperformed most people given the opportunity?
I don't know nearly enough about your personal background to make any sort of judgement on to what extent your success up through university came from innate "mathematical ability" versus other factors.
But I do know that making it through a Masters-level program makes you a very capable mathematician, even if were unable to start a career in pure mathematics.
You made it further along in your mathematical education than 99.9%+ of students, and I have a very hard time believing that "biological predisposition" is what's stopping many people from making it past high-school level math.