Too old to start math [closed]

I'm sorry if this question goes against the meta for posting questions - I attached all the "beware, this is a soft-question" tags I could.

This is a question I've been asking myself now for some time. In most areas, there's a "cut off age" to be good at something. For example, you're not going to make the NHL if you start playing hockey at 20. It just won't happen.

So my question then, how late is too late to start studying math and make a career out of it? By "start studying math" I mean, to really try to understand and comprehend the material (as opposed to just being able to do well in a formal, intuitional environment).

I don't mean this from a "do what you love, its not too late" motivational perspective. I mean this from a purely biological perspective; at approximately what age has your brain's capacity to learn effectively and be influenced by your learning stop? When does the biological clock for learning new math run out?

My reasoning for asking this question is (for those who care): I love math. Really I do. But , having spent the first 21 years of my life in sports/video games/obtaining a degree in a scientific field which I care nothing of/etc, despite all my best attempts at trying to learn math, am I just too late starting to ever actually be good enough at it to make it a career? I've almost completed my second degree (in Math), but find that in many cases, despite how I look at a problem, I lack the intuition to comprehend it. I'm going to single him out (sorry), only as an example, but Qiaochu Yuan is my age.

Note 1: If this question isn't a suitable post, I won't be offended at all if you vote to close - I know this question borders what's acceptable to ask.

Note 2: Thanks to everyone for reading and taking the time for the great responses. Really appreciate it!

Solution 1:

Karl Weierstrass was in his 40's when he got his PHD. There are a dozen other counterexamples, a number fairly recent. A good set of examples can be found in the thread on MO here.This myth of "science is a game for the young" is one of the falsest and most destructive canards in modern society. Don't listen to it. You only get one life and when it's over, that's it. When you're dead a hundred million years, you'll be dead the tiniest most infinitesimal fraction of all the time you'll ever be dead. So stop listening to career advice from teenagers, grab a calculus book and get to work. That's my advice.

Solution 2:

21 is not old at all. I personally know heaps of people my age (32) who started out at 18 as salesclarks/BA or BCom majors/lawyers/bookeepers etc and ended up having a PhD degree in some advanced math areas and landed a job in academia or industry.

My personal case: I got a lousy BCom degree with little math at 22 and then worked in a primitive banking job. After a few years I realized I was growing stupid, so decided to do what I secretly always liked but never really had the balls to do: math and stats.

So I moved to another country, did a Masters degree in Computational Statistics, (2nd level honours) then started on PhD in Computer Science (mathematical modeling of AI). After 6.5 years of math I'm, like $n^n$ times smarter than I was at 22, I got a postdoc job in my area and got awarded a Doctoral degree this morning.

Solution 3:

In Israel kids are expected to serve in the army when they are 18, and they serve for three years (men do, women serve two years). After this period it is common to find yourself questioning what you should do with yourself and not many people have answers. Therefore it is common to take another two years to work and travel the world before settling down and starting your academic education.

This means that most students in Israel begin their undergrad studies around the age of 23-24.

That been said there are considerably less mathematics students, and many of them start sooner. I started at 22, but I studied both with kids that didn't serve in the army and were 19-20 and people who took longer to settle for math and were 25.

So if you are just 21 and you want to start with mathematics, you're still younger than the average Israeli freshman.

Solution 4:

Of course you can make a career out of it! When I started reading your question I though you were around 50, but 22 is not old at all to go after a career in anything but sports. This kind of time don't affect your brains ability to think at all. The only thing is, if you have great ambitions, you are probably not gonna be able to win the fields medal because it has an age limit, but apart from that there is nothing that can stop you from following a career in math and be great at it.

Solution 5:

I'm not sure my personal experiences will be very helpful to a mere kid of 22, but here goes ...

I made a complete mess of being an undergraduate when I was 18 (until 21), and followed a career for some decades before I finally got round to seeing if I was actually capable of doing maths at a more advanced level.

I was almost 50 by the time I had published some research and gained a PhD in pure maths, so the effort could be considered a total waste of effort in terms of "my career", but it was hugely rewarding to me personally to have discovered that I was capable of finding out things in maths that professionals were interesting in reading - even if they were not in the same league as the millenium problems.

So - "go for it!" - you are never too old!