I lost my love of math; I'm getting it back. How can I determine if math is actually right for me? [closed]

This question has been on my mind for a very long time, and I thought I'd finally ask it here.

When I was 6, my dad pulled me out of school. The classes were too easy; the professors, too dull. My father had been man of philosophy his entire life (almost got a PhD in it) and regretted not having a more quantitive background. He wanted me to have a different life and taught me math accordingly. When I was 11, I taught myself trig. When I was 12, I started taking calculus at my local university. I continued on this track, and finally got to real analysis and abstract algebra at 15. I loved every math course I ever took and found myself breezing through all that was presented to me (the university was not Princeton after all). However, around this time, I came to the conclusion that math was not for me. I decided to try a different path.

Why, you might ask, did I do this? The answer was simple: I didn't believe I could be a great mathematician. While I thrived taking the courses, I never turned math into a lifestyle. I didn't come home and do complex questions on a white board. I didn't read about Euler in my spare time. I also never felt I had a great intuition into problems. Once you showed me how to solve a problem, I was golden. But start from scratch on my own? It seemed like a different story entirely. To make things worse, my sister, who was at Caltech at the time, would call home with stories of all these incredible undergrads who solved the mathematical mysteries of the universe as a hobby. Whenever I mentioned math as a career, she would always issue a strong warning: you're not like these kids who spend all their time doing math. Think about doing something else.

Over time, I came to agree with this statement. Coincidentally, I got rejected by MIT and Princeton to continue my undergraduate studies there. This crushed me at the time; my dream of studying math at one of the great institutions had ended. Instead, I ended up at Georgia Tech (not terrible by any means, just not what I had envisioned). Being at an engineering school, I thought I'd give aerospace a shot. It had lots of math, right? Not really, or at least not enough for my taste. I went into CS. This was much better, but still didn't feel quite right. At last, as a sophomore, I felt it was time to get back on track: I'm now doubling majoring in applied math and CS.

My question is, how do I know I'm not making a mistake? There seems to be so many people doing math competitions, research, independent studies, etc, while I just started to take some math courses again. What should I do to test myself and see if I can really make math a career? I apologize for the long and possibly quite subjective post. I'd just really like to hear from math people who know their stuff. Thanks a bunch in advance.

There is a lot of hype surrounding "math competitions", since "winning" and "competition" can easily be understood in broad cultural terms, whether or not we collectively think of these as either highest goals or as legitimate formative principles. Most professional mathematics and its practice does not resemble competition-math at all, specifically, serious projects have substantial background requirements, may take months or years to complete or partially complete, and have meaning beyond "getting the result before anyone else" (although some people've been so indoctrinated in math-as-game that they never recover, and find no other meaning in it).

Also, there is much hype about "the other people" being incredible geniuses, while few sane people will look at themselves and see "a genius". :) But this is mostly gossip or mythology, in part generated to create a superficial excitement where otherwise there'd be mostly hard work without pop-style-glamour. :) And, of course, there is a common style of "bluffing" and/or never admitting weakness or ignorance, but this is mostly a facade, whose maintenance is most enthusiastic among those most worried about the "game" aspect of mathematics or anything else. Such stuff should not be unquestioningly believed.

To make a living as a mathematician, and to make reasonable contributions, it is not necessary to be a larger-than-life romantic-heroic figure. :) Possibly many of us, occasionally, wish that we were such a figure, but that more comic-book or video-game reality than any human-lifetime reality.

More important than hype is the concrete reality of how one spends one's days: if you like thinking about mathematical things, perhaps teaching mathematical things, then being a mathematician is a happy job, with or without rich-and-famousness. The purported glamor of "being a great [whatever]" is not a reliable thing to aim toward, since the "process" of practicing the [whatever] is how one will spend one's days. It is a reasonable analogy, I think, to say that "great musicians" occur by accident among the class of people who really, really enjoy practicing and "jamming" (in whatever genres), rather than people who wish for celebrity but hate practicing. Of course there're the people who pose as never practicing, but reality belies that cute P.R. pose...

You shouldn't judge yourself or your achievements by other people's standards. Do mathematics because you enjoy it, and find it interesting. Many great discoveries have come from average minds in a spirit of idle curiosity and playfulness. Likewise many brilliant minds achieve very little. In research, your approach matters as much as your intellect.

In short, you appear to be suffering performance anxiety because of your own or others' expectations. Get rid of those expectations and you will be free to express your potential, whatever that may be.

I don't think you can "know" that you aren't making a mistake. This applies to almost everything in life. What I would say is that if you want to do something, then do it. Life is too short to let worries paralyse you into doing nothing. Get into the course, focus your study on the parts that are most interesting, and see where you are at the end of the course. The worst that will happen is that you end up with a good degree and a good recreational mathematics habit (unless you drop out to follow your heart elsewhere).

I am absolutely certain that I am not made to push the boundaries of mathematics, but having a degree in the subject has opened many doors for me. And now that I'm spending my days at home, looking after my son, it gives me the ability to keep my brain active by studying alone at home.

I loved math in school but struggled at uni, and lost plenty of motivation when unable to connect what I was doing to any sort of career (pure "theoretical" math was my strength). It did however lead into cryptography, programming and IT which is now the career I love.

What I'm attempting to express is that you can't know if it's a mistake. I could have made 2 extra years of a good income if I had chosen the right degree initially, but I owe discovering my real passion to attempting one that failed.

One thing I learned as a pure math enthusiast: Pick the odd one out: 1. A phd in applied physics 2. A phd in pure math 3. A large pizza 4. A phd in financial math

The answer is 2, as the others can feed a family of four.

As the mother of a high school junior taking all AP math/physics because he wants to be able to choose whatever path he determines is right for him, I wish more teachers were passionate about teaching. It would make a world of difference if a teacher would communicate HOW math and physics are present in our world, getting kids interested and curious by engaging them. The AP Physics teacher puts problems on the board and tells the students to solve them. How about showing a clip from an action movie and then discussing how physics is at work, or something similar.Stormwater problems, building design, all could used to illustrate the beauty of physics, and maybe lead to interest in innovation or solving problems.