Almost 50 years old now, some 30 years after graduation, I look at my Caltech classmates and conclude that math whizzes do not take over the world.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Mathematics is as old as Man.
One day we're going to look back, and whatever this era will get called, it's going to put a premium on math and science.
I was never strong at maths, but I eventually got onto a university physics/astronomy course, and that led on to my Ph.D. and eventual employment.
Mathematics is a place where you can do things which you can't do in the real world.
I stayed away from mathematics not so much because I knew it would be hard work as because of the amount of time I knew it would take, hours spent in a field where I was not a natural.
I was very much on the mathematical side, where you probably do your best work before you're forty-five. Having passed that significant date, I thought I would do something else.
I wasn't that good at science, and I gave up on math long before I should have. I like to think if I were in school today that would be different.
I spent 10 years working on a math Ph.D., and I finally got kind of good at it.
I tell students that even if they don't like math right now, they can use math as a brain-sharpening tool - a tool that not only builds the foundation for a great career, but that also builds self-confidence, no matter what they choose to do with their lives.
Math proficiency is the gateway to a number of incredible careers that students may never have considered.