I'm a beginner violinist, and what my teacher told me recently in one of my lessons stuck with me. She said something like this: if you constantly worry about playing a music piece perfectly, to the point where you literally force yourself to start over every time you make a mistake, you're never gonna finish the piece. You will never even learn the notes, the proper bowing techniques, and all the little subtle things you could add to play it better. The time it takes for us to make a mistake, to notice our mistake, and beat ourselves up with this mistake, you've already missed several beats in the bar. And if that cycle continues, you won't be able to play the music again. When you play in an orchestra, you cannot afford to lose time worrying about missing a note or stumbling over it. Look ahead to the next bar and when you're ready, join the rest of the orchestra on the first beat. However, if you spend more time getting stuck in your own head, beating yourself up for these -- either way, you lose time, you lose energy, and you lose your morale. And, the ensemble suffers as a whole because they lost your contribution. I'll never forget that lesson. I've since started applying it more frequently in my practice and it's helped me appreciate myself for where I'm at. If you stumble on the path towards some goal, don't think too hard on it. Get up, dust yourself off, and quickly join the fray again. Play your part in whatever role in life, to the best of your ability. Because if you did what I used to do in my practice sessions, you'll only end up frustrated and feeling worse about yourself, and all for what? For not being able to pursue some perfectionistic standard you had about yourself? Perfection is a lie. It doesn't exist. So go ahead and mess up, fail often but fail forward. It feels like a cliche to say it but, it's true!
To Robert (or whoever else): I'm on my 5th year as a postdoc in pure math. I've applied to ~50 tenure-track jobs every year for the last 4 years, and have so far been unsuccessful, despite having a PhD from a top 5 university, multiple high-quality publications, and an outstanding teaching record. The academic job market is just that bleak. What keeps me going is something that a friend of mine once said, to the effect of: "One doesn't have to be employed as a professional mathematician in order to be a mathematician." People have hobbies, and there's no reason that your hobby can't be solving serious math problems. Whether or not I end up in academia --- and the chances that I do aren't good --- I know that I'll always find time to work on math problems, because that's just who I am. If it matters that much, you'll make time for it.
Absolutely beautiful advice. Man, I have been through some very similar bouts of depression and feelings of inadequacy; and those are exactly the words that would have helped a lot.
I totally understand the viewer and it's anxieties. The problem with Math, Physics and almost all other University careers is exactly the one described by the viewer. Reality is that almost all vacancies for top University jobs are taken and they are usually taken for Decades to come (personnel tends to stay for decades). No matter how good one person is, apart from being a genius, it is virtually Impossible to get a seat at those top ranking Universities, research institutions and the like. The Only option for a good position is indeed these days the industry. Let's not get anyone false hopes. There is a complete and total saturation of placements at top Universities. And that is not going to change any time soon. Universities play the role of literally tricking young hopeful brilliants minds to the game of making those same aspiring souls slaves to their system: ...one more degree, one more post-doc ... in an endless cycles with no end, no objective other then play with the lives of those that love their knowledge fields ...
When I was in high school it was my dream to become an engineer and go university to do just that, because of some things that happened in my high school that I will not mentioned for the sake of being concise, I went to my dismay into the maths program with my dreams crushed! in the program I discovered my true calling and passion was Mathematics, it was THE greatest blessing in disguise for me, so my message to him would be not every bad IS bad sometimes all we have is the pixel of the larger picture… and besides you’re not starving to death there’s something to be happy about..
Going into industry like Data Science can be a back door into AI research. Lots of great mathmeticians in history were not academics, but made the pivotal discoveries. Don't despair. If you perseve, you will make an impact somehow. Also, I think the traditional academics or industry paradigm is fading. There's not enough room anymore, so top people transition back and forth.
You are a clear thinking, kind hearted and considerate person and obviously intelligent. I look forward to watching your videos because you have these qualities. Keep up the good work!
First: I'm posting under my real name, so you can verify (e.g. via my LinkedIn profile), that all informations regarding my education and employment are correct. I also had the dream landing a permanent job in academia (in my case, in theoretical physics) in my early 20s. At the time, I had learned a trade but was very unsatisfied with my job and I self studied physics and math in my spare time. So, finally, I entered university at the age of 25 and did my undergrad degree in physics. I was not top of class, but I did reasonably well and started graduate school afterwards. However, although I got my PhD in theoretical pyhsics, I realized during my time as a graduate student, that research and academia are not for me. All that stuff you're supposed to do as postdoc like writing huge amounts of papers, attending conferences, writing grant proposals, ... I realized, that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Furthermore, although being a quite decent probleme solver, I really had a hard time coming up with new an original research ideas. However, I had the oppurtunity to work as teaching assistant during my time as a graduate student and I realized, that I like teaching very much, and so I kept looking for opportunities to shift my career in that direction. When my contract at university ended, I had to get a job really quickly, and found something as a software engineer. That was interesting, but not my dream job - so I kept looking for opportunities to get into teaching. That needed some patience (almost 3 years), but when that opportunity finally knocked at my door, I didn't hesitate a second, quit my job in industry and started as part-time math teacher in secondary education, while simultaneously attending university again to obtain my teaching degree in physics and math. Doing so, was one of the best decisions of my life! After I got my teaching degree, I was employed full-time by my school, and I'm still working there. I still think, that my job as math teacher is awesome, and the most satisfactory part of it is, that I can use my knowledge to help other people achieving their goals🙂 So, although circumstances changed at the time I got my PhD, I kept thinking of other opportunities - and my decision to get into teaching was truly one of my better ones 😉 I hope, this can serve as a motivation to consider other opportunities in life - maybe these turn out to be much better than what you dreamt of in the first place. As Math Sorcerer would say: Take care! 🙂
I'm glad you got a PhD and obtained a satisfying job. Kudos! A school that employed you is very lucky. I consider it to be the best scenario when math teachers have good knowledge of physics. That's because without physics and applications, students feel enormous frustration as to how and where math might be important and even necessary in reality.
There is nothing more wonderful than a shelf full of books. There are several shelves full of books in this video and I'm envious. I will always have books. Books are basically my life. I see some math books on those shelves I'd like to have. A few on algebra I see. My county library doesn't even have that many math books. Bezos also founded a company to send people into space. He went into space and Willaim Shatner (Captain Kirk, Star Trek) went into space on Bezo's spaceship.
My advice is, whatever you find yourself doing, strive to be the best. If you are a math professor strive to be the best math professor you can be. If you are a fireman try and be the best fireman you can be. Same for any profession, trade, skill, or job, always strive to be the best, even if it is not your ideal situation.
To the young man, there are many paths to being a person of renown, not all of them are ones we see right away. I hope he can grasp that he has already attained insights to math that most of us are still aspiring to reach.
So glad I watched this video to the end. Super cool to find out that MTG was made by a mathematician. I pride myself in being a game dev (1 year of being a professional so far) and I've enjoyed MTG since I was a kid. That one little nugget was super inspiring - maybe worth it's own video?
Dear Robert, Imagine yourself for a moment a member of this prestigious institute, how long do you believe your satisfaction will last before you start comparing yourself with other members of the faculty and find yourself chasing an illusion. You can achieve excellence and make discoveries regardless where you are.
Excellent advice. We should never discount learning in life from a variety of experiences. The insight we can gain is usually not appearant in the particular situation with which we are involved. It's only through introspection and reflecting that we see a novel and exciting approach we didn't prior.
Pedigree is not important, and this person has their entire career ahead of them. So what if you don’t get your dream position out of school? You realistically have 40 productive years ahead of you, and if you achieve your goal at 60-70, then that still counts. Most people get their advanced degree and forget about research. Keep learning, keep searching. EARN what you want
You´re the best psychologist i´ve ever known, i bet Robert´s feeling is experienced by a high percentage of people who study math, natural sciences and even engineering
I do agree that where you study can be important. But it also depends on who you need to impress and why. There is also the matter of what topic you choose to study can also make a huge difference. Certain schools are known for being strong in specific mathematical specialisations, so that will impact your future as well. Also the post-doc world that you will be entering into is a beast of a different kind. It's important to be ready for the reality of it. This is nothing like a PhD despite appearances. The PhD is the entry ticket into this world and that's all it is. It will be so easy for you to get caught in the 2-3 year post doc treadmill for the rest of your life. There are so many of these opportunities but in the long term they function as a holding pattern. There is also the matter of 'timing is everything' it's not always about brains and talent. I would suggest that you check out Dr Andrew Stapleton. He has a great youtube channel about PhD and Post Doc vs industry career options. He has spent some considerable time in academia and working in industry as well as working in scientific media. He speaks freely about the different paths for open for STEM students with honesty. He also offers great tips and tricks for PhD students to make the journey less stressful.
Please review the Mathematical Subject Classification MSC2020 overall, and add a few examples of how it can be used for enhancing undergraduate math understanding. Thanks!
Hi, i love your videos a lot i watch all of them indeed though i don't study mathematics i study chemistry but your advices are useful and very helpful, i wanna ask you, I'm in second year and i have tons of books i feel that's too much to study how can i study all these books I know it's possible because obviously u have read more books than anyone i know 😘😘
may god bless you sir. i want to start maths from begining and you are one of my hope. and this story gave me motivation as well. thanks sir for everything
I like your hair style. You should enter the Isaac Newton look-alike contest. You would be a run away favorite! If you hair were darker, the Gottfried Leibniz look-alike contest would be a sure thing for you.
I would suggest he focus on winning the Fields medal or solving one of the Millennia problems, people will notice and you will get offered whatever you want. That's how the real world works. Like any field, what counts is what you do - Einstein worked in the patent office. He may have more modest goals than the Fields but that's OK ... .
As far as I understand from his e-mail, he is more concerned about his feelings and the possible feelings which will come from his potential success or potential failure. This is more related to personal accomplishment and fulfillment. If I'm getting this correctly, my advice would be: At a worse case scenario get a job at the industry, create as much free time as possibly you can. Dedicate this time to your self studies and researches. You might know as well as I do, even if you reach that academic position, things might get more disappointing than you've dreamt of. Build relationships at a professional level with the circle you want to join, follow the events and such. It's ok to mind the past but don't let it hold you back. Along the road, you will collect that yet to be gained satisfaction and fulfillment. Instead of fulfillment of a title, a real fulfillment of doings will make life temporarily better. And I'm not saying you to stop chasing the position, but it's not your final opportunity, you may find many more along the road in ways you've never even thought of. Sometimes, I dare to say most of the time, you don't know what's going to happen next. Keep considering other options whichever path you take, and do not forget that nothing last forever. So make the trip more enjoyable for you. Rest is not relevant as much as you might think. I hope you best Robert, and good luck.
This is kind of funny...A lot of people who have graduated from big name schools like Harvard , Yale , Princeton, Stanford etc .. have ended up at some very low level colleges for their first teaching jobs , to STAY at the same level as your PHD granting institution for an actual teaching job , is a distinctive challenge very few people succeed in ...
I know I'm late to this party, but this is a great video. I know for me, my dream for such a long time was to be a research mathematician at a liberal arts college. Maybe not as big a dream, but acknowledging that would be impossible was painful for me. But looking at the bright side of things is so important and helpful.
I have a PhD in a rigorous science discipline from a well known (but not necessarily prestigious) University...call it "A" but not "A+". Reality? If you have a PhD in ANY field, you are in the top 2% of educated people in the WORLD. If you're in the United States, only 1.2% of the population has such an advanced degree. The number of folks with a Doctorate in Math??? Smaller yet. Realize your worth...you're nearly as rare as a unicorn. By the way...the leading employer of mathematicians in the United States? The National Security Agency (NSA) working on Cryptography, as well as the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) - developing security algorithms for things like banking, finance, telecommunications, etc. It doesn't have to be industry; you could work for the government doing work very, very important to the security of the country, our economy, and our way of life...benefiting hundreds of millions of people. Many research labs needs mathematicians as well. This can easily put you in contact with people with the kind of influence to support your long term dreams. Open up the aperture - you are rare, you have very in demand skill set, and the world truly is your oyster. Please reach out to resources on campus and get some help for what sounds like depression. We're desperate enough for STEM professionals in the world and especially in the US/Europe. We can't afford to lose anyone and certainly not someone so close to a Doctorate. Finally, let me give you a spot of insight...exclusive doesn't mean better. In my 40+ year career, I've "rescued" several programs from failure despite being headed by very, very elite universities. Elite doesn't mean infallible...you'd be surprised how valuable practical industry experience can be to figure out "why something doesn't work"...while a set of elite university PhDs are scratching their heads.
Thanks so much for your comment. I think it's so important for aspiring mathematicians to understand what opportunities are out there and how valuable their skills are. And it's important to understand that there is more than just one path to achieving your goals and getting to where you want to be.
Hi, I hope you are having a great day. I am reaching out to ask for your advice as I am currently struggling in my math and physics classes. I find the material easy, but I am having trouble accurately reading and interpreting information from exam papers. For example, I sometimes see a "3" as a "2," and I often mix up the signs in trigonometry transformation formulas. This is causing me to make many mistakes in my exams. Do you have any advice or strategies that can help me overcome this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as it would significantly improve my performance in these classes. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance and i really love the videos your subscriber since 200K
Yeah I've had that happen too! I remember learning about matrix inverses and having a horrible time with all of the computations. I practiced and practiced and it felt like i never got any better. In time though, I did. One thing you can do is maybe just go a little bit slower and work more carefully. Force yourself to work slower and be more careful. Good luck:)
I saw a large apple pie .It was baked in a dish with four equal sides. At that moment I realized ..................................................some pie are squared
Hello Math Sorcerer, Do you have a discrete math course? Or do you have videos that cover all of a discrete math 1 and 2 course seperated into different playlists on your channel? Thank you
For perspective, most of the PhD. graduates from the top programs don't end up teaching in top programs. Of those that do, they are barely a sliver of those that graduated from their programs. At the end of the day what matters is your research output, how well-known your advisor is and how sought after is expertise in your field. Being a snowflake about stuff like this will mar your career even if you did enter a top program. If life gives you lemons, make a strawberry sherbert crushed ice cooler with a tiki umbrella.
Here is another answer: The problem is your definition of “world class mathematician”. Please correct me if I’m wrong. A mathematician of the caliber you aim at is one who produces very interesting and top quality work. How many mathematicians at top universities are not producing notable work?.. take the Sorcerer here as an example. We don’t know if he graduated from Oxford or Princeton, but so long as he’s producing highly valuable mathematics content in his own way, it doesn’t really matter where he went to school. There are people at Oxford and Princeton who might fancy themselves “top tier” but they won’t measure up to the creator of this channel as a teacher and producer. They will not have any real impact on mathematics at any level. One must find one’s own way, or one will be a carbon copy, an imitator, with a title, but not authentically excellent in the real sense. What matters is what you can do, what you can produce - that will place you in the realm of excellence. And you must enjoy, love the process more than the result. Your results will always be something you want to surpass, but your time here on earth is comprised of valuable moments.. they must be valuable as moments & not as arrows or vectors leading to some uncertain conclusion.
7:04 Hmmm! That makes me wonder how far Bill Gates and Elon Musk could go in math before they hit their limit! I normally don't try to compare myself to others or try to achieve things for the sake of my ego, but the thought of surpassing certain high-status people like that gives me a funny tingling feeling! 😅🤣
Hello Math Sorcerer, have you looked at A Transition To Advanced Mathematics by Douglas Smith? I think it is a decent book for self-study proof writing
Hi math sorcerer , i am 15 and i want to be a mathematician but i have no idea where to start and how to become one , could you please give me advice on how I can get started also i really like your videos , thank you for making them !!
I am Portuguese and I have a degree I'm managing taken at open university. I love math I am wondering making a second degree but this time in math. My teachers would focus us in math to do projects but I think I need more mathematics. But I also would like to know if can I be a mathematician with this degree? I liked you exemple of Bezos, I also like musk he as a phisics degree. Could help me? Good channel
Failure is a stepping stone. All… ALL, highly successful people fail a lot. Failure is progress…. If you dont give up. Edison’s lab failed over 5000x trying to find the right way to make a lightbulb. Elon Must compares working through and past failures as “chewing on glass and staring into the abyss” So if you want a goal, you need to expect to need to put in hard work and falling on your face over and over again. True failure is your choice not to get back up and keep nugging along. If you want it, go get it. It wont get handed to you, you have to earn it. You have to decide no price is too high for what you truely want. Then go pay it.
The conventional academic model is collapsing. The reason I say this is based on the book THE END OF COLLEGE, which indicates brick and mortar unis are collapsing. Growing number of people are finally realizing it makes no sense to take on massive debt to get a degree for jobs that don't exist. I would say that schools that we've considered elite are also going to be have to face reality, that being, they've failed in their core mission. They've ignored their undergrads, who actually pay the rent, and are realizing that highly motivated individuals will lean on their own. If anyone can take an online course for free from Yale, Stanford, Caltech, take a test, and show they've gotten some excellent understanding of the material, then the days of the brick and mortars are done. That's what THE END OF COLLEGE is proving...
Hi math wizard, i never comment on youtube but i would like to know what you would think about something. What happens is that I am 21 years old and in little of a month I turn 22 years old. At the moment I am studying physics, and I really love my degree, but lately I have been very interested in mathematics. Do you think it would be good to study mathematics at the age of 25? Assuming that I will finish my degree in 2 years and a few months. I know that there is a lack of information that I have to give you so that you can give an accurate opinion, but the truth is that I have been thinking about this for a while, it is not that I do not like physics, what happens is that I also like mathematics, and I would like to work in mathematical physics or theoretical physics with a fairly high degree of mathematics. The problem with everything is that I am from a third world country and here science is not well paid, but the truth is that the only thing I want to do in life is mathematics and physics. I hope you are very well, I love your videos, I watch most or repeat some. Keep it up.
I like Math but I see there are not jobs for this field, maybe Math tutor, so I have to study something in Tech to get a job , i I learn math because I like only.
On a counter counter point... Industry has forced me to learn - computer science - data engineering - software engineering - machine learning - development operations - data science/model creation/actuarial - functional programming - oop design - software architecture - communication patterns for client/server p2p - cloud engineering - data analysis To say that being in "industry" makes u worse is silly, how hard i would stomp one of my best professors if actually having to create a product is insane. I would be really sad if my life were only limited to such a narrow scope as in a college prof. Sounds boring Imho, ymmv, become great, learn the elephant. You have no idea what u dont know, u have no idea how junior you are.... Especially if u are at a good firm, especially if u get into R&D, you have no idea the amount of work youre saying is a failure...
Sir, I have my Own four theorems made by me.this theorems you show on your channel so you get most of views. This theorems are very interesting. If you have interest so contact me by re comment . Thank you Himanshu Sharma
I'm a beginner violinist, and what my teacher told me recently in one of my lessons stuck with me. She said something like this: if you constantly worry about playing a music piece perfectly, to the point where you literally force yourself to start over every time you make a mistake, you're never gonna finish the piece. You will never even learn the notes, the proper bowing techniques, and all the little subtle things you could add to play it better. The time it takes for us to make a mistake, to notice our mistake, and beat ourselves up with this mistake, you've already missed several beats in the bar. And if that cycle continues, you won't be able to play the music again.
When you play in an orchestra, you cannot afford to lose time worrying about missing a note or stumbling over it. Look ahead to the next bar and when you're ready, join the rest of the orchestra on the first beat. However, if you spend more time getting stuck in your own head, beating yourself up for these -- either way, you lose time, you lose energy, and you lose your morale. And, the ensemble suffers as a whole because they lost your contribution.
I'll never forget that lesson. I've since started applying it more frequently in my practice and it's helped me appreciate myself for where I'm at.
If you stumble on the path towards some goal, don't think too hard on it. Get up, dust yourself off, and quickly join the fray again. Play your part in whatever role in life, to the best of your ability. Because if you did what I used to do in my practice sessions, you'll only end up frustrated and feeling worse about yourself, and all for what? For not being able to pursue some perfectionistic standard you had about yourself? Perfection is a lie. It doesn't exist. So go ahead and mess up, fail often but fail forward. It feels like a cliche to say it but, it's true!
I wish every mathematicians in math stackexchange to be non-toxic like him.
I’m a simple person. I see new Math Sorcerer content, stop my math “homework”, and start watching.
:)
To Robert (or whoever else): I'm on my 5th year as a postdoc in pure math. I've applied to ~50 tenure-track jobs every year for the last 4 years, and have so far been unsuccessful, despite having a PhD from a top 5 university, multiple high-quality publications, and an outstanding teaching record. The academic job market is just that bleak. What keeps me going is something that a friend of mine once said, to the effect of: "One doesn't have to be employed as a professional mathematician in order to be a mathematician."
People have hobbies, and there's no reason that your hobby can't be solving serious math problems. Whether or not I end up in academia --- and the chances that I do aren't good --- I know that I'll always find time to work on math problems, because that's just who I am. If it matters that much, you'll make time for it.
Absolutely beautiful advice.
Man, I have been through some very similar bouts of depression and feelings of inadequacy; and those are exactly the words that would have helped a lot.
We appreciate your hard work and effort. God bless you.
You always comment same thing.
I totally understand the viewer and it's anxieties. The problem with Math, Physics and almost all other University careers is exactly the one described by the viewer. Reality is that almost all vacancies for top University jobs are taken and they are usually taken for Decades to come (personnel tends to stay for decades). No matter how good one person is, apart from being a genius, it is virtually Impossible to get a seat at those top ranking Universities, research institutions and the like. The Only option for a good position is indeed these days the industry.
Let's not get anyone false hopes. There is a complete and total saturation of placements at top Universities. And that is not going to change any time soon.
Universities play the role of literally tricking young hopeful brilliants minds to the game of making those same aspiring souls slaves to their system: ...one more degree, one more post-doc ... in an endless cycles with no end, no objective other then play with the lives of those that love their knowledge fields ...
When I was in high school it was my dream to become an engineer and go university to do just that, because of some things that happened in my high school that I will not mentioned for the sake of being concise, I went to my dismay into the maths program with my dreams crushed!
in the program I discovered my true calling and passion was Mathematics, it was THE greatest blessing in disguise for me, so my message to him would be not every bad IS bad sometimes all we have is the pixel of the larger picture… and besides you’re not starving to death there’s something to be happy about..
Going into industry like Data Science can be a back door into AI research. Lots of great mathmeticians in history were not academics, but made the pivotal discoveries. Don't despair. If you perseve, you will make an impact somehow. Also, I think the traditional academics or industry paradigm is fading. There's not enough room anymore, so top people transition back and forth.
This series is a fantastic idea, Sorcerer. Count on my support and sharing of the podcast. Thank you for all you do
You are a clear thinking, kind hearted and considerate person and obviously intelligent. I look forward to watching your videos because you have these qualities. Keep up the good work!
First: I'm posting under my real name, so you can verify (e.g. via my LinkedIn profile), that all informations regarding my education and employment are correct.
I also had the dream landing a permanent job in academia (in my case, in theoretical physics) in my early 20s. At the time, I had learned a trade but was very unsatisfied with my job and I self studied physics and math in my spare time. So, finally, I entered university at the age of 25 and did my undergrad degree in physics. I was not top of class, but I did reasonably well and started graduate school afterwards. However, although I got my PhD in theoretical pyhsics, I realized during my time as a graduate student, that research and academia are not for me. All that stuff you're supposed to do as postdoc like writing huge amounts of papers, attending conferences, writing grant proposals, ... I realized, that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Furthermore, although being a quite decent probleme solver, I really had a hard time coming up with new an original research ideas. However, I had the oppurtunity to work as teaching assistant during my time as a graduate student and I realized, that I like teaching very much, and so I kept looking for opportunities to shift my career in that direction. When my contract at university ended, I had to get a job really quickly, and found something as a software engineer. That was interesting, but not my dream job - so I kept looking for opportunities to get into teaching. That needed some patience (almost 3 years), but when that opportunity finally knocked at my door, I didn't hesitate a second, quit my job in industry and started as part-time math teacher in secondary education, while simultaneously attending university again to obtain my teaching degree in physics and math. Doing so, was one of the best decisions of my life! After I got my teaching degree, I was employed full-time by my school, and I'm still working there. I still think, that my job as math teacher is awesome, and the most satisfactory part of it is, that I can use my knowledge to help other people achieving their goals🙂
So, although circumstances changed at the time I got my PhD, I kept thinking of other opportunities - and my decision to get into teaching was truly one of my better ones 😉 I hope, this can serve as a motivation to consider other opportunities in life - maybe these turn out to be much better than what you dreamt of in the first place. As Math Sorcerer would say: Take care! 🙂
Great comment, thank you so much for sharing this!!
I'm glad you got a PhD and obtained a satisfying job. Kudos! A school that employed you is very lucky. I consider it to be the best scenario when math teachers have good knowledge of physics. That's because without physics and applications, students feel enormous frustration as to how and where math might be important and even necessary in reality.
There is nothing more wonderful than a shelf full of books. There are several shelves full of books in this video and I'm envious. I will always have books. Books are basically my life. I see some math books on those shelves I'd like to have. A few on algebra I see. My county library doesn't even have that many math books. Bezos also founded a company to send people into space. He went into space and Willaim Shatner (Captain Kirk, Star Trek) went into space on Bezo's spaceship.
Loving your podcast! I am definitely going to follow on Spotify. Watching your videos has become a pre-math study ritual.
My advice is, whatever you find yourself doing, strive to be the best. If you are a math professor strive to be the best math professor you can be. If you are a fireman try and be the best fireman you can be. Same for any profession, trade, skill, or job, always strive to be the best, even if it is not your ideal situation.
Thank you Sorcerer. We all have hard times doing mathematics, but all we can do and should do is fight till we overcome it.
To the young man, there are many paths to being a person of renown, not all of them are ones we see right away. I hope he can grasp that he has already attained insights to math that most of us are still aspiring to reach.
So glad I watched this video to the end. Super cool to find out that MTG was made by a mathematician.
I pride myself in being a game dev (1 year of being a professional so far) and I've enjoyed MTG since I was a kid.
That one little nugget was super inspiring - maybe worth it's own video?
Dear Robert, Imagine yourself for a moment a member of this prestigious institute, how long do you believe your satisfaction will last before you start comparing yourself with other members of the faculty and find yourself chasing an illusion. You can achieve excellence and make discoveries regardless where you are.
I seek the elements of knowledge!
Excellent advice. We should never discount learning in life from a variety of experiences. The insight we can gain is usually not appearant in the particular situation with which we are involved. It's only through introspection and reflecting that we see a novel and exciting approach we didn't prior.
Good luck Robert. You've done incredibly well.
Pedigree is not important, and this person has their entire career ahead of them. So what if you don’t get your dream position out of school? You realistically have 40 productive years ahead of you, and if you achieve your goal at 60-70, then that still counts. Most people get their advanced degree and forget about research. Keep learning, keep searching. EARN what you want
Thank you, Math Sorcerer! I really appreciate your content and this video motivates me to be patient and work hard for my goals!
You´re the best psychologist i´ve ever known, i bet Robert´s feeling is experienced by a high percentage of people who study math, natural sciences and even engineering
I do agree that where you study can be important. But it also depends on who you need to impress and why. There is also the matter of what topic you choose to study can also make a huge difference. Certain schools are known for being strong in specific mathematical specialisations, so that will impact your future as well.
Also the post-doc world that you will be entering into is a beast of a different kind. It's important to be ready for the reality of it. This is nothing like a PhD despite appearances. The PhD is the entry ticket into this world and that's all it is. It will be so easy for you to get caught in the 2-3 year post doc treadmill for the rest of your life. There are so many of these opportunities but in the long term they function as a holding pattern. There is also the matter of 'timing is everything' it's not always about brains and talent.
I would suggest that you check out Dr Andrew Stapleton. He has a great youtube channel about PhD and Post Doc vs industry career options. He has spent some considerable time in academia and working in industry as well as working in scientific media. He speaks freely about the different paths for open for STEM students with honesty. He also offers great tips and tricks for PhD students to make the journey less stressful.
My mental disability has stopped me from doing calculus- and I always want to give up on math
Please review the Mathematical Subject Classification MSC2020 overall, and add a few examples of how it can be used for enhancing undergraduate math understanding. Thanks!
I remember when I was younger, I wanted to be a Math Magician..
Thanks!
thank you!
Hi, i love your videos a lot i watch all of them indeed though i don't study mathematics i study chemistry but your advices are useful and very helpful, i wanna ask you, I'm in second year and i have tons of books i feel that's too much to study how can i study all these books I know it's possible because obviously u have read more books than anyone i know 😘😘
Just try to read a little bit everyday:) A little bit every day adds up to a lot:)
may god bless you sir. i want to start maths from begining and you are one of my hope. and this story gave me motivation as well. thanks sir for everything
I like your hair style. You should enter the Isaac Newton look-alike contest. You would be a run away favorite! If you hair were darker, the Gottfried Leibniz look-alike contest would be a sure thing for you.
I would suggest he focus on winning the Fields medal or solving one of the Millennia problems, people will notice and you will get offered whatever you want. That's how the real world works. Like any field, what counts is what you do - Einstein worked in the patent office. He may have more modest goals than the Fields but that's OK ... .
Here immediately to see your video ^^
You're the best!
@@TheMathSorcerer Thank you! I think the same of you 😊
As far as I understand from his e-mail, he is more concerned about his feelings and the possible feelings which will come from his potential success or potential failure. This is more related to personal accomplishment and fulfillment.
If I'm getting this correctly, my advice would be: At a worse case scenario get a job at the industry, create as much free time as possibly you can. Dedicate this time to your self studies and researches. You might know as well as I do, even if you reach that academic position, things might get more disappointing than you've dreamt of. Build relationships at a professional level with the circle you want to join, follow the events and such. It's ok to mind the past but don't let it hold you back. Along the road, you will collect that yet to be gained satisfaction and fulfillment. Instead of fulfillment of a title, a real fulfillment of doings will make life temporarily better. And I'm not saying you to stop chasing the position, but it's not your final opportunity, you may find many more along the road in ways you've never even thought of. Sometimes, I dare to say most of the time, you don't know what's going to happen next. Keep considering other options whichever path you take, and do not forget that nothing last forever. So make the trip more enjoyable for you. Rest is not relevant as much as you might think.
I hope you best Robert, and good luck.
This is kind of funny...A lot of people who have graduated from big name schools like Harvard , Yale , Princeton, Stanford etc .. have ended up at some very low level colleges for their first teaching jobs , to STAY at the same level as your PHD granting institution for an actual teaching job , is a distinctive challenge very few people succeed in ...
I know I'm late to this party, but this is a great video. I know for me, my dream for such a long time was to be a research mathematician at a liberal arts college. Maybe not as big a dream, but acknowledging that would be impossible was painful for me. But looking at the bright side of things is so important and helpful.
Are the podcasts only available on Spotify? Couldn’t find via Overcast app. Thanks
I have a PhD in a rigorous science discipline from a well known (but not necessarily prestigious) University...call it "A" but not "A+".
Reality? If you have a PhD in ANY field, you are in the top 2% of educated people in the WORLD. If you're in the United States, only 1.2% of the population has such an advanced degree. The number of folks with a Doctorate in Math??? Smaller yet. Realize your worth...you're nearly as rare as a unicorn.
By the way...the leading employer of mathematicians in the United States? The National Security Agency (NSA) working on Cryptography, as well as the National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) - developing security algorithms for things like banking, finance, telecommunications, etc. It doesn't have to be industry; you could work for the government doing work very, very important to the security of the country, our economy, and our way of life...benefiting hundreds of millions of people. Many research labs needs mathematicians as well. This can easily put you in contact with people with the kind of influence to support your long term dreams.
Open up the aperture - you are rare, you have very in demand skill set, and the world truly is your oyster. Please reach out to resources on campus and get some help for what sounds like depression. We're desperate enough for STEM professionals in the world and especially in the US/Europe. We can't afford to lose anyone and certainly not someone so close to a Doctorate.
Finally, let me give you a spot of insight...exclusive doesn't mean better. In my 40+ year career, I've "rescued" several programs from failure despite being headed by very, very elite universities. Elite doesn't mean infallible...you'd be surprised how valuable practical industry experience can be to figure out "why something doesn't work"...while a set of elite university PhDs are scratching their heads.
@@sentientartificialintelligence The Ohio State University
Thanks so much for your comment. I think it's so important for aspiring mathematicians to understand what opportunities are out there and how valuable their skills are. And it's important to understand that there is more than just one path to achieving your goals and getting to where you want to be.
Hi,
I hope you are having a great day. I am reaching out to ask for your advice as I am currently struggling in my math and physics classes. I find the material easy, but I am having trouble accurately reading and interpreting information from exam papers. For example, I sometimes see a "3" as a "2," and I often mix up the signs in trigonometry transformation formulas. This is causing me to make many mistakes in my exams.
Do you have any advice or strategies that can help me overcome this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as it would significantly improve my performance in these classes.
Thank you in advance for your time and assistance and i really love the videos
your subscriber since 200K
Yeah I've had that happen too! I remember learning about matrix inverses and having a horrible time with all of the computations. I practiced and practiced and it felt like i never got any better. In time though, I did. One thing you can do is maybe just go a little bit slower and work more carefully. Force yourself to work slower and be more careful. Good luck:)
I saw a large apple pie .It was baked in a dish with four equal sides. At that moment I realized ..................................................some pie are squared
This is a great talk!
There is an old saw -don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Hello Math Sorcerer, Do you have a discrete math course? Or do you have videos that cover all of a discrete math 1 and 2 course seperated into different playlists on your channel? Thank you
I would love to see you review khan academy
i have heard of geniuses who started from the street and became renowned with no formal education ;-)
I enjoy your videos math sorcerer
For perspective, most of the PhD. graduates from the top programs don't end up teaching in top programs. Of those that do, they are barely a sliver of those that graduated from their programs. At the end of the day what matters is your research output, how well-known your advisor is and how sought after is expertise in your field. Being a snowflake about stuff like this will mar your career even if you did enter a top program. If life gives you lemons, make a strawberry sherbert crushed ice cooler with a tiki umbrella.
As far as I know is that Jeff Bezos studied electrical engineering and computer science but not physics.
Here is another answer:
The problem is your definition of “world class mathematician”. Please correct me if I’m wrong. A mathematician of the caliber you aim at is one who produces very interesting and top quality work. How many mathematicians at top universities are not producing notable work?.. take the Sorcerer here as an example. We don’t know if he graduated from Oxford or Princeton, but so long as he’s producing highly valuable mathematics content in his own way, it doesn’t really matter where he went to school. There are people at Oxford and Princeton who might fancy themselves “top tier” but they won’t measure up to the creator of this channel as a teacher and producer. They will not have any real impact on mathematics at any level. One must find one’s own way, or one will be a carbon copy, an imitator, with a title, but not authentically excellent in the real sense. What matters is what you can do, what you can produce - that will place you in the realm of excellence. And you must enjoy, love the process more than the result. Your results will always be something you want to surpass, but your time here on earth is comprised of valuable moments.. they must be valuable as moments & not as arrows or vectors leading to some uncertain conclusion.
7:04 Hmmm! That makes me wonder how far Bill Gates and Elon Musk could go in math before they hit their limit!
I normally don't try to compare myself to others or try to achieve things for the sake of my ego, but the thought of surpassing certain high-status people like that gives me a funny tingling feeling! 😅🤣
Does contributing to mathematics give a ticket to one of the top 10 universities as a teacher😊!
love this
Was not expecting a Nas reference at the end there 😂
Hello Math Sorcerer, have you looked at A Transition To Advanced Mathematics by Douglas Smith? I think it is a decent book for self-study proof writing
Lets interview someone?
Yes that would be awesome!
Hey
Hi math sorcerer , i am 15 and i want to be a mathematician but i have no idea where to start and how to become one , could you please give me advice on how I can get started
also i really like your videos , thank you for making them !!
I am Portuguese and I have a degree I'm managing taken at open university. I love math I am wondering making a second degree but this time in math. My teachers would focus us in math to do projects but I think I need more mathematics. But I also would like to know if can I be a mathematician with this degree? I liked you exemple of Bezos, I also like musk he as a phisics degree. Could help me? Good channel
Failure is a stepping stone.
All…
ALL, highly successful people fail a lot. Failure is progress….
If you dont give up.
Edison’s lab failed over 5000x trying to find the right way to make a lightbulb.
Elon Must compares working through and past failures as “chewing on glass and staring into the abyss”
So if you want a goal, you need to expect to need to put in hard work and falling on your face over and over again. True failure is your choice not to get back up and keep nugging along.
If you want it, go get it. It wont get handed to you, you have to earn it. You have to decide no price is too high for what you truely want. Then go pay it.
Hi, where can we find the email address to which viewers send you questions to?
On my about page, just scroll down there is an option for it:)
The conventional academic model is collapsing. The reason I say this is based on the book THE END OF COLLEGE, which indicates brick and mortar unis are collapsing. Growing number of people are finally realizing it makes no sense to take on massive debt to get a degree for jobs that don't exist. I would say that schools that we've considered elite are also going to be have to face reality, that being, they've failed in their core mission. They've ignored their undergrads, who actually pay the rent, and are realizing that highly motivated individuals will lean on their own. If anyone can take an online course for free from Yale, Stanford, Caltech, take a test, and show they've gotten some excellent understanding of the material, then the days of the brick and mortars are done. That's what THE END OF COLLEGE is proving...
Hi math wizard, i never comment on youtube but i would like to know what you would think about something. What happens is that I am 21 years old and in little of a month I turn 22 years old. At the moment I am studying physics, and I really love my degree, but lately I have been very interested in mathematics. Do you think it would be good to study mathematics at the age of 25? Assuming that I will finish my degree in 2 years and a few months.
I know that there is a lack of information that I have to give you so that you can give an accurate opinion, but the truth is that I have been thinking about this for a while, it is not that I do not like physics, what happens is that I also like mathematics, and I would like to work in mathematical physics or theoretical physics with a fairly high degree of mathematics. The problem with everything is that I am from a third world country and here science is not well paid, but the truth is that the only thing I want to do in life is mathematics and physics. I hope you are very well, I love your videos, I watch most or repeat some. Keep it up.
Math
In terms of money incomes you dream is each day payment multiplied by thousand
Don't care so much about the name. Just do the math
I like Math but I see there are not jobs for this field, maybe Math tutor, so I have to study something in Tech to get a job , i I learn math because I like only.
You fail at the same thing 1,000 times.
You found that 1,000 times did not work for the same thing.
On a counter counter point...
Industry has forced me to learn
- computer science
- data engineering
- software engineering
- machine learning
- development operations
- data science/model creation/actuarial
- functional programming
- oop design
- software architecture
- communication patterns for client/server p2p
- cloud engineering
- data analysis
To say that being in "industry" makes u worse is silly, how hard i would stomp one of my best professors if actually having to create a product is insane.
I would be really sad if my life were only limited to such a narrow scope as in a college prof. Sounds boring
Imho, ymmv, become great, learn the elephant. You have no idea what u dont know, u have no idea how junior you are....
Especially if u are at a good firm, especially if u get into R&D, you have no idea the amount of work youre saying is a failure...
Between undergrad and medical school, I was a telemarketer too. Might I offer you some accidental death and dismemberment insurance?
hehehehehe
I don't know if vying for "world class" is ever a healthy goal.
Sir, I have my Own four theorems made by me.this theorems you show on your channel so you get most of views. This theorems are very interesting. If you have interest so contact me by re comment . Thank you Himanshu Sharma
You, Sir, look like Newton to me 😊