Originally Posted by
one
Okay so I can chime in on this. I don't believe that a type is naturally good at math, but your type pushes you to certain fields of interest which in turn leads you to become better at it over time. This attraction-repulsion applies even with people too, and if you are incompatible with the people who populate those circles and the more of those people in that social circle, the stronger the repulsion. If a subject of study relies on heavy Ti usage for example, Ti egos will naturally gravitate toward it while those with weaker Ti repel it. In your case, you don't value Ti and you are weak at it, so your mental attitude towards it leans towards repulsion than attraction. The higher and the more abstract the math you pursue, the lower the chances of you enjoying it because it requires higher intuition.
In my experience, most of the people in our uni's math department before were from alpha quadra (yes including Alpha SFs, I've seen a lot of ESEs), with some LSIs and EIEs, SLEs thrown in. Some people who are of a different type left to pursue other related fields, commenting on the fact that math is a great subject but it's too detached from reality and proofs are too boring to focus on. They moved to other related subjects like physics, stat, engineering. These people are Beta or Gamma (I just noted the strong Se since I didn't know everyone of them that much, and their Se is so easy to spot because the majority were Alpha, and I am pretty familiar with how xSEs are and their 4D Se). Others also left to pursue unrelated subjects as well, but those people never paid attention to the subject in the first place. Like most of them always wanted to pursue something else, they were only there to get some units then transfer. Other types stayed too, but they stayed not for the beauty of math (whatever that means) but for another purpose (actuarial jobs pay well).
One interesting thing I noticed, some Alpha people would hate pursuing the degree. But they would stay! Because they love the people there. Just like I said in another post, I have been close with an LSI, and she stayed even she wasn't enjoying the classes. Again, it's because of the people. She got convinced that college will pass anyway and the sad days will be over, besides she's enjoying fun and games with our group there.
Most respected people there were LIIs. They are silent types who would be approached if another person has a problem in the problem set. Many professors are of this type too. If I'm wrong thinking LII is their type, I am fairly certain that these people are of the same type. To be honest I don't think I saw an ILE there. Maybe one and he's one of the greats too. But I'm still doubting his type.
Okay now about the group. There is a popular math organization that you can join. I joined so I know a lot about them. It's all fun and games - they always play card games and board games. If they play sports it's mostly just Frisbee or table tennis. They go outside in groups all the time, very noisy and they would always laugh at puns and nonsensical jokes. You are easily welcome as long you are chill and love joking around. They never talk about practical applications of their work and goals in life. When you ask them about their plans after college, they mostly focus on actuarial/banking because "our alumni would be there" or because they will be together with friends. They are more inclined to focus on group relations than one-on-one - "the more the merrier". Like if you invited someone for lunch, it's natural and kinda expected for you guys to invite everyone who might also want join in because it's boring and too exclusive if it's only just the two of you. People would feel like you are hiding from them. It's also very, very normal to have this long conversation about random theories with lots of jokes thrown around. They are also very close with all of the professors and talk to them like equals.
The funny thing is, I joined their finance group. The first meeting is about loss of money. Apparently, they had a long running business relationship with the department. The department provides the books and items to sell, and since the group is popular they would be the one to sell it. The problem is, both parties' relationship was built mostly on trust and no one paid attention to the financial transaction! So the records are a mess, and there is no way to track who owed who (supplies ran out for example, so some random member would talk to someone in the department which is also a friend to ask for it, then they probably would be too engrossed in the conversation that they forgot to record the transaction). They live with the theory but most of them don't care about the application of it. (So another thing to consider, it's important to ask what kind of math you are referring to - abstract or practical?)
Now of course we had to announce the issue. Guess how everyone reacted. They just laughed about the mishap and comforted each other with jokes. No one tried to make the issue more heavy than it was and ask for more information. People immediately contributed to the pot to replace the money and the issue was instantly forgotten.
There's this required subject in our department that people make a buzz about. They say once you take it you'll know if you actually want to get a math degree or not. It's the subject about proving and mathematical reasoning. It's all Ti. There's a significant amount of people who would just drop the class or finish it but leave the department after.
Our uni's math degree is more theoretical than practical though you can take some practical subjects as your elective. From a very small sample size (20-25), among Ti egos, Ne-valuing people would take philosophy of math or linguistics as electives. Se-valuing will take statistics, probability or something else. Pure math is alpha NT haven. From my limited interaction with physics majors: I'm good friends with an EII who left because according to her the mental stress of solving math problems aren't worth it and pursued creative writing instead. A few people I knew seemed to be ILE walking stereotype.
I'm also friends with IEI from engineering (chemical? idk) who left to pursue creative writing. Again, it's because the mental stress is too heavy for them. Most of the people I know in engineering who succeeded are Te egos.
One important thing, there is a difference between being actually good and having a potential to be good at something. The latter is very much type-related in my opinion, but the former can be affected by a lot of factors not related to type. A few examples: I have been close with an SLE who was an engineering student. While he is terrible in classes and you wouldn't normally consider him good at math, I saw big potential in him in mathematics. During our convos during class (yes we weren't listening in class) he would always ask me why a certain fact or theorem was realized, say things like, "You know I have always wondered what this X math concept is in relation to Y topic", and look at the basis of the formula even when cramming. But he was too caught up in parties and having nihilistic thoughts about life that time. Another person I know, probably LII, was depressed and got into an accident, but during his better days (which weren't many, unfortunately), he was able to understand theorems and apply them in problems with ease.
Lastly, most of the math you and I know can be easily learned by the average man. The math I was referring to in my above anecdotes includes the ability to handle abstract concepts, figure out new problems without help, and the ability to follow and build own logical implications to prove something. But sometimes you can easily be good at math in a general sense without even having those abilities. You can build up the skill and be decent enough in math through pattern recognition or by memorizing formula and previous problems you have been taught.