Do You Need to Be a Genius to Study Mathematics?

This is a pretty common question that shows up in forums and my DMs, and it usually comes right before someone talks themselves out of doing the thing they actually want to do.

My stance is that you do not need to be a genius to study mathematics.

What you need is something less glamorous and much more effective.

The “genius” story is comforting in a strange way.

If math is only for gifted people, then you’re off the hook.

No need to risk failing. No need to feel slow. No need to struggle.

But it’s also a story that quietly removes your agency.

It turns a skill you can build into a trait you either have or don’t.

When someone says “genius,” they usually mean:

• fast understanding,

• quick solutions,

• effortless intuition,

• a sense that the person was “born for it”.

And yes: people like that exist.

Some students genuinely do arrive at the solution sooner. Some researchers do see patterns faster. Some people have a kind of mathematical reflex that looks like magic from the outside.

They have an advantage.

But here’s the part that matters:

An advantage is not a guarantee.

In my experience, what carries you through math is not a rare brain type.

It’s three ordinary things, practised consistently:

1. Determination. Not “motivation.” Determination is what’s left when motivation evaporates. It’s the willingness to stay in the problem long enough for your brain to change shape.

2. Passion. Not a constant feeling, more like a recurring pull. The sense that, even when it’s hard, you want to understand what’s going on.

3. Interest. Real interest, not “I like getting correct answers.” Interest in structures, ideas, why the result is true, and what changes if you tweak an assumption.

If you have these, you have the core engine.

Everything else is training.

If you can stay curious while you’re confused, you’re already doing the real work.

Think of sports.

Someone can be naturally athletic. They can be tall, coordinated, and explosive. That helps in Basketball, for example.

But if they don’t train, if they don’t show up, repeat fundamentals, build stamina, and keep going when it’s boring, then they don’t get very far.

Meanwhile, someone less “gifted” can become extremely strong by doing the unsexy thing:

• practice,

• consistency,

• coaching,

• repetition,

• and time.

Math works similarly (with an important difference: your success does not require someone else’s failure).

Your progress is not a zero-sum competition. It’s a personal accumulation of understanding.

A common sentence is:

“I wasn’t good at math in high school.”

Sometimes that’s meaningful. Often it isn’t.

Because what many people experienced in school wasn’t (the real) mathematics, it was:

• speed,

• memorising procedures,

• performing under pressure,

• and getting punished for small mistakes.

Also, doing arithmetic correctly is not the same as thinking mathematically.

Mathematics is closer to:

• defining things precisely,

• learning how to reason,

• building examples and counterexamples,

• understanding why something must be true.

So if you disliked school math, don’t treat that as a final verdict.

Treat it as a clue: maybe you didn’t enjoy the format, not the subject.

If you feel a strong pull toward mathematical ideas (not just “being good at calculations”), you likely have more than enough reason to try.

If you’re on the fence, don’t ask yourself:

“Am I a genius?”

Ask yourself:

“Am I willing to train?”

A simple test:

• Pick one topic that genuinely interests you (proofs, probability, linear algebra, dynamical systems).

• Spend two weeks with it, consistently.

• Write what you understand, what you don’t, and what questions keep coming back.

If this post helped, consider subscribing to Mathone - Davide Murari on Substack and sharing it with someone who still thinks math is only for “gifted” people.

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