×

# Maths Education

Why are boys more inclined to maths than girls?

Note by Tenzin Yangkey
2 years, 8 months ago

Sort by:

No its not true see Suyeon Khim - founder of briliant.org . Indeed girls are more clever than boys · 2 years, 8 months ago

@U Z I'd rather phase it "girls and boys are equally clever in math" $$\ddot\smile$$ · 2 years, 8 months ago

@U Z There are more boy mathematicians, physicists and chemists than girls · 2 years, 8 months ago

I totally agree with both of you. I love maths. But maths and engineering being a male dominated area for the last century still have an affect on the attitude of girls on maths... !! · 2 years, 8 months ago

That's one of the biggest problems. If girls can actually meet and connect with women who have careers in mathematics and the sciences then they can see that breaking into these fields is not only possible but enjoyable and fulfilling. Not all girls need to love math, just as not all boys do, but for those who do they need to be encouraged and not be seen as "uncool" for liking it. I think that there is often social pressure on girls not to look "too smart", especially at math and science, in case it makes boys feel threatened, (or something like that; boys have such sensitive egos. haha).

Girls have as much, if not more, aptitude in these subjects as boys, and all of society will benefit if those who wish to fulfill this aptitude are encouraged and allowed to do so. And I think one of the keys is for them to have access to female role models in these fields. · 2 years, 8 months ago

yup ... about the aptitude and ego thing I totally agree. Once I was browsing my Facebook profile and I came to a link which sent to an article named 'difference in female and male brains'. I can't find the link now, I will search it. But what I remember is that women are better at multitasking than men. And I said this to my mother after reading it. I always wondered how did she cook so well and at the same time enjoy watching her soap operas.

Just imagine solving several problems in head. Just girls can do it. And I envy that. (-_-) · 2 years, 8 months ago

Neuroscience is one of the most vibrant fields out there right now, and is becoming more and more entwined with many other disciplines. Gender differences in the brain is a particularly active, (and controversial), topic within the field. I'll provide a relevant link in case you can't find the one you had in mind:

Girl Brain, Boy Brain · 2 years, 8 months ago

yes it has a bit. But again to cite an example, just to encourage, Shakuntala Devi is unmatched still. Many women teach maths betters than some men. Also I don't probably remember but there was another Indian lady who received a prize for contributing to maths. It is a bit dominated by males, but times are changing now. And with Brilliant, more minds, male or female would improve a lot in maths and physics $$\ddot\smile$$ · 2 years, 8 months ago

Well, it is not so. Girls are also equally inclined to maths as boys. Sometimes due to the way Mathematics is presented, people don't get interested in it. For example I didn't like Maths till my 11th grade. Only after I met an awesome teacher in maths, I started liking it. He used to take a lot of problems and solve them on board. Seeing him tackle problems and also the ways he reasoned his lines of attack was pretty exciting. It made an impression on me that tackling problems in maths are sort of like debating physics theories, ..."if you apply Vieta here we may get a wrong answer because this equation has extraneous roots!" ...something like that.

I still remember that in my class the top 10 students to score high in Maths and Physics usually had 6 to 7 girls. Some of them were my childhood friends, and I often took their help to understand some Math problems.

Apart from school education, there are enough women entering into Math research!

Maryam Mirzakhani, is the first women to be honored with Fields Medal.

To quote G.H.Hardy: "I am interested in mathematics only as a creative art." And creativity interests almost everyone :) . I don't think people who commit themselves to maths, like Hardy and Maryam Mirzakhani , do it because it is 'challenging'. But because it is 'interestingly challenging'.

:) · 2 years, 8 months ago

How is your attitude towards math before you gained your interest in class 11? I would really appreciate if you are willing to share. · 2 years, 8 months ago

I didn't like it because I didn't understand it. I couldn't follow steps. I couldn't figure out why they tackle the problem as they do. The teacher was not very helpful. I always thought that people who were better scoring in maths had some special ability. They just got the flashes of solution in their heads and hence could solve the problem. Anyways, I just had enough reasons to hate it, at a time. But things changed. Well, I won't get into much details it may get boring, but I am about to post a note where I will try to share my thought: "If maths is made interesting and if people like it, they can improve at it faster". · 2 years, 8 months ago

And now you are called "Math Philic" $$\ddot\smile$$ · 2 years, 8 months ago

Everyone knows how to make a smiley now $$\stackrel{\wedge\,\wedge}{\smile}$$ @Math Philic, @Pranjal Jain · 2 years, 8 months ago

All credit goes to Daniel Liu $$\stackrel{\wedge\,\wedge}{\smile}$$ and now I learned a new one. · 2 years, 8 months ago

Yeah! $$\ddot\smile$$ · 2 years, 8 months ago

We are all math-philics here. thanks to brilliant :D · 2 years, 8 months ago

it doesn't matter all are equally capable · 2 years, 8 months ago

no..it's not true..girls are so much telented..lije you post problem..i can not.. :p · 2 years, 8 months ago

How will you encourage your friends who are not interested in maths to see its beauty? · 2 years, 8 months ago

Show them beauty problems or problems that look difficult but have a esy solution · 2 years, 8 months ago

I think that the learning process works best if you are tackling questions of your own making, or at least questions that you are interested in finding solution methods for, as well as a solution. Students generally don't have much say in the type of questions they must solve - that is, standard education methods are prescriptive. I think that all students, both boys but most especially girls, will feel more invested if they are given greater leeway in the formulation of the questions that they have to spend time on. As Math Philic has mentioned, females tend to be more skilled at multitasking than males, so the questions they may be more interested in may be more complex than those that interest boys. The "basics" still have to be mastered, but once this is done I think that there should be more freedom given to students to create problems that they actually want to solve. · 2 years, 8 months ago

• give a topic enough time. Don't just rush through it learning the techniques and all. Also spend time on how things were discovered and which people contributed in its development. Now that may be incomprehensible but get a general outline.

• Take at least one hard problem a day(which appears to you as challenging, forget about others), from a topic you have learned and spend days on it. For example one can browse through the problems in Brilliant. Write the problem in notebook and then try to solve it.

• Discuss things with others. You need not to be correct and right and reach to a valid conclusion. Just discuss things. Let your imagination just flow. let it be a scientific gossip.

• Try to keep a record of problems (or puzzles or questions) and their solution. Find time to make the solutions short. And interesting.

• Teach maths to juniors.

• Read about mathematicians. if you don't have time to read thick volumes of biographies, you can watch documentaries

• There are more ideas. Most of them are not practical. Some are more practical than others. But they can be developed and when given enough thought, may lead to new ideas.

· 2 years, 8 months ago

Teaching maths to juniors or classmates is the best way to develop interest in maths! · 2 years, 8 months ago

r u preparing for JEE 2015..... · 2 years, 8 months ago

No. i am not.. I am thinking of helping my friends who are weak in maths how to learn math and enjoy it.. :) · 2 years, 8 months ago

good ....keep it up.... help me and our fellow brilliant users too... · 2 years, 8 months ago

forget it, those dumb people won't even understand it! · 2 years, 8 months ago

girls are no less than boys. u just need to focus more · 2 years, 8 months ago

Who told you that?If you have enough talent and passion,only Almighty can stop you,and perhaps Almighty won't · 2 years, 8 months ago

That's a good question, given the intellectual capabilities of girls. · 2 years, 8 months ago