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potato123
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Did they start out with a high iq or did it increase because they were working with a lot of math and physics problems.
So, what's your experience? You're saying you encounter a lot of physics majors who don't seem to have high I.Q.s?PietKuip said:As a physics teacher, I doubt that your premiss is true :(
Honestly speaking, I don't think I would have been eligible for a PhD program in the USA. From limited experience I know that I'm very bad at GRE type tests, and I even tried them just in the comfort of my own living room. Fortunately, here they are not a factor, at least for admission to mathematics and science programs.Mark44 said:Here is some data from GRE scores.
Well, I think the definition of IQ, which is ambiguous for there are more than one, plays a role. It's often mistakenly messed up with education or knowledge. I like to consider it as a measure for the length of free associative chains or the difficult to measure capability to abstract. The latter is certainly needed in Physics.micromass said:And why would anybody care about IQ anyway?
fresh_42 said:Well, I think the definition of IQ, which is ambiguous for there are more than one, plays a role. It's often mistakenly messed up with education or knowledge. I like to consider it as a measure for the length of free associative chains or the difficult to measure capability to abstract. The latter is certainly needed in Physics.
I think your I.Q. is certainly higher than that. I would speculate you just don't respond well to the situation of an I.Q. test; the pressure.micromass said:Dunno. I have a below average IQ (96) and I do fine in math and physics. So it's not necessary in my opinion. Just one data point though, but certainly one more than the OP provided :D
Of course it is above average (above 100). But I do not think the physics majors that I teach are smarter than other students.zoobyshoe said:So, what's your experience? You're saying you encounter a lot of physics majors who don't seem to have high I.Q.s?
zoobyshoe said:I think your I.Q. is certainly higher than that. I would speculate you just don't respond well to the situation of an I.Q. test; the pressure.
I'm sure as well, it is. There are some immanent problems in IQ test which make them difficult especially for mathematicians or people who think that way. Firstly mathematicians are trained to look out for contradictions, incompleteness and counterexamples. That takes time off the clock. Secondly the questions are usually ambiguous: "Continue the sequence: 1, 4, 9, 16 ... " which are appropriate to make mathematicians scream.zoobyshoe said:I think your I.Q. is certainly higher than that. I would speculate you just don't respond well to the situation of an I.Q. test; the pressure.
fresh_42 said:Continue the sequence: 1, 4, 9, 16 ...
I hope I didn't start a competition to post all solutions now ...Vanadium 50 said:Obviously it's 1,4,9,16,26,39,56...![]()
potato123 said:Did they start out with a high iq or did it increase because they were working with a lot of math and physics problems.
I don't understand the relevance of this. Newton and Hilbert, for example, were "white men with Western education" who are guilty of inventing (or rather: discovering?) numerous theoretical concepts. Otherwise, I think I largely agree with you, as I believe you have more expertise on this topic than I do.Sophia said:I also want to add that the IQ is just a theoretical concept that was invented by white men with western education.
fresh_42 said:Continue the sequence: 1, 4, 9, 16 ... "
Here in lies the problems with pattern recognition, two different people can see two different patters, of which both are correct. @Vanadium, what pattern did you see? I saw the number being incremented by an amount that itself increments by 2 (+ 3, + 5, +7...) so to me the next numbers would be 25, 36, 49...Vanadium 50 said:Obviously it's 1,4,9,16,26,39,56...![]()
Krylov said:I don't understand the relevance of this. Newton and Hilbert, for example, were "white men with Western education" who are guilty of inventing (or rather: discovering?) numerous theoretical concepts. Otherwise, I think I largely agree with you, as I believe you have more expertise on this topic than I do.
newjerseyrunner said:what pattern did you see?
Vanadium 50 said:a(n+1) = a(n)-th composite number, with a(0) = 1
Well, I decided to google "average iq of physics majors," and google gave me this selection:collinsmark said:And of course (as requested in Post 4 by @Vanadium 50) the implied claim that physics majors actually do score higher than other college majors would have to be verified.
zoobyshoe said:So, the obvious question is, "When and how did physics majors take control of designing I.Q. tests?"
I am not saying that white men can't invent or discover anything good.Krylov said:I don't understand the relevance of this. Newton and Hilbert, for example, were "white men with Western education" who are guilty of inventing (or rather: discovering?) numerous theoretical concepts. Otherwise, I think I largely agree with you, as I believe you have more expertise on this topic than I do.