Brilliant, creative artists, healers, etc who bomb or dont "get" math?

Question

The mathematics geniuses who are clueless or lacking in many other areas of life, artistry, creativity, emotional understanding, etc is a well-known cliche. On the flip side,
who could be considered geniuses, made "great" contributions to humanity, could be considered greatly talented artists, healers, etc while totally bombing at math skills?
I suppose it could be even a question of people in past and current times who could be considered dyslexic in math, or simply not getting or doing well at all in math, yet excel in other areas of life, arts, healing, creativity, intelligence, etc..

With due respect to math and those who are good at math, math is not one of and does not have relevence to, the most important mysteries and qualities of the universe and life. These are of the heart and soul, which are far too fluid, nonrational, subjective and feeling based to be touched by mathematics. though math can have some use in a rather small percentage of daily living activites. More for computer and physical engineering jobs.

I, and many others, would say that its not so much that math is everywhere and in art, music, etc., as many, many very talented & creative people who excel in such creative areas without math training or even facility.
It could be more accurate to say that math in many instances is used by those who feel a need or desire for rational approximation at an "explanation" for how many creative expressions such as many forms of art, music by self-taught musicians who play by feeling / ear rather than musical notation, physical artistic expression like dance, gymnastics, etc, gifted healers... create and exist the way they do. Many such talented people do not base their highly developed artistry, insights, intuition on math, have often not even done well in math, and often dont care to. Math can be useful for creating bridges, computers, etc., but these things are not really so important in love, spiritual growth & life - we are just used to & the distractions & habituations they afford us.

Ive added details to this question, because most answers in this forum are not of my actual question, but are instead giving an understandably biased opinion, being in a math forum. It would be more accurate to say that those with a predilication toward math-based thinking & logic tend to look and and relate to so much of the world through such a lens, while not recognizing their own mathematically biased subjectivity. To say for instance that love, attraction, emotions, spirit, soo many other qualities & experiences can be translated into mathematical reasoning or logic misses the deeper truth- these qualities & experiences do not exist because of math & are highly artfully, feelingly felt & expressed by people who do not view or learn @ such in math terms. Some people simply try to understand & explain such experiences mathematically afterward, though fall short. Math is only 1 lens & language of an aspect of life, an incomplete one at that, out of many others.

Answer 1

I reeeaally don't know what to answer. However, if you just want my thoughts on what you said, That's interesting.

Answer 2

What is your question? Specific mathematical skills are more important to some careers than to others. The ability to think and to communicate verbally are important to most endeavors. You will be far beyond high school before you need to worry about learning skills that won't be useful in life. High school math through geometry and algebra are of value to anyone. Calculus is arguably unnecessary for someone not involved with science and technology. But then, science and technology are where most contributions will be made, so why rule that out? Give it the best effort you're capable of, and ask for help. Good artists appreciate math in terms of the balance of their work. You don't get to be a medical practicioner of any kind (except a scam artist) without a basic background in math. Just recognize that it's harder for some than others, and get on with learning it.

Answer 3

I think your real purpose here is to get us to tell you that math isn't important and isn't useful in the grand scheme of things. Sorry to disappoint you, but math is, indeed, everywhere. Ever taken a class in music theory? You'll see a lot of matrix algebra there. Even in something as abstract as art appreciation, you'll see series math.

I think that people who do poorly in math classes aren't necessarily bad at math. Someone like Einstein, who failed math in school, had an instinctive understanding of it. I have friends who HATE math, but they use it all the time. They just don't call it math, because they're convinced that math is evil.

Are there people who've made great contributions to society without wielding a slide rule? Of course. But if you're looking for support for the idea that math isn't necessary for the *really* important things in life, I think you've come to the wrong place. There's math in everything, even in the whys and wherefores of physical attraction between two people and in art and aesthetics.

Answer 4

I hate to be the one to break it to you but math is in fact everywhere....

Yep it has infected itself into your precious music and art and beauty. If you ever take a music class once in your life you will understand the importance of math when it comes to dealing with metric verses and such. Granted not everyone who succeeds in the visual, or performing arts purposely uses math, it is still involved.

Albert Einstein did not flunk out of math...lol contrary to popular belief, he dropped out math because he felt his teacher was basically useless. Einstein used math for a huge deal of things.

So again, math may not be the main contributer to human accomplishments (the reason there is no nobel prize in math) it is in everything, the computer you are looking at, the desk its on, the house its in....everything...

Answer 5

Are you having trouble with math? It is pretty simple, becuase all of the instructions are laid out before you. Read you text and do your math homework right when you get home, it will take a few hours at first, but when you learn the language of mathematics it will be like speaking with your friends. Math at all levels is challanging if you don't give yourself the time to learn it. Just get it done, and most people have trouble with this basic concept. Math never stopped anyone from succeeding at other things, but it certainly does make people succeed at solving the mysteries of the universe.

Answer 6

Albert Einstein famously flunked math in school.