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Research

By Ilyena
Posted Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 02:40:15 AM PDT

I've just started research this summer but my confidence is almost nil.

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I sometimes wonder if I'm smart enough or have the ability to do it. It's intimidating reading the research and accomplishments of these giants of mathematics. I feel as though I could never achieve even half of what most people have. I was just wondering if anyone else has ever felt, or feels like this.

< Younger Mathematicians Networking | Drowning Under a Mountain of Applications >

confidence | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

[new] Re: confidence (none / 0) (#1)
by Vanes63 on Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 08:23:46 AM PDT

I think everyone has confidence issues at one point or another.

Where I went to get my M.S. one of the graduate students would say that everyone has a moment where they believe they know nothing. You get to know enough definitions for continuity and it all gets jumbled in your head and you don't always know which one to use.

Now, what they said might be a slight exaggeration I think it is perfectly normal to feel non-confident. Now, that being said - I am also sure that you are not doing research because you are not knowledgeable and capable.

Don't think about the accomplishments of the "great" mathematicians, just work on doing your work and getting things done. Work hard and you may find something. Even "great" mathematicians had to work hard to get the breakthroughs they did get.

Also consider that there are more sub-fields of mathematics now available for research than there were back with Gauss made his great discoveries. He didn't have as many people to compete with, that is true, but he had more open ground to plug around in. Nowadays you want to try to stay up to date in your specific sub-field and know who has done what most recently so you don't "discover" something that was published in 1982.

So, chin up and realize that everyone you know that studies math probably has the same feelings or has had the same feelings at one time or another. If that doesn't work, think about the people who applied for that research position who got rejected.

[new] Digging into Research (none / 0) (#2)
by emengee on Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 05:48:09 PM PDT

I suppose I have two things to say. The first is that I'd have to guess that around 98% of people who get into higher mathematics feel the exact same way that you do. The mountains of math you have to get through before you can even understand original research are towering, and working your way to where you start doing your own research is extremely intimidating.

The second is more of a question. Why do you know that you want to devote your life to mathematical research? Chances are, you don't. You have no idea exactly how you want to spend the rest of your life. You probably know that you have a very deep appreciation/fondness/even love for mathematics, and you've enjoyed studying it thus far. So the natural step in your mind is to be a research mathematician. But the real natural step is to figure out if you want to be a research mathematician. Try out research and grad school. See how they all work out for you. You're going to struggle a bit, but regardless of the outcome, you'll come out knowing a lot more about yourself.

I was in the same position that you're in. I did a summer research program and ended up going to grad school for math. In the end, I found out that research wasn't so much for me and that my passion lies in teaching. But for each of the mes out there, there's several other people who find that although research is immensely intimidating, they absolutely love it! You could go in either direction, or even in another direction, but the only way you're going to get there is to keep an open mind, take advantage of the opportunities you have, and remember to enjoy yourself.

[new] Tolerating research (none / 0) (#3)
by kristimeyer on Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 08:14:35 AM PDT

I'll concur with the previous comments. My undergraduate degree is in secondary education and math, and I basically went to grad school to get the job that I want - teaching college. Unfortunately (so I thought), that meant I had to do some research along the way in order to get my degree. I am not a research mathematician, nor do I ever aspire to be. Because I knew that my strengths were in teaching and not in research, I was extremely intimidated when I first started to work. I had no idea where to start and I didn't know how I would ever come up with enough new material to publish a dissertation.

Once I started working with my advisor and reading research articles, I was even more intimidated. All the ideas in these articles were great - how could I ever compete? There was no way I could ever come up with something original on this scale.

And then one day I was reading an article, and something just clicked - a "better" way to do what the authors had proposed. Four years and a number of side trips later, I had my dissertation, a degree, and the job that I wanted.

So what's the moral of the story? I don't think that I did any wonderful or great original research. I just took an idea that someone else had and improved on it. There were a number of "side trips" along the way to figure how to make this idea work, but overall my entire dissertation was based on that one "aha!" moment I had while reading a paper. Now clearly, it doesn't work this way for everyone, but maybe this will happen for you.

The other moral of the story goes back to the previous comment. I still don't love research. I would much rather do many other things that work on research. In the right kind of job, you don't have to love research, and that's OK. Just keep in mind that research is probably not going to be the exclusive focus of your life once you graduate (unless you want it to be). Take it in small manageable pieces and it will seem much less intimidating.

[new] It's intimidating reading. (none / 0) (#4)
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confidence | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

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