Was Einstein really good at math?

Question

Einstein is no doubt an amazing physicist, definitely one of, if not the best who ever lived.

However, was he good at math? Of course he is very very good at it in the very least, since the advanced physics need really advanced math. What I'm really asking is...was he exceptional at it? Was he so amazingly good at it, just like he is in physics?

Answer 1

Compared to me, he is a genius at math, but he did, as all mathematicians and physicists operating at that level, need to have his work checked over.



He began by expressing his dislike of maths by saying it was not needed to understand or communicate the kind of physics he was working on, but he later changed his mind, especially when people used maths to support his hypotheses. He really took a grip on it when he needed to branch into non-Euclidean geometry in order to generalise this special theory of relativity. He made many mistakes though, some of which would, had they not been corrected before publishing, have made the experimental verifications of his ideas disprove them, e.g. the amount at which light appears to bend in a gravitational field.

Answer 2

Einstein And Math

Answer 3

It is a myth. Albert Einstein would have had to be able to do simple maths in order to create work and theories such as his theories on relativity. It's like saying someone could be a world class sprinter but can't walk. O.K I know there is one person who is an exception to what I just said (I wonder if anyone here knows his name, I've forgotten but If I remember or can find out then I'll update this post), but you get the idea.

Answer 4

Yes. Einstein was exceptional at math. There is a myth that Einstein was bad at math which is false. Below is a quote from a Time Magazine article:



"In 1935, a rabbi in Princeton showed him a clipping of the Ripley’s column with the headline “Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics.” Einstein laughed. “I never failed in mathematics,” he replied, correctly. “Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.” In primary school, he was at the top of his class and “far above the school requirements” in math. By age 12, his sister recalled, “he already had a predilection for solving complicated problems in applied arithmetic,” and he decided to see if he could jump ahead by learning geometry and algebra on his own. His parents bought him the textbooks in advance so that he could master them over summer vacation. Not only did he learn the proofs in the books, he also tackled the new theories by trying to prove them on his own. He even came up on his own with a way to prove the Pythagorean theory."

Answer 5

No, he is quite famous for not being nearly as good at solving his own equations as other people were. Einstein was a man of great conceptual ability, but he was no mathematical genius. In math itself, he was barely mediocre. But don't get me wrong, that's compared to the great mathematicians who set the standard. Compared to the ordinary dolt who might be referred to as a "man on the street", Einstein could have run circles around him. But all the same, if he were brought back to life and took the Putnam exam today along with all the US and Canadian undergrads taking it, I would be VERY surprised if he got in the top 500.

Answer 6

No, Einstein was awful at math. He was just terrible. He sucked.



Of course I'm being sarcastic- of course he was a math genius! He was doing college level coursework in his early teens! Go to Wikipedia and read him page.

Answer 7

I was wondering the same question too yesterday