Question

Understood a very simple concept after 10 minutes and now I feel like I not smart enough for Mathematics.

Answer 1

That's an interesting conclusion that you came to. You said that you missed a small detail, when you found it, later. Then you said that you felt like you didn't have the mind to study mathematical concepts, when that is what you had been doing.

Answer 2

The fact that you went back though the details and found the right definition that you needed to solve your problem. You have the mind for mathematics, that's what mathematics is. Having a problem and going back though the definitions and theorems you know to solve the problem. No one has everything memorized unless it's you thesis work and something you have been staring at no stop for years, and then you are still not 100% about all of it.

Answer 3

The fact that it took you 10 minutes to understand it isn't bad at all but the fact that you're stressing out over 10 minutes is not good. Learn to be more patient with yourself if you really want to get into mathematics. You will very often take much longer than 10 minutes to understand something and then it is important to not get frustrated and to just keep trying and trying.

Answer 4

Seems like your main enemy is your ego. Just study the math and try to appreciate it, don't take it personal if you take longer to understand something. Just keep going at it persistently relaxed and with a smile. If you get too frustrated stop, then later on try to explain your doubts to a friend or try to explain in a no pressured way the subject that you don't know to a friend, you will be amazed at how much you actually know.

Answer 5

Math is a sheer cliff in front of you and a flat plain behind you

Answer 6

If 10 minutes become 10 years start to worry. For now, you good

Answer 7

Smartness is just an accumulation of a large number of small, 10 minute epiphanies.

Answer 8

You think every mathematician out there just understands things as soon as they read something? Or they don't make mistakes that make their understanding flawed? Cause I can assure you all mathematicians I know do not fit that profile.

Answer 9

As an academic researcher in mathematics, I would say that people who understand a lot, very fast, are incredibly rare.

IMHO, society has formulated the stereotype of a mathematician being an extraordinarily clever person. While it may or may not be accurate, this leaves out the element of ~~immensely~~ ***hard work***, which makes mathematicians almost unrelatable.

You see, in movies there is always numbers, in golden colour, cinematically dancing around inside the minds of talented mathematicians. We, as viewers, see that and secretly think "well... since I can't do that, I guess I do not have the talent to be a mathematician". To that end, I believe (and people are welcome to correct me if I am wrong) that this almost never happens to anyone.

This might sound like a pep talk, but what I want to say is the following: Do not care about how much or how less something takes for you to understand this. *If it looks interesting, spend some time on it. If not, maybe you can do that some other time. It really is as simple as that.*

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Edit: Spelling errors kill people.

Answer 10

I think my answer to your discussion would be the same as others. You did great! Don't lose hope.

Other than that, out of curiosity, if I may know from which book are you studying point set theory?