I think it's important that we have a clear distinction between people who are intelligent, and people who are good with numbers. Now, I'm not saying that someone who's good at math can't also be intelligent. In fact, most of them are. However, there is a difference between someone who does well academically and someone who's actually intelligent. In fact, this doesn't have to only apply to math. I know people who get straight As and take fifty APs every year, but once you actually talk to them, they're dumb as bricks. Conversely, I know people who are rock-stupid as far as school goes, but are among the smartest people I know.
See, but I don't think that the difference between the terms "book smart" and "street smart" is really enough. We have people who you wouldn't really call "street smart" either. These are the guys who are into philosphy and psychology and all that sort of higher thinking.* That shows intelligence to me.
Maybe my definition is crap, I'm not really sure. If it is, we need better words.
*Most scientific fields are sort of a
gray area here, because a lot of them require both math skills and intelligence. For less in depth fields, such as geology, it's mostly being "smart", not intelligent. But when you start working in things such as quantum mechanics, it's a bit different. Once you get to a certain point in math and science, intelligence becomes
more important.
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