I was always good at art. Until the age of 14 I wanted to be an artist. I paid no attention to math - I spent most of those classes practicing graffiti lettering in my notebook. It was around this time that we got Internet in our household, and I wanted to create a custom website for my artworks, because I found deviantART lame. So I started looking into how websites are made, and ended up cobbling together a basic PHP page on a free hosting provider. I was fascinated by web programming, so I decided that I would go on to get a software engineering degree, but I still considered graphic design and illustration my main forte. The first class on the first day of university was Introduction to Linear Algebra, which started with matrices, determinants and Gauss-Jordan elimination. I vividly remember it was that first 2-hour lecture that made me realize math was actually awesome! It sounds stupid, but it was at that lecture that I realized for the first time that vectors are just lists of numbers. Like, what the hell? It all made sense, and it was beautiful!

As the years went by, each new topic that I’ve learnt seemed like some kind of revelation: the fundamental theorem of calculus, Fourier- and Laplace transforms, Cauchy-Riemann equations, the central limiting theorem, Markov chains, quaternions, Galois theory, and the list goes on. I felt like I was living in Plato’s cave before, being oblivious to this infinitely complex and fascinating world.

I still love making all kinds of art, but it is mathematics and software engineering where I feel truly at home. (the pay is also nice)

Anyway, my point is that you shouldn’t assume someone with artistic talents wouldn’t find math enjoyable, or that they wouldn’t be talented in it if they gave it an honest try. It can “click” at any point in life, not just high school - but if it “clicks” it’s going to be an awesome journey.