Myths around mathematical talent travel faster than papers. Each item pairs a folklore line with a tighter claim.
Worldwide notes name real systems — 영재교육, 예고, 部活, CTY, AIS, Iten — as places and policies, not racial essences.
Myths
- Maths is only speed — Proof and modelling can be slow Timed tests miss them.
- Olympiad tables rank races — They rank systems and camps This atlas will not launder them as biology.
- Ramanujan was untaught magic — He had traditions and later Hardy Jagged, not supernatural.
- Homework hours equal violin hours — Macnamara’s education band is ~4% Different file.
- Girls hit a talent wall — An old folk story Participation and coaching are the first variables.
- High IQ is the same as maths talent — Related, not identical Stanley needed SAT-M for a reason.
Worldwide
- United States — SMPY, CTY, AMC/AOPS — Above-level search plus a private contest culture.
- China — IMO camps and 少年班 — USTC youth classes and provincial olympiad schools.
- South Korea — 과학고 and 영재교육 — Science high schools on a huge tutor market.
- Russia — физмат schools — Specialist maths-physics lyceums as a Soviet heir.
- Iran — IMO pipeline (Mirzakhani’s youth) — A contest system that can precede research careers.
- France — Prépas and olympiades — A different exam aesthetic — speed plus écrit.
Mathematical talent: drop the folklore that ranks groups. Keep the systems that can be named and improved.