An Interview with Terence Tao

Dr Terence Tao was interviewed by our Social Media Lead, Preyasi Gaur.
Dr Tao is an Australian-American mathematician. He is a Mathematics Professor at UCLA and has worked on a variety of topics in mathematics from probability theory to partial differential equations. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 “for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis and additive number theory.” Considered a prodigy, Dr Tao has a lot of feathers in his cap: youngest Mathematics Olympiad Medallist, youngest person to be made professor at UCLA at 24, and one of the youngest and first Australian Fields Medallist. He also maintains a Wordpress Blog: terrytao.wordpress.com
Check out the interview!
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
00:14 What first drew you to math?
01:36 To whom do you owe your math talent? (Who influenced you to do math?)
02:40 As a teenager, what did you want to do as a career?
03:58 What advice would you give to students who are interested in STEM?
05:22 What is the coolest thing you learned in math?
07:04 What is one thing nobody knows about your relationship in math?
09:35 What topic do you dislike in math?
11:13 What is the broad overview of your work? (What area of math do you focus on?)
13:06 What is your favorite movie or TV show?
14:56 Do you help your kids with math homework?
16:01 Do you connect with people through social media?
16:57 What do you do in your free time?
17:26 Can you speak a little Spanish for us?

[@pentwl]

Timestamps and Questions: 00:14 What first drew you to math? 01:36 To whom do you owe your math talent? (Who influenced you to do math?) 02:40 As a teenager, what did you want to do as a career? 03:58 What advice would you give to students who are interested in STEM? 05:22 What is the coolest thing you learned in math? 07:04 What is one thing nobody knows about your relationship in math? 09:35 What topic do you dislike in math? 11:13 What is the broad overview of your work? (What area of math do you focus on?) 13:06 What is your favorite movie or TV show? 14:56 Do you help your kids with math homework? 16:01 Do you connect with people through social media? 16:57 What do you do in your free time? 17:26 Can you speak a little Spanish for us? Although Terence Tao has inherent talent in math, I appreciate the fact he shared that he has trouble with math as much as anyone. This was a great interview; it was refreshing to see the more human side of Professor Tao instead of the mathematical genius he is.

[@malachiraymond485]

I dont mean to be so off topic but does anyone know a tool to log back into an instagram account..? I was stupid lost the account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me!

[@ApePostle]

I had dinner with professor Tao few years back (he was a visiting professor and the math department organised a small group dinner). Hands down one of the most humble nicest people in the field! He seemed shy and no ego despite all the success and accomplishments

[@SalesforceUSA]

Tao is a very good communicator. Modest, fluent, responsive, considered, honest, and humorous. Very good person, a great scholar and a gentleman to the core.

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

Copy n pasted

[@scoutmathematics]

I was fortunate to attend his complex analysis online classes, which during the pandemic was open for non-UCLA students as well. His lessons had deep impact on me. I also followed up with him on an ambitious list of things to study, and I am still in the phase of self-learning many of these things. He is one of the best persons I have ever interacted with, he knows the mindset of students very well, he inspires you to think about mathematics, and he is very meticulous, humble and even in some cases approachable (I have found myself sometimes totally stuck while studying something and then asking him via an email or by posting a question on his weblog, always attracts his attention and he replies in a way that clears the doubt and more importantly offers better insights). If I ever do well as a mathematician, Professor Tao will be one of the reasons behind it.

[@UnknownSend3r]

It's insane how humble he is, I think this is the first time watching a genuine genius on KZbin.

[@IQSD-zs6qn]

He is such a fluent communicator. He answers so quickly but very accurate.

[@MagnusAnand]

It’s always a pleasure to listen to Dr. Tao

[@simonsorensen5445]

i could listen to this mans analogies all day!

[@ArpanD]

Keep it up, YSJ. You're doing a great job communicating STEM and also publishing research papers of young students. Loved this interview, absolutely!!

[@rijubhatt8366]

Recently he reached a breakthrough in the Collatz Conjecture. 👍

[@legendarynoob6732]

He got close.But nowhere near solving it.

[@tune_fisch0269]

I love how Dr Tao slowly goes from being in the center of the frame to the bottom right

[@ranjitprasad2155]

Keen observation 😂

[@gonzalezm244]

I’ve run into Dr. Tao once or twice at university, I was a bit star struck when it happened 😂

[@MrHirenP]

Well, maybe next time watch where you going 😂

[@parvdize3968]

so cool bro，what college you going？

[@gonzalezm244]

@@parvdize3968 Ucla, which makes this situation far more probable lol

[@kawosdhdos]

@@MrHirenP LMAO

[@sagarbhattarai8161]

Genius doesn't only depend upon your innate intellectual ability but also the environment you are brought up in, all the experiences you've had. It's also a result of teamwork because you can't do it alone.

[@monkerud2108]

Didnt see this one until now, Terrence is such a great guy.

[@mu.makbarzadeh2831]

Many thanks for this great interview!

[@ahmedayesh3728]

it is a very nice talk. I appreciate choosing questions

[@physicsforever4793]

Nice! Getting Terrence Tao for an interview is difficult.

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

How do you know

[@physicsforever4793]

@@hhhhhhhh6008 bcoz I do podcasts. I tried to get him, but couldn't.

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

@@physicsforever4793 well yes in that sense it’s hard to get him because you can’t be that well associated with him. Therefore you don’t know for sure if he will participate in an interview with someone he could interact with.

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

@@physicsforever4793 thats what i said

[@physicsforever4793]

@@hhhhhhhh6008 yeah, sorry. I understood it in a different way.

[@namrtasharma9607]

Great work!!

[@Abhisruta]

Great work!

[@tahatariq2424]

Great interview!

[@bournejason66]

Great interview. Keep it up.

[@black_jack_meghav]

Thanks, i love professor tao

[@mrnarason]

Her questions were very generic and unmotivated. Surprised Tao was able to keep up being not seeming bored. Rather him appear on the numberphile podcast or something

[@karan4624]

Exactly

[@codyfan4070]

Everything from minute 3 or so onwards I think we’re good. Before then seemed like icebreakers

[@bournejason66]

I like her questions actually. Maybe she didn’t ask him his favorite color that you like to know?😆

[@aayansh3919]

@@bournejason66 LMFAO!!

[@leonmareno4599]

@@bournejason66 Hi. i like her questionss too. But she cut him and he has so much to tell. check just before 07:00 when he s speaking about zero and the influense of the concept on a society/ human mind. etc. He just finish with a "sad" yeah. I understand she had prepared the interview, make a plan, and had to respect the lengh. This man has so much to tell, and so few people can know what he may thinks about ( i m not one of them :) )

[@user-zj8cf3fq8e]

Wow!,.... Such a considerate person.

[@jnk3775]

Great job.

[@jlsmatejuanluisramirez]

Es excelente que Terence Tao estudie español. Excelent interview

[@abbyt6136]

Dr Tao is surely amazing, but the teenage interviewer did a good job in this interview too. She didn’t interrupt too much and gave appropriate responses

[@ashishsaxena3521]

Whenever I listen him....just wow

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

Nothing that great, he doesn’t seem that good at creative/divergent thinking from the point of view of this interview

[@david50665]

@@hhhhhhhh6008 His IQ is probably pretty low as well compared to yours if I were to guess, not to mention you seem to have much more creativity compared to him...he's probably a copycat

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

@@david50665your very confused lmao!

[@david50665]

@@hhhhhhhh6008 stop it with your false modesty

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

@@david50665 never, will you elicit where I waswrong in my first comment, or else your just a troll!

[@patrickn_ss]

/Adoraria conversar com Terence Tao.

[@user-nr5tp2jo3u]

Pair Tao + Perelman would be such a great duet!

[@darthmath1071]

lmao Perelman wants to be left alone. He even quit math.

[@raphaelkelly861]

Might as well throw in the Pope while you're at it!

[@HiltonFernandes]

A great interview. Thank you.

[@patrickwhite8144]

It's interesting that superficially he doesn't conform to the naive idea of what a really intelligent person sounds like. He speaks with clarity and precision but there's nothing flamboyant about his speech. If I got talking to him somewhere and didn't know who he was I wouldn't walk away from the conversation thinking that I had just spoken to one of the smartest men in the world. It makes me think that seeming-intelligent is mostly a type of performance.

[@SalesforceUSA]

Terence Tao is the best living mathematician in the world. His Brain at 3000 Hz, Mouth at 60 Hz, A Genius ,,,,

[@Therizinosaurus]

And your comment is unoriginal, copied from other user's comment

[@MichaelLopez-nc3xz]

His a real special man☆ very very special FAMILY ...☆☆☆♡

[@robroberts1473]

Tao likes galaxy quest, genius confirmed. 😊

[@companyowner111]

I want to know if his genius has helped, hurt or had no impact on his social skills?

[@iliaskurku]

You are a good teacher, Tao ㄷ: And you are a very good interviewer ㅜ

[@rubbersidedown7992]

Hey! Try 1 with Akshay Venkatesh Pls

[@Wellraim]

O maior matemática vivo.

[@user-vx5dq1fu4p]

私は数学者になりたいということに気付きました。代数学の勉強をしていきます。

[@methandtopology]

今はどうなっているんですか？勉強は順調？

[@jimjimakos1101]

Hello my friend terence tao have a great day big mathematical

[@physicswizard8481]

Does he follow cricket?

[@thetruth7105]

Hi it’s my question. I’ve visited psychiatrist and get my depression and memory medicine. But I still can’t do math. Is it genetic or should I leave my dream to become engineer? Also should I visit geneticist or neurologist to see, what my talent is.

[@steroidscarab]

Some people are just innately worse at maths than others. You may have something called dyscalculia, you should search it on google and see whether it's TRUE for

[@thetruth7105]

the prankster gangster so, I can never be good at maths. My dreams is to make artificial robots.

[@kaikaisen2155]

@@thetruth7105 go to khan academy and practice 1/2 hour every day

[@steroidscarab]

@@thetruth7105 if you can add, subtract, divide, multiply and work with fractions, you dont have dyscalculia. It's quite rare. If you have problems with stuff like calculus or algebra a lot of others do too, practice and perseverance will be important to be a successful engineer

[@thetruth7105]

the prankster gangster i can add and subtraction, but doing math in my mind is hard. Also I can’t do arithmetic.

[@samyakumarray5464]

Is this an Indian journal?

[@ernstboyd8745]

His initials TT kinda looks like Pi

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

He's two turnt he's too ttd

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

Hello

[@Z3r0XoL]

couldnt you have asked any deeper questions

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

Who gives a fuck you shouldn't care bout nothin fam

[@aigeanthokchom3797]

Hit like if you want manjul bhargava for the interview

[@Simon-xi8tb]

is math related to science ?

[@jernyx9139]

no

[@flynncowell4064]

Yes.

[@black_jack_meghav]

Of course

[@Simon-xi8tb]

To all you nerds who gave me a straight answer here. I give you the ultimate "swooooosh". kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJO4oJR4f8llqaM

[@randomfullywonderful]

His Aussie friends call him Tezza! 😆

[@taresy6789pp]

i challenge terence tao to maths test lol E=MC2 LOL

[@Smart_Soham]

Hey guys, I have a theory According to my theory, each and every universe has a parallel universe in which each and everything us appeared starting from the back How do like my theory??

[@user-wb9xz8qv7e]

I think tao is tired of these questions。

[@rayrocher6887]

Thanks Dr Tao

[@incarnationhasit]

I wanna see this dude play minecraft

[@bhanupriya.sbhanupriya1787]

I can't understand a thing

[@gauravchoudhary2080]

The asian kid

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

The Asian kid

[@Burzurk1987]

What a GEEK! His parents FORCED math on him practically from birth. They try to make it sound like he is so special that he would pick up a calculus book and read it all on his own initiative.

[@laramauss1948]

oh he is handsome. Most huge talents are not so handsome 😅

[@rayrocher6887]

Great guy, nice genius, good for the future

[@MrZzzjjj]

Terence Tao's biggest achievement is not in mathematics but in having the world's largest nostrils.

[@Brandon-si8dl]

look at that ugly big nostrilled manjul Bhargava, manjul Bhargava's big nostrils are more larger.

[@aslanmansurov2466]

She is such a horrible interviewer

[@jexyl8071]

"Oh wow that's interesting. Moving on" I cringed so hard just listening to the transitions lol

[@alishirvani9525]

The interviewer is horrible. Always interrupting and cutting him off, jumping immediately to the next question, and nonstop “mhms” and yeahs”. Loved Terry’s responses though, I wish we were able to hear everything else he had to say, but unfortunately, he got interrupted every single fucking time

[@michaelwilson2419]

This guy is so arrogant it is very disgusting. Too bad he never learned humility or compassion for others.

[@jnk3775]

No, never say something negative...

[@kyleroberts162]

But you don't even know him 😂

[@kyleroberts162]

Alright alright he isn't very in-depth in his open conversations like this here and his stuff are usually completely impossible to understand but... It sounds like you know him personally as if you have eyes in his head 🧐🤨😤.

[@mashmax98]

Awww are you jealous of his success?

[@hamburges9647]

Obvious Troll. He's one of the nicest guys in the field. I can confirm that personally.