Explaining the gender differences in top levels of math

Click the link - you won't regret it! There's a fascinating discussion on male/female differences in mathematical ability, particularly in how it relates to the very best in the world: Fields medalists, Putnam competition winners, even professors at the top research universities.

The premise of the article is that it's simple statistics. With a slightly higher mean and higher variance, when you select people in the far far right tail of the distribution, those with mathematical abilities that far outstrip mine, they are much more likely to be part of the group with the greater variance.

An example that might be clearer to the casual reader is to compare state lotteries with the Big Game or Powerball multistate lotteries. (Apply a factor to the state lottery so that you start with the same minimum prize.) Both lotteries have the one huge prize that's difficult to win. But even so, the state lotteries have less variation, because they don't attract the jackpot-multiplying craze of a huge Powerball jackpot. If you find the percentage of jackpots that exceed $100 million, then increase the threshold, the percentage of those jackpots that are from the big games will increase.

(Via Dave Justus and The Corner)