When I was 17, I scored at a 99.995 percentile in math. Rather than finding myself interested in math, I found it to not other much in the way of a challenge. Maybe I would have if I had gone a lot further in it, but I never had an interest in doing this. I also don't feel the questions on the provincial exam were complicated enough to really judge my ability to do any really advanced math.
Only one person in the province bested me in this exam and it just happened to be a female in the same class I was in. She went on to become a teacher, so she did not go into a field where advanced math is used. I was picked up by a scientific organization to work with flow system models (climate and other systems), but I wasn't the one doing the advanced math. The reason I say picked up is I didn't have a degree.
I consider myself to have more of a female personality. What really interests me is people. I really can't see spending my life doing math when people are just so much more interesting.
Now, I wonder if the reason females are not as well represented in math is they are far more interested in other areas. I thought I would give the perspective of a person who at least tested high in math at a younger age.
