Scientists on Reddit

Hannah Fry

Mathematician and broadcaster

u/HannahFry ↗AMA only

How we know it's theirs

The 2015 r/science AMA, posted from this account

We retrieved 1 post and 29 comments from u/HannahFry, all from 2015, most often in r/science and r/IAmA.

Best moment

A redditor wrote in r/science

On “Science AMA Series: I'm Hannah Fry, mathematician and author of "The Mathematics of Love", AMA!”

One of the fascinating bits in your talk was that strong couples are those that express their petty irritations early, rather than "getting over it" and letting these irritants build up. You said that these early complainers are essentially in continuous improvement mode, always…

u/HannahFry replied

One thing I really like from Gottman's study is the distinction between the language used by couples who are in a 'good' or 'bad' relationship. Couples who are doing well have a deep-seated positive view of each other & dismiss…

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One thing I really like from Gottman's study is the distinction between the language used by couples who are in a 'good' or 'bad' relationship.

Couples who are doing well have a deep-seated positive view of each other & dismiss bad behaviour as being out of the ordinary. So "She's just tired" or "He's having a stressful time at work" etc.

But couples whose relationships are having difficulties are the opposite. Instead, they view their partner in a negative way & use anything bad as evidence to confirm their opinion: "You're always like this! You never bother about anyone else!" (Always and Never are key words here of course).

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More moments

A redditor wrote in r/science

On “Science AMA Series: I'm Hannah Fry, mathematician and author of "The Mathematics of Love", AMA!”

Hi Hannah! I only have on question, and it's not specifically related to your book or TED talk. I just want to know, from your perspective, what is it that keeps female participation in STEM careers and studies so low? I won't burden the question with any information or…

u/HannahFry replied

There have been a number of qualitative surveys of maths PhD students & of the ones I've seen there is always a stark contrast between the way that boys and girls speak about things. Both find the PhD hard, but…

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There have been a number of qualitative surveys of maths PhD students & of the ones I've seen there is always a stark contrast between the way that boys and girls speak about things.

Both find the PhD hard, but boys put their difficulties down to the subject itself, but girls put it down to their own ability.

I don't know why this is, but the problem might stem from earlier on. When you’re a young woman and tell people you're studying mathematics (or similar) there’s always an element of surprise. “You’re a girl doing maths? Wow” etc.

But if you’re a boy doing maths, there is still an element of surprise, but I'd guess that the tone is different: “You’re doing maths? Wow you must be really clever”.

Then, when the maths gets really hard – which it does – the boys reaction is “I’m clever, it’s the maths that’s hard”

But if girls grow up with people being surprised at their choice of subject, it’s no wonder that when the subject get’s hard, they think that they are the problem.

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