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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ggroy" data-source="post: 5175506" data-attributes="member: 83805">This may not be the case.  From "The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein.  Volume 1. (English Translation)" on page xx, Maja Winteler-Einstein (Albert's sister) writes (translated from the original German):"In Gymnasium, the boy was suppose to begin the study of algebra and geometry at the age of 13.  Before that, he already had a predilection for solving complicated problems in applied arithmetic, although the computational errors he made kept him from appearing particularly talented in the eyes of his teachers.  Now he wanted see what he can understand about these subjects in advance, during his vacation, and asked his parents to obtain the textbooks for him.    Play and playmates were forgotten.  He set to work on the theorems, not by taking their proofs from books, but rather by attempting to prove them for himself.  For days on end he sat alone, immersed in the search for solution, not giving up before he found it.  He often found proofs by ways which were different from those given in the books.  Thus, during this one vacation of a few months, he independently worked his way though the entire prospective Gymnasium syllabus.  Uncle Jakob, who as an engineer had a comprehensive mathematical education, reinforced Albert's zeal by posing difficult problems, not without good-natured expressions of doubt about his ability to solve them.  Albert invariably found a correct proof, and even found an entirely original one for the Pythagorean theorem.  When he got such results, the boy was overcome by great happiness, and was already then aware of the direction in which his talents were leading him."This passage appears to be referenced in Walter Isaacson's Einstein biography "Einstein:  His life and Universe" on pages 16-17.  Pages 16-17 attempt to refute that Einstein failed mathematics when he was a kid in school.</blockquote>

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