Creativity break: Why is creativity important in STEM jobs? | Algebra 1 | Khan Academy

I think my idea of how creativity works and STEM jobs has changed since I've gotten to college. Like, I used to think that all the mathematicians would be just locked away in some office and like typing on their computers or writing down equations by themselves, coming up with incredibly beautiful ideas just by themselves.

But I'm realizing now that I'm in college that mathematics and creativity is a lot about communication, and it's a lot about trying to build off of each other's ideas and bounce ideas off of each other. It builds upon ideas that have already been made by people decades ago.

I think that the fact that we all come with our own perspectives and different ideas, and different ways of being creative, allows math to advance further. We can all combine our creative ideas into something bigger. We collect data on everything, right?

So the ability to use that data in a smart, safe, and efficient way depends on new applications of mathematical concepts to these new and innovative data sets. As we get to that point, we'll start to be thinking outside the box a lot more and will be a much more innovative digital society.

But that can't happen unless we start trying to be creative and not just rely on tried and true.