"You study Collage level [Insert any science]?"<br>"So you know a lot of [Insert any science]?"<br><br>It's accurate with any science to be fair, math being one of them. As a biologist, it gets me that people think I know just about all the most surface-level information, like: "what's the name of this plant?" I don't freaking know! I don't study plants! I just know a few... ask me about something else...,(reply>), I mean, math isn't really a science though?<br><br>Science is all about natural philosophy. Observing the world around you and trying to explain it. Math is more... fundamental.<br><br>Its more like pure logic, finding and describing consistent patterns, rather than patterns of things in the real world.,(reply>), @machinegun I agree on most of your points but I feel a bit misunderstood. What I meant by beginner courses was introductions to what the subject really entails. For example, being shown shrödingers wave equations, being taught basic thermodynamics, etc would make one appreciate what Chemistry really is and what it's deeper levels might really look like. Someone who has studied such <b>*shouldn't*</b> (the operative word here) be asking such obviously stupid questions. What you've described about discarding your previous understanding of Biology and being fed a new one is something it shares with all STEM fields. I think after going through that  people really shouldn't be asking this breed of ignorant questions even if they are indeed ignorant.,(reply>), @Daksh Unfortunately, to understand it, you need more than just beginners courses. You need to take at least a year in college/university and have all your understanding of what you already know broken down. "Remember all you learned before coming here? Forget that, let's start from the beginning." The first we learn in biology is about the classifications AGAIN. Previous knowledge gets in the way of new information that seems to be contradicting. "But I was told in-" "NO! They were wrong, forget about it." You also have to start looking at life from a different perspective, remove your anthropocentric perspective, which is why some people have a hard time understanding how life works (especially evolution) when they think they do. Life is a mess, it doesn't follow human understandings... in fact "life" is a human construct. When you realize all our knowledge of life is "how we understand and categorize something amorphous and vague" you'll get a better picture. Which is why it kind of stings when people ask those kinds of questions... there's way more to life than just scientific names... more than what most people can even imagine.,(reply>), I think anyone who has studied the beginner level courses for STEM subjects, be it in high school or the 1st year of college should understand not to have such unreasonable expectations but reality often barges in, dashing all my hopes.