Autodidacts are rare because learning things is hard.
I suspect that learning higher math which for me is impossible is how hard learning everything is for most everyone, so I can understand now why there are not more of us.
If learning about the things I care about were as difficult as learning how to use the quadratic equation is for me, Iโd never do it.
I gave up learning math (on my own or assisted) when I realized that I could spend hundreds of hours learning one application (the concepts are easy for me to learn) that takes the average 8th grader an hour, and when I finally have it down the moment I move on to the next thing, it is thoroughly and completely forgotten.
My math teacher in middle school โ who I was very close to, is why she spoke so frankly to me โ once told me reference my inabilities at math that I was the โstupidest genius Iโve ever met.โ
That was after I answered a really hard problem about special relativity at an academic team match, yet was unable to reliably make use of the quadratic equation in her class (still canโt, but now I donโt care).
When I was young, I wanted to be a scientist but realized that my complete and utter incapability at math would never allow that to happen.
Now Iโm glad I didnโt go that route because itโs much, much easier to get jobs in IT and they pay better and demand fewer hours.
So thereโs that.