I am a 2nd year student doing an honors program in math and statistics.
Everything that I have been learning has been formulas, theorems, and mathematical concepts that other people have discovered/invented/created.
Some very simplistic formulas I am able to modify to meet the needs of what I am trying to accomplish, but still I am using someone else discoveries as a basis for what I am modifying.
Friends and family say I am becoming a mathematician, but I dont feel that way as I do not have the ability to invent/create/discover new math, I am simply regurgitating what others have discovered.
At what point in your mathematical education are you able to invent new math?
For example, the linear regression formula. How did Francis Galton know that the formula he created would accomplish what he wanted to accomplish?
Note: Sorry to the editors as I could not find a relevant tag for this question.