>you can adjust the numbers and criterion to get a yes or no whichever way you like.

Good idea, I'll do that :)

>can an average intellect with an obsession for math end up

>working on AutoCAD or 3D rendering game engine or industrial statistics and process control or economics or vehicle aerodynamics and be in the top 10% of the world in mathematical ability?

I think this does happen quite a bit and the need for strong math in these difficult areas is so great that there will never be enough people as briliant as Tao to fill the positions.

That's so far outside the mainstream anyway, most systems are going to screen the rare person like that out without understanding why.

Now what happens when those having top 10% of ability are very excellent themselves, but cases come up that would yield only to a Tao level of "natural-born" problem-solver?

Nobody would ever know :\