What is Terence Tao’s IQ?
One of the few giant IQ figures with a real test behind it, and still not an adult score.
Terence Tao has no adult IQ score on record: the circulating 230 is a ratio computed from a Stanford-Binet test he took at age six, and Tao himself says a realistic estimate is “greater than 175.” So the figure rests on a real test, but not on one that can describe an adult.
Terence Tao’s estimated IQ
- Took the Stanford-Binet test at age six and, by his own account, scored at the level of a typical 14-year-old; he treats “greater than 175” as the realistic estimate once the test’s noise is allowed for.
- Scored 760 on the SAT mathematics section at age eight, after Julian Stanley, director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth at Johns Hopkins, sent the test to his family.
- Won International Mathematical Olympiad medals at ten, eleven and thirteen (bronze, silver, gold) and remains the youngest winner of each, with the gold coming at thirteen years and four days.
- Completed a Princeton PhD in June 1996, weeks before turning twenty-one, and became a full professor at UCLA at twenty-four.
- Awarded the Fields Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006, and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
The Stanford-Binet result comes from a six-year-old, and Tao says the test is extremely noisy at that range. Turning a childhood result into an adult deviation IQ requires assumptions no one can check, so the range is wide on purpose. Tao’s own “greater than 175” is itself an estimate, not a measurement.
- Born
- July 17, 1975, Adelaide, Australia
- Also searched as
- Terry Tao; Terrence Tao and Terrance Tao are misspellings of Terence
- Field
- Harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, number theory
- Education
- Flinders University, B.Sc. (Hons) December 1991, M.Sc. August 1992; Princeton, PhD June 1996
- Position
- Professor of Mathematics, UCLA (joined 1996; full professor since 2000), as of October 2026
- Honors
- Fields Medal 2006; MacArthur Fellowship 2006; Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics 2015; Companion of the Order of Australia 2026
- Childhood tests
- Stanford-Binet at six (his own account); SAT mathematics 760 at eight
- Adult IQ test
- None on record; Tao says he has not taken such tests since age eight
What an IQ of 170–190 actually means
Set the claim aside for a moment. If someone genuinely scored in this range, here is what that would represent.
Average is 100 by construction, and about two-thirds of people fall between 85 and 115. Take the test to place your own score on this scale.
| Score range | Classification | Share of people | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 – 114 | Average | ~68% | The range most people fall into. |
| 115 – 129 | Above average | ~13.6% | Roughly one person in seven. |
| 130 – 144 | Gifted | ~2% | The threshold most high-IQ societies use. |
| Above 144 | Highly gifted | ~0.1% | Figures above this range are extrapolated from the curve rather than measured. |
Percentages are approximate and describe a normal distribution. The same number means different things on tests with different standard deviations.
Thirty questions gives you a measured position on this exact scale — your score, your percentile and the ability breakdown behind it.
Find out in 30 minutes →Who Terence Tao is
Terence Tao was born in Adelaide, Australia, on July 17, 1975. He began attending university-level mathematics courses at nine and first competed at the International Mathematical Olympiad at ten, winning bronze in 1986, silver in 1987 and gold in 1988. At thirteen years and four days, he remains the youngest gold medalist in the competition’s records.
He began full-time study at Flinders University at fourteen, earned an honors bachelor’s degree in December 1991 and a master’s in August 1992, and completed his doctorate at Princeton under Elias Stein in June 1996. UCLA hired him that year and made him a full professor at twenty-four. His work is unusually broad for a modern mathematician, spanning harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics and number theory.
He is best known outside the field for the Green–Tao theorem, which he and Ben Green announced in April 2004 and published in the Annals of Mathematics in 2008: the prime numbers contain arithmetic progressions of any finite length. He received the Fields Medal in 2006 “for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis and additive number theory,” a MacArthur Fellowship the same year and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
As of October 2026, Tao is a professor of mathematics at UCLA. In the June 2026 King’s Birthday Honours he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia’s highest civilian award, with a citation for eminent service to the mathematical sciences, the global mathematics community, and tertiary education and academia.
By Elora Mercer, Celebrity Research WriterFigures checked by Leon Falkner, Data & Research AnalystReviewed by Aarav Vardhan, Editor-in-Chief · Last reviewed October 2026
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Terence Tao: the documented record
The estimate above rests on this record. Every entry here is a matter of public fact, which is more than can be said for the number itself.
- 1975Born in Adelaide on July 17.
- 1981–82Takes the Stanford-Binet test at age six and scores at the level of a typical 14-year-old, by his own account.
- 1983–84Scores 760 on the SAT mathematics section at age eight.
- 1986–88Wins IMO bronze at ten, silver at eleven and gold at thirteen, the youngest medalist of each kind in the competition’s records.
- 1989–92Begins full-time study at Flinders University at fourteen; earns an honors bachelor’s degree in December 1991 and a master’s in August 1992.
- 1996Completes his Princeton doctorate in June and joins UCLA.
- 2000Becomes a full professor at UCLA, aged twenty-four.
- 2004Announces the Green–Tao theorem with Ben Green.
- 2006Awarded the Fields Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship.
- 2015Awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
- 2026Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Where the 230 figure came from
Following a claim back to its first appearance is the part almost nobody does — and it is what most people are actually asking.
Terence Tao’s IQ was never measured as an adult; the number people quote is a childhood ratio. On his website Tao writes that when he was six he took the Stanford-Binet test and scored at the level of a typical 14-year-old, so an IQ of just over 220 “could be inferred by simple division.” He then notes that the test is extremely noisy at that range and that a more accurate estimate would be “greater than 175.”
He took cognitive tests only as a child. Tao writes that he took some other cognitive tests at age eight and has not taken such tests since. The best known is the SAT: he scored 760 on the mathematics section at eight, after Julian Stanley, director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth at Johns Hopkins, sent the test to his family. For what that program learned about high scorers over time, see what SMPY found.
The 230 comes from a formula that adult tests dropped. A ratio IQ divides mental age by actual age, so a six-year-old performing like a 14-year-old lands above 200 by construction (ratio versus deviation IQ). Modern tests rank people against others of their own age, and on that scale, with a standard deviation of 15, an IQ of 230 would mean roughly one person in several hundred quadrillion. No test has enough hard items to return it (the highest score a test can report).
Retellings give 230; Tao’s own account says “just over 220.” A February 22, 2026 PsyPost article on the highest IQ ever recorded names 230 for Tao and says the extrapolated IQ “was estimated to be between 220 and 230.” It ties that estimate to the SAT and to Julian Stanley and Miraca Gross, while Tao describes a Stanford-Binet result at six. Accounts differ on the derivation, and Tao’s is the primary one.
The test did happen. Professor Miraca Gross, who studied Tao as a young student, documented it in Exceptionally Gifted Children under the pseudonym “Adrian Seng.” What went wrong came later, when a ratio from age six was repeated as an adult score. William James Sidis is another famous child prodigy in this section. Richard Feynman reportedly scored 125 on a school IQ test. Feynman’s 125 and Tao’s childhood 220-plus are not measurements of the same thing.
How we read a number →Tao’s own account: a Stanford-Binet score at six equal to a typical 14-year-old’s, “just over 220” by simple division, “greater than 175” as a realistic estimate, other cognitive tests at eight and none since, and an addendum saying the IQ figure “plays no actual role in academia.”
The book in which, Tao writes, his childhood result is documented under the pseudonym “Adrian Seng.” It reports a childhood assessment, not an adult deviation IQ.
The result his public reputation rests on. The preprint was posted to arXiv on April 8, 2004.
The citation reads: “for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis and additive number theory.”
Lists Tao with a gold award. The 1986 bronze and 1987 silver are recorded in the biographies below.
States his UCLA professorship; the vitae dates his degrees (B.Sc. Hons December 1991, M.Sc. August 1992, PhD June 1996) and his full professorship (2000).
Lists him among the 2006 fellows, as a professor of mathematics at UCLA.
Lists the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, cited for contributions to harmonic analysis, combinatorics, partial differential equations and analytic number theory.
Reports his appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia, described as Australia’s highest civilian award.
Gives the citation: “for eminent service to the mathematical sciences, to the global mathematics community, and to tertiary education and academia.”
Dates his full-time Flinders studies from age fourteen, names Elias Stein as his Princeton adviser and places his promotion to full professor at twenty-four.
A recent retelling: attributes 230 to Tao, says the extrapolated IQ was estimated to be between 220 and 230, and reports Tao’s own “greater than 175.”
Says Professor Gross did a major study of Tao as a young student and that he scored 760 on the SAT mathematics section at age eight.
Used for orientation on the SAT result, Julian Stanley’s assessment, the IMO record and the career timeline; load-bearing dates were taken from the institutional pages above.
Gives his age at each medal: 10 years 363 days (1986), 11 years 364 days (1987) and 13 years 4 days (1988), and calls him the youngest bronze, silver and gold medalist in IMO history.
Tao writes that he took some cognitive tests at age eight and none since, and that the IQ figure attributed to him online plays no actual role in academia. Every adult figure in circulation is extrapolated from childhood results.
The sources behind our estimate
The figures that circulate for Terence Tao, what we were able to confirm, and where the two diverge.
That his IQ is 230, sometimes given as a range of 220 to 230, usually offered as one of the highest ever recorded.
Unlike most enormous numbers in circulation, this one has a traceable source, and the source is Tao. On his website he writes that at age six he took the Stanford-Binet test and obtained a score equivalent to that of a typical 14-year-old, so an IQ of just over 220 could be inferred by simple division. He adds that the test is extremely noisy at that range and that a more accurate estimate would be “greater than 175.” Professor Miraca Gross documented the result in her book Exceptionally Gifted Children, where Tao appears under the pseudonym “Adrian Seng.”
A tight spread: Tao’s own arithmetic gives “just over 220,” and retellings such as a February 2026 PsyPost article give a range of “between 220 and 230.” Tao himself puts a realistic estimate at “greater than 175.”
Want a number that does hold up? Every figure on this page is somebody’s claim. Take the 30-question test and get a percentile you can check rather than a figure you have to trust.
Terence Tao — frequently asked
What is Terence Tao’s IQ?
Terence “Terry” Tao has no adult IQ score on record. The widely quoted 230 is a childhood ratio computed from a Stanford-Binet test he took at age six, and Tao himself says a realistic estimate is “greater than 175.” The test result is real, but it describes a six-year-old, not an adult.
Did Terence Tao take an IQ test?
Yes, as a child. At age six he took the Stanford-Binet test (how that test works), and he writes that he took some other cognitive tests at eight. He says he has not taken such tests since, so no adult IQ result exists.
Is Terence Tao’s IQ really 230?
Not as an adult score. Tao’s own arithmetic gives “just over 220” for his result at six, and retellings give a range up to 230. On the deviation scale used for adults, 230 would mean roughly one person in several hundred quadrillion, a level no test can identify.
What was Terence Tao’s SAT score?
He scored 760 out of 800 on the SAT mathematics section at the age of eight, after Julian Stanley sent the test to his family. The SAT is not an IQ test, so the score does not convert cleanly into one (SAT-to-IQ conversion). It shows exceptional mathematical reasoning for his age.
How much IQ does Terence Tao have?
Nobody can give a measured figure. This page estimates 170–190, inferred from his childhood results and his adult record: IMO gold at thirteen, a Princeton doctorate by twenty-one, a full professorship at twenty-four and the 2006 Fields Medal. It is an inference from achievement, not a test score.
Does Terence Tao have the highest IQ in the world?
Popular lists often present his 230 as one of the highest ever recorded, but they compare a childhood ratio with other people’s adult scores. No verified adult figure exists for Tao to rank (where celebrity IQ numbers come from).
Is Terence Tao the smartest person alive?
No test or ranking can establish that. What is documented is achievement, and Tao himself writes that the IQ figure attributed to him online plays no actual role in academia. Other mathematicians with profiles on this site include John von Neumann and Grigori Perelman.
What has Terence Tao achieved as an adult?
A Princeton doctorate in June 1996, a full professorship at UCLA at twenty-four, the Green–Tao theorem announced in 2004, the Fields Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006, and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. In June 2026 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. As of October 2026 he is a professor of mathematics at UCLA.
How does my IQ compare with Terence Tao?
You can find out in about fifteen minutes. The IQ Metrics assessment is 30 questions, scored on the same 100-mean scale used throughout this page, so your result and the estimate above are at least expressed in the same units — one measured, one inferred. Once you have a number, the leaderboard shows where it would sit, and how we score and norm it explains the benchmarking.
Where does this estimate come from?
From the documented record rather than a test — the method is named above and set out in full under how we read a number. Compare it against the other scientists profiles, starting with Albert Einstein.
- Take the 30-question IQ test — get a measured score and percentile of your own
- Average IQ by country — how the scale behaves across populations
- How IQ Metrics scores its assessment — the method behind our own number
- More on how IQ testing works — reliability, error and what a score can and cannot say
- More scientists profiles — same field, same method
More scientists
Photograph by Montclair Film Festival (photo by Neil Grabowsky, May 2017), CC BY 2.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Newhcrossaint (2025), CC BY-SA 4.0. Background removed for the portrait above. · Photograph by Ojan (Chalmers University of Technology, April 2008), public domain. Background removed for the portrait above.
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