Comment by gjm11

For that sort of task: no, Tao isn't all that much better than a "regular researcher" at relatively easy work. But the tougher the problems you set them at, the more advantage Tao will have.

... But mathematics gets very specialized, and if it's a problem in a field the other guy is familiar with and Tao isn't, they'll outperform Tao unless it's a tough enough problem that Tao takes the time to learn a new field for it, in which case maybe he'll win after all through sheer brainpower.

Yes, Tao is very very smart, but it's not like he's 100x better at everything than every other mathematician.