Academic English |

MATHS CHALLENGE

Do you remember studying these subjects at school?
- algebra, differentials, equations, integrals, logarithms, long division, long multiplication, probability.
What was your attitude towards maths when you were at school?
Were there any aspects of maths that you enjoyed more than others, or found more difficult?
What would you say were the strengths and weaknesses of your maths teachers?
Do you think anything that you learnt in maths at school is useful to you now in your daily life?
Do you think there's too much or too little emphasis on mathematics in education today?
How do you think the teaching of mathematics has changed since you were in school?

Knowing how to do maths in your head is not really that useful. I'm sure we all reach for our calculator, even if we could do it alone.
I've forgotten most of what we learned at school; never used it. Couldn't have been so important, then.
Now, with emerging AI tools, needing knowledgeable employees will no longer be a priority for employers. As AI handles knowledge-based tasks, work ethic, people skills and other soft-skills including creativity and collaborative problem solving will have greater value.
Learning to learn may be more valuable than specific content knowledge, which is precisely why maths is so important.
The obsession with STEM education has gone too far, potentially devaluing other forms of knowledge. Mathematical thinking is important, but so is historical thinking, artistic expression, and philosophical reasoning.
Mathematics and statistics are too often treated as objective. We learn this from school, where the answers are always binary; right or wrong. This perception is actually dangerous for society.
Traditional mathematics curriculum is outdated. In an era of calculators, computers, and AI, we should be teaching mathematical literacy, estimation, and the ability to detect errors rather than calculation speed.

1st Read: What examples does Matt Parker give of where professionals have got their maths wrong?
2nd Read: Complete the text with these noun phrases

a) 1,234,567,890
b) a resonant frequency of the building
c) units of measurement
d) a general fuzziness about maths
e) shutting the computers down
f) making mistakes in calculations
g) the mathematically correct shape
Finish early? What are the highlighted words?
Does the review make you want to read the book?