Dr. Eugenia Cheng, mathematician, educator, writer, public speaker, and artist, talks about how to simplify and destigmatize advanced math to restore its deeper beauty to the next generation of students.

We listen to music we can’t play. We eat food we can’t cook. Why wouldn't we also think about math concepts we can’t prove or develop, simply for the joy of how they fuel the imagination? 

All too often, math phobia deters students from the creative pleasure of numbers.

Dr. Eugenia Cheng joined us to discuss how to overcome math phobia. She’s a mathematician, educator, author of How to Bake Pi, public speaker, columnist, concert pianist, artist, Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Honorary Visiting Fellow at City, University of London. Her most recent book, Bake Infinite Pie with X + Y, explores the idea of infinity and introduces the thesis that math and science are routes to imagining new ideas. 

And there’s not a whiff of math phobia in it.

Addressing Math Phobia

Math is like cooking. Both are a magical process in which something complex (and delicious!) is built from simple things, Eugenia says. 

Eugenia’s writing has focused on the excitement, imagination, and creativity that underlies math and numbers. 

“Math can help everybody to help themselves,” she says. But math has been wildly misunderstood and misrepresented in recent history. 

Unfortunately, most curricula present mathematics without much creativity at all. Those students (and adults!) who’ve felt alienated by math were likely taught math in this way. 

Math and creativity are not opposites, she says. There is power and beauty in math. When Eugenia presents math concepts to her art students, she ties math problems to issues her students care about, such as social justice or politics.

Why Math Matters

“Math is about understanding complexity so that it becomes simple,” Eugenia says.

Finding simplicity on the other side of the somewhat formidable complexity of math is like decluttering a house. 

Say you’re doing some spring cleaning in your home. You reach a phase in the middle of the process in which your house is actually much messier than it was to begin with. At this point, you might think you are bad at decluttering. But if you persist and make it through the full process, your house becomes clean and peaceful again. And your growth and mastery of the process is evident.

Unfortunately, many of us get stuck in that middle section – in the messy, confusing, overwhelming middle point of learning math, never reaching that payoff for mastering complexity.

Exercising Our Brains

To exercise your body, you might run, bicycle, hike, or garden. But how do you exercise your brain? In the same way that we might run for our physical health, we can embrace math for brain exercise.

“Math is about using our brains well,” Eugenia says. 

“Math is about using the brain logically, to find clarity, to find rigor, to be able to express yourself clearly, to make precise arguments, to shine a light through fog. To me, that's what math is about. 

“Isn't it beautiful when fog clears away?”

Action Steps for Parents

1 - Separate Worth From Grades

A score on a math test isn’t indicative of anything except an ability to take math tests. There are many ways to be “good” at math, and the ones that matter more in school often matter less in real-life scenarios.

“A wonderful thing that parents can do for children is instill in them the knowledge that they are loved and supported no matter what they do,” Eugenia says. “They can discover what they're good at, at their own pace.”

2 - Work Through Fears of Math

Saying that there’s nothing to be afraid of doesn’t actually help address fear. But like overcoming any fear, the more we understand the subject, the more we can cut through the mystery around it.

If you’re a parent with a fear of math, be honest with yourself about it. Try to demystify math for both yourself and your student by setting out to learn.

3 - Learn Math Together

Don’t be afraid to talk to your children about things you don’t understand. If you don’t immediately grasp a topic, investigate it together with your student. 

In this way, you turn math itself into a problem to solve and model the potential that we are always learning and growing. 

Guest Resources

• New Book: Bake Infinite Pie with X + Y
• Dr. Eugenia Cheng on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• Dr. Eugenia Cheng’s Website

‍This episode was brought to you by Art of Problem Solving, where students train to become the great problem solvers of tomorrow. 

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