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Because most primary and secondary school teachers don't really understand it and therefore can't teach it properly or let students appreciate it.

I think it's also unpopular because it's unpopular. If all your friends hate it then that will probably rub off on you.

I think the "it's pointless/ has no use" thing is a cop-out. Generally that excuse is only indoctrinated by people who don't understand it. If you suddenly removed all understanding of maths from all human beings then I guarantee the world would melt into chaos within a few days. A week max.
(edited 11 years ago)
its a lie, theres nearly 18,000 students studying engineering alone, never mind comp sci, physics , maths, chemistry,economics etc

also, someone like a carpenter should be very good at basic trig, unfortunatley most arent.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 22
For many people, mathematical thinking is completely alien to them until they reach it at school. I reckon that many people find it hard to look at things in this new way as it is so different to what they're used to. The fact that it is a purely objective subject can make people depressed if they get rubbish marks in it, too.

I did a lot of maths as a kid and so I really enjoy it. But with a different upbringing I can imagine it having been different.
(edited 11 years ago)
I really like it - read around the subject and everything.
I think it's just because the stuff they teach in schools tends to be really boring and/or irrelevant to a lot of people! Who is ever going to use matrices in their day to day life? Or use the poisson probability thing?

I also think that there's a general notion that maths is difficult, so people don't even try to understand if they can't do things first time.

I also think that girls in particular 'hate' it. I can't quote where it was from, but there was a study done where men were more likely to say they enjoyed and were good at maths. In my old (grammar) school we had fairly equal numbers of boys and girls, but in my new college-y met one, saying I do maths has had other girls' mouths dropping and them wanting to know why I'd do it, and they seem confused when I say I enjoy it and am relatively good at it. The class I'm in has 25 boys and 3 girls.
That was a bit off-topic, I guess.


What I don't understand is how if you couldn't read or write, you be ashamed and would never tell people that (if you could avoid it) but being bad at maths and not being able to do basic percentages (the number of people who can't work out, even roughly, a 15% tip...), adding and multiplying etc almost seems to be 'cool' and is just widely accepted. It's shameful.
Original post by St. Brynjar
It's not directly applicable to the real world really (in terms of advanced stuff), it's very satisfying when you get something right but it's frustrating and it's 100% practical with only minor theory - the opposite of psychology really. People like learning about things they can see like in Biology and Geography, and in relatable achievements shown in History and other humanities. I have nothing against Maths - I'm taking it at A Level - but I think other subjects are easier to be passionate about.


lol. its not directly applicable?
what do actuary and quants do then?

stochiastic partial differential equations are applicable in finance
Reply 25
Original post by TheIrrational
Exactly! Maths is an A level for stupid people! It's so pointless and useless! :no:

Completely agree with you. Maths is for socially awkward people who smell, repel women and never cut their toenails. I would never even dream of taking maths up at A-level.
Reply 26
Original post by TheWorldEndsWithMe
I really like it - read around the subject and everything.
I think it's just because the stuff they teach in schools tends to be really boring and/or irrelevant to a lot of people! Who is ever going to use matrices in their day to day life? Or use the poisson probability thing?

You're right in that no one will use it in day to day life, but mathematics such as matrices are very important. Without matrices, huge swathes of what constitutes our modern civilisation would probably not exist.

But yeah, it's not that important to most people. After all, it's amazing how few people actually know the basics of how most technologies work.


I also think that girls in particular 'hate' it. I can't quote where it was from, but there was a study done where men were more likely to say they enjoyed and were good at maths. In my old (grammar) school we had fairly equal numbers of boys and girls, but in my new college-y met one, saying I do maths has had other girls' mouths dropping and them wanting to know why I'd do it, and they seem confused when I say I enjoy it and am relatively good at it. The class I'm in has 25 boys and 3 girls.
That was a bit off-topic, I guess.

I reckon there's a significant bias in society which sees mathematics as a 'male' subject. I hope there are efforts to readdress this balance - I'm bored of there being almost no women on my course!
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 27
Success in mathematics requires diligence

Diligence is unfashionable
Reply 28
Original post by Zhy
Because maths sucks and anyone who takes an A-level in it is stupid!!

So what does it make you if you take three A levels in it? :tongue:
Reply 29
Original post by Dukeofwembley
lol. its not directly applicable?
what do actuary and quants do then?

stochiastic partial differential equations are applicable in finance


This is true but (and I say this as someone who really enjoys maths) this isn't directly applicable to most peoples lives is it. Differential equations are applicable to a researcher in physics, economic, engineering, maths etc but they aren't useful for most people. Most people don't become quantitative analysts working on complex derivatives!
Original post by Zhy
Completely agree with you. Maths is for socially awkward people who smell, repel women and never cut their toenails. I would never even dream of taking maths up at A-level.


Exactly, I don't know about you, but personally I think that anyone who takes it is basically asking to have no friends....
Reply 31
Original post by TheWorldEndsWithMe
I also think that girls in particular 'hate' it. I can't quote where it was from, but there was a study done where men were more likely to say they enjoyed and were good at maths. In my old (grammar) school we had fairly equal numbers of boys and girls, but in my new college-y met one, saying I do maths has had other girls' mouths dropping and them wanting to know why I'd do it, and they seem confused when I say I enjoy it and am relatively good at it. The class I'm in has 25 boys and 3 girls.
That was a bit off-topic, I guess.

I go to a grammar school but there's only one girl in my mechanics class. :lol: Mechanics does seem to be the least popular option among every student though.
Reply 32
Maths is the best subject :biggrin: people just hate it because they hate problem solving/or are not very good at it.
Original post by Zhy
Because maths sucks and anyone who takes an A-level in it is stupid!!


How does that make us stupid, you clown.

Are you the same guy from the results day forum who claimed to have gotten 'a clean sweep of full ums marks' for your exams?

Your easily one of the most arrogant users on this site.
Reply 34
Imo there are lots of reasons.

One is that the way maths was taught for a large amount of the population was about learning one method to do written calculations, without understanding the maths behind it and without being given the opportunity to explore different methods and find ones which work for them. So if people couldn't get to grips with long division etc they have this image in their head of it being awful and have just avoided it since. They also pass on this image to others especially their children, even if they don't mean to.

Secondly is the general bad image of maths (and science to a lesser extent) in our society and media. If people are told it's boring, useless, impractical, really hard they start to believe it. Very young children don't tend to have this image but as they get older it rubs off on them.

Thirdly is the fact that people don't realise the way mathematics as a sector works, and what it can really be used for. You get people saying things like 'We don't need to do maths, even engineers and chemists just need to put stuff in to equations that have already been figured out'. But where do they think these 'equations' came from!!!

To fix it I think we need to teach maths for understanding, allow freedom of methods used, give more varied images of mathematicians in popular culture and make the general public more aware of how mathematicians affect the real world.

That's just my opinion, based on what I've seen and been taught.

xxx
Original post by 3nTr0pY
You're right in that no one will use it in day to day life, but mathematics such as matrices are very important. Without matrices, huge swathes of what constitutes our modern civilisation would probably not exist.

But yeah, it's not that important to most people. After all, it's amazing how few people actually know the basics of how most technologies work.



I reckon there's a significant bias in society which sees mathematics as a 'male' subject. I hope there are efforts to readdress this balance - I'm bored of there being almost no women on my course!


Oh, I know that almost all of maths is extremely relevant to day to day life in some form, but because most people don't actively use it in their jobs or whatever they just assume it isn't important.

Totally agree. I can't count how many times I've heard that doing maths is a 'subject for blokes' and that English or something is a 'girl's subject' is ridiculous.

I mean, I'm not going to study it at uni (I think!), but that's again probably down to society telling me that doing maths is a stupid option for a girl or whatever.
Original post by und
I go to a grammar school but there's only one girl in my mechanics class. :lol: Mechanics does seem to be the least popular option among every student though.


Really? Mechanics was more popular in mine.
Reply 37
It's cultural. They dislike it because people they know - friends, parents, people on teleivision - dislike it. But why do those people dislike it? I'd say it's due to a lack of understanding. It's not an easy subject, though I believe a lot of people in this country would be better at it if they gave it more of a chance. People have it drummed into them that maths is really tricky and that it's okay to be bad at it. You hear people joking all the time that maths isn't their strong suit. But if someone couldn't read or couldn't talk, you wouldn't be hearing them joke about that. There needs to be a change in culture, maths should be heralded as an important subject and also help should be provided to those who struggle by teaching more of it. Think about it - you do two english GCSEs, two (or three in my case) science GCSEs but only one maths GCSE. There should be a second maths GCSE in my opinion. The reason it's so inaccessible is because of how little we teach of it.
Original post by Casshern1456
I think it's because students just don't find it useful in everyday life, when in your daily life do you use Cosec, Sec, tan, sin function? None, so it's a good excuse for those people taking maths to chat and catch up with friends in lesson. When I was in high school maths lesson was usually when the guys and girls start messing around alot more than any other subjects. :hmmm:


One of my Maths classmates once played Pitbull's Bon Bon while dancing on the tables when we were supposed to be working.

Reply 39
Original post by James A
How does that make us stupid, you clown.

Are you the same guy from the results day forum who claimed to have gotten 'a clean sweep of full ums marks' for your exams?

Your easily one of the most arrogant users on this site.


Because the people taking A-level Maths are generally stupid. Maths is just for physicists who don't want to get their hands dirty. Whenever someone tells me that they took an A-level in Maths, I immediately treat them with less respect, and tell them to **** off and do something useful with their life. I'm in total agreement with Gove's ideas of revolutionising the A-level system, making all exams linear. Combine Maths and Physics into one giant A-level so people can stop trying to specialise in something that's barely even a subject (in the case of Maths, that is). Why study A-level Maths when there are plenty of other diverse A-levels that are far more vital to the economy, like Philosophy, Media and Japanese? I sincerely hope the maths faculties at all Russell Group universities get torn down and made into parking lots.

I have no clue who that guy is, I agree he sounds arrogant.

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