Why do people hate mathematics? 

People hate math because it's often taught in boring and uninspiring ways.

Because most math teachers don't teach math in context. When you're told to "just remember the formula", without being given an application that fits the equation...you may as well be learning English by memorizing the order of the letters, without being taught what the words actually mean.

There are three types of people: those who are good with numbers, and those who are not.

Math is only Satisfying when U understand how it works

It's not that I hate it. It just makes my brain hurt. Making me hate it

People hate math because modern education is a joke, and they fail to motivate students to discover the fun and fascination of learning things.

People don't hate mathematics. They hate practicing mathematics. People don't hate reading. They hate practicing to read. People don't hate playing music. They hate practicing to play music. Math(s), reading, and playing music all require repeated practice so that the process can be "felt," or internalized. Once the student gets past learning, these things become a joy to do. It's getting over the hump that is painful for most people. I agree with Edward Frenkel that people should be shown some interesting outcomes derived from what is to be learned. Most (though not all) "Dummies" books do that. The first chapter is almost always devoted to a small example which serves as a hook. I don't think that I've ever met a person who's mastered a subject and still dislikes it. Reaching proficiency is a painful process. Once proficient, any subject becomes gratifying.

Personally, the reason that made math irritating for me to learn were the ways in which all my of my teachers presented/explained it. For example, all of the teachers I've ever had only showed me how to do a problem, but they have never showed me why its done that way. For me, I need to know WHY questions are done in specific ways. I've only been taught how to use formulas, not taught why these formulas are used. Hopefully this made sense.

If someone wants to transcribe the video for me, I will happily add a caption file!

I'm currently in high school. I can tell you why kids hate math. Let's start with why kids hate school. Seven hours a day, five days a week, forty weeks a year, kids are forced to endure hell. Waking up at 6:30 to be somewhere they don't even want to be at 8:05, wandering around hallways that are often worse than rush hour traffic, all to sit down, and be silent for an hour to be lectured about something they usually don't care about. Then, they have a very short intermission before they have to sit down in another place for another hour. In short, they're bored. They just don't care, and I won't claim innocence from this. I don't care about what happened thousands of years ago, I don't care about old books. Now, I am interested in math and science, but I seem to be the outlier. To most kids, memorizing all of these theorems and postulates and formulas is nothing more than a chore. As I know you're aware, "When am I ever going to use this?" is one of the most commonly asked questions in a math class, and they're right. Most people aren't going to need to find the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle based on its sides, or find the volume of a sphere, and that's some of the most "basic" stuff that's taught. Also, the work assigned by teachers is extremely tedious, and extremely boring. I think most people will get the concept that the teacher is trying to teach after about 5 examples. Assigning 30 or more, which I see often, is just way too much. Now, I understand the thinking behind it. "Repetition, repetition, repetition," but again, kids get extremely bored of this extremely quickly. The problem isn't the math, the problem is the way it's taught. Teachers need to give examples of how the math they're teaching will be used in real life, and the homework should be less of a chore. Unfortunately, I don't know how this would be achieved, but if nothing is done, the upcoming generation will be one that thinks math to be boring, tedious, and useless, and that is unacceptable.

I can see mathematics as beautiful and nuanced, but unfortunately it isn't taught that way. It's taught as a regimental and rote exercises that are incredibly boring. That's no way to spark passion in a person

Numberphile makes me like math.

That dude's accent is straight out amazing.

I dislike math because our teachers never taught us to question it. Formulas, for example. Why do I put the numbers here? Why do I have to subtract a random number from that value? Why can't I just use a protractor to find the angle measure, or a ruler to find the side measure, or logic instead of theorems?

Why hate Maths? Because if you skip a little, tiny bit of your equation, or any other notion you've been taught, that small error becomes a HUGE snowball that, in the end, makes all your previous work useless; and going back to find where that "snowball" started is incredibly frustrating.

I missed half the words because I was distracted by his wonderful accent.

I can relate to this... growing up through high school I always thought I was terrible at math and I had no interest in it; it wasn't until I had an awesome professor in college and got into higher levels of math that I became very interested and actually pretty good at it. It became a lot easier than I thought

"The truth is not the monopoly of anyone; it is the common heritage of all the intelligences." (Leonel Franca)

I am feeling useless while doing math

Many people hate maths because our schools keep teaching us the boring part of maths. Same goes for science. If I am more interested in learning from Vsauce than a teacher at school then there is something wrong with the education system

Mostly it is because teachers can not explain it. I learned more during several hours with a good teacher than during 13 years of school math before.

If I were a math teacher, I'd start the first class of every year/semester with this challenge to my students: "Math is everywhere. It's in everything we see, everything we do, and everything we feel. I know, you don't believe me, I'm just a mathematician shilling for my art. So I'll tell you what: I'll prove it. Everyone, write down on a piece of paper something you think has nothing to do with math. Something that can't possibly relate to math. Fold the papers up and pass them to the front of the classroom." I'd then proceed to read off all the papers and explain, one by one, how each relates very much to math. If there are duplicates, I'd list a different mathematical aspect each time. Every student would then be hit with the realization that they couldn't possibly live without math. And then, hopefully, that would motivate them to want to learn it a little more.

many people hate math b/c it's taught mostly w/ memorization instead of conceptualization .

the problem is that maths is so poorly taught in schools that from day 1 people are put off from math. nothing has a meaning, its just arbitrary formulas for the sake of it. not to mention that very few teachers are actually passionate about it and care about it.

I hated maths classes back at school and I was actually good at it too... it was just so boring the way it had to be taught, my teacher was a good teacher, when he goes off topic (but still mathematics related of course, it was always interesting and fun), but sadly, he still had to stick to the syllabus most of the time, as teachers are trained to teach exams, not knowledge...

I really appreciate Numberphile for doing a great job in "exposing these ideas to the public in an accessible way!" You are really filling this gap! A kiloThanks!

It is oddly satisfying for me to listen to russian accent in english while i'm russian myself

I dont hate math I hate taking math tests and trying not to fail math courses

it's insane seeing the amount of students had come to any of my classes (when I taught) that would say they hated math, and trying to discuss with them the 'why' of that, and turns out that they had early math teachers who never really undestood the concepts themselves... so the 'unease' of math was transferred from that terrible teacher to an entire generation of students.

a year ago in high school i had a math teacher who sat down and taught me trig and i was doing great in his class. but when ever any type of break(including weekends)came along i completely forgot every thing i was taught. for me math just goes in one ear and out the other, i honestly don't know how i got this far in school.

there are 10 types of people: those who understand binary and those who dont

My maths teachers were lunatics. If you could reduce the number of people teaching maths that are borderline psychotic it might help. Only ones worse are PE teachers: either manics or perverts in the main...

I hated art at school, I couldn't even paint the fence.

A few things: (1) Abstraction is very difficult, and to go at all far in mathematics you have to be able to cope with it. (2) A lot of mathematics is taught very badly, especially at the lower levels where most people's initial opinions are formed.

Grade schools don't teach math, they teach how to do calculations without context. This would be the same as trying to teach English (or whatever language you are trying to teach) by reading a dictionary. The number one objection students universally voice is "when am I ever going to use this?" And rightfully so. Asking "why?" is universal among humans and people will not do or learn something without a reason. Students are not given any useful context or taught how all these functions or calculations can do anything for them in life. This is fundamental failure in the educations systems we have today and it is not the teacher's fault, so stop blaming them.

It's crazy . . . high schools and colleges all have appreciation classes for all sorts of things: art/music appreciation (art/music history), language appreciation (literature studies), science appreciation (physical science), philosophy 101 (logic appreciation?), etc. And yet, there's no such thing as a math appreciation class. Creating such a class is probably the simplest step we could take in the direction of helping people love math.

I don't know where this man is from, but I enjoy his accent.

I've thought on things like this before. The reason that people dislike maths is because they find it difficult and unrewarding. It is unrewarding because it seems difficult. It seems difficult to many because by the time they are studying it where it matters they are already supposed to know the basics but don't. I can't speak for other areas but in my classes I watched so many students doing assignments where their difficulty was not always in understanding the way to find the simplest form of a polynomial but in taking a long time to do it because the smaller steps in the process were such work for them to complete. Solving the problem is difficult because really what is needed is for maths to become more prominent in our everyday language so that kids start learning it before they ever see the inside of a school. Kids who talk at home learn to talk quicker. Kids who read at home learn to read at a higher level and faster. If kids did math at home they'd be more ready to learn math when they got to school. The problem with something like that, though, is that their parents don't get it either. How can they teach what they don't understand?

This man's passion for math is so inspiring. I legit almost cried when he said "What if I told you there is this beautiful world out there and you don't even have to travel anywhere to find it? It's right at your fingertips." Something so beautiful about seeing math in that way.

I'm a chemistry student. Everyone can benefit learning chemistry. What chemicals to avoid, what to clean with, or even what gasoline to use. But when I was taking math classes, the equations I learned were just for tests. After that if it did not cross into chemistry, I never bothered remembering them.

Biggest flaw with the education system at primary level (which should be the seed of knowledge) is that children/teenagers (as was I) are taught subjects, but are never taught to understand them. It's like learning of a poem word by word, in a different language that you don't understand, and then paraphrasing it during an exam, and come out with 100% on your test score. Result? Nice shiny school certificate, and a huge disappointment in 2nd semester university test.

Honestly I think its all because of the sheer amount we need to learn in high school. We are told about lets say complex numbers yet we are never told what would it be used for. The education system is a bit off in my opinion.

This guy is awesome. Please interview him more!

There are no people who hate mathematics. There are people who love mathematics, and people who don't understand mathematics.

I would add (to the video, rather than my previous comments) that another reason why learning math is so important, is that's it's part of having a balanced understanding of reality. It's part of the function of the human brain. One cannot fully exercise his/her brain without also exercising that part of it. In other words, it's not important that you become a math "whiz". But, it's essential that you exercise your entire brain, because that analytical part of your brain may be the part that solves another problem in your life, that really has very little to do with math, but DOES require a detailed analysis. Problem solving is part of survival in daily life. We face problems about our careers, marriages, households, relationships, etc. that actually require us to be cool and collected, to analyze all the basic information available. To do that, we're using the same brain function, as what's being employed in the learning of mathematics. People who never exercise their powers to analyze things (especially in the abstract), are missing very important survival mechanisms. Also, how many people in poorly educated countries (I'm thinking of my own here - the U.S.) don't believe in evolution, or global warming, simply because they can't wrap their minds around some very basic mathematical concepts that aren't readily intuitive to them? This has serious political implications. We can't afford to continue undereducating future generations when so much is at stake. The lack of mathematical education is just a symptom of a broader problem.

I was a young artist. It was part and parcel of my daily life. This was true up through my 9th grade of education. Then I hit sophomore year in High School and a certain art teacher. Who beat the joy out of art. He squashed it. I stopped doing any form of art for years. Close to two decades. In a similar manner I had teachers that never conveyed the beauty of math to me. They killed my curiosity in the subject in utero. When you are taught that a subject id drudgery you come to dread it.

i'm 16 and have loved mathematics since as long as i can remember, i continue to love mathematics every day. Sure wish there were others my age who feel the same. They're might be but they're so difficult to find.

Because a lot of math professors care more about feeling superior to a student than actually teaching them.

I hate mathematics because it went behind my back and started dating the alphabet.

I so agree about connecting math to our daily lives. This is a very good interview.

Watching Numberphile continues to spark my excitement for Math! So many interesting stuff to learn from experts. I saw that square root of 2 video and then told my friends about why the ratio of the dimensions of paper is about the square root of 2! Love Numberphile! Keep it up!

I used to love math, solving interesting problems that requires intuition gave me a satisfaction. But because of tests I started to hate math.

I feel one of the biggest problems is math class these days is all about learning how to do the calculation. in a world with computers we should be learning the concepts of what math does and how to use it instead of focusing on how it actually works. Not to say that learning how it works is not Important because it definitely is, and learning how to do some of the hard calculation is important but I don't think it should be the central focus. as a computer programmer, when I deal with math I don't have to think about doing the calculation because that is what the computer is for. instead I deal with writing the equations in a form that will get me the result that I need. i once wrote a program that used an iterative loop that would draw a hemispherical spiral point by point. Because I had an intuition of trigonometry and algebra I was able to derive the correct equation off the top of my head to get the coordinates of each point. technically I did not need to know how to multiply numbers(or any other arithmetic) by hand to be able to write those equations, I just needed to understand what the arithmetic was doing for me. today most math class focuses solely on hard calculation and it's the least fun and interesting aspect of mathematics. I failed many math classes because of this and never even made it to trigonometry before dropping out of school. but today, I spend a great deal of time programming and doing things that have to do with math because it is an incredibly useful and amazingly enjoyable discipline. anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Math was always my favorite school subject :)

The problem for me is that is not practical for most occupations. Why some math is important knowing how to factor 3xsquared+35x+12 doesn't help me balance me checkbook or understand interest rates things that are applied

Schools completely destroyed the reputation of math

I don't really hate maths, it simply never captivated me. It's incredibly useful and I'm glad there are people out there who dedicate their lives to it because it's these sort of people who push the threshold of human learning. But I have always been about the wordier subjects in school, I loved and still love history, both ancient and modern. Legal and Business also have always interested me

As a person with a maths disability, it's especially trying for me. I only know gradeschool maths and will forget everything I've learned in a week no matter how much study/effort/tutoring, I've accepted this. I can't even add/subtract/divide/multiply doubles in my head without repeated error. I still count with my fingers, yet mix up numbers often. That doesn't mean I hate maths though, I along with countless other people- know very well just how important this stuff is, it's what drives technology forward and solves problems. I too wish I can unlock this cool and mind-blowing world that is mathematics, however I have a solid iron wall blocking my way. (Laden with traps, pitfalls, instant-deaths, confusion rays, and Obliviates)

It's sad, actually: I remember being SO excited to go to class and learn in elementary school but then when I got to junior high the fun seemed to just...leak away.

when you get punished for doing them wrong... who would want to get taught that way... normal teachers have no patience and enough intelligence to teach students. when the teachers themselves don't even know how maths work, how do they create the right metaphors to make students understand...

Why is math uninteresting? Because 'a given person' hasn't seen all of vihart's videos yet, particularly doodling in math class.

In high school I loved math. Today I'm a game programmer, and math becomes extremely handy in that particular field for a multitude of tasks (all the way from geometry to algorithmical puzzle solving.) I can't say, however, if I became a programmer because I loved math, or if I loved math because I had the kind of mentality that made me love computer programming as well. Either way, game programming is a beautiful example of using math in practice.

People don't just hate maths. Some people hate learning. Because the system we live in encourages us to not explore our universe and creativity.

I think the problem of math is that is too abstract. It is extremly difficult for understanding because most of time we speak about things we cannot image. This is why people dont have problems with simple arithmetic (because we all know if bread cost x and butter y then we have to pay x plus y). But starting with for example statistic and infinitezimal calculus it is something we cannot imagine in real life. For example I think I understand a basic principle of vectors but tenzors is totally out of my imagination. In spite I have a degree in chemistry (for which you have to know quite a lot of math and physics) I have to admit that I understand only middleschool (I think the expession is college in US terminology) level of math. And I am quite sorry for that because it is fun to knowhow to mathematically solve problems. But I have a limit :-/

Hooray! A new Numberphobe video!

I love math, I just suck at it :D

I have always loved math from what I have learned at school, but this channel and other channels on youtube have given me an entirely new outlook on math and numbers. Now math is not just an interesting subject at school, but a beautiful aspect of nature, like the depiction of an endless scenic landscape.

Math to me is like this _If bob had 6564654 apples and he gave 463631781 of them too his friend.Then how many cars were crashed last year_?

There's something to be said for allowing people to learn what they are interested in, rather than trying to cajole, threaten or otherwise 'motivate' them to learn what _we_ think is important. I think this is true even for kids to some extent and it is certainly true for teenagers. Maybe people would learn less math in school but they would also hate and fear it less. So if at any point in their life they decided that they needed (or just wanted) to learn more math they wouldn't have a mental block. People pick up new hobbies or learn new things as adults all the time. Math could be one of them if they weren't immunized against it in school.

Probably the largest reason, that so many people dislike math, is due to it being challenging. People in general, like the simple things; alternatively, people like things to be simple. Basic math is simple, whereas Algebra and beyond are more complex. I find that, to be the most common reason/answer to that question.

This is probably the best video I've ever seen. it literally made me cry.

I don't hate math, so it's hard to relate, but I think the basic problem is that too much emphasis in mathematics is put on memorization. If a child knows what a problem conveys, but has trouble solving it without aids, such as tables or calculators, then making them solve it without aids will compound the problem. So for example, a child may understand every operation in the following: 17^2×13-765, but that may still be hard for them to do without a calculator. The same goes for something like the English language. No one expects a child to have mastered spelling in order to start writing a paragraph. Not to mention, the key is wanting them to be able to read to expand their knowledge. The basics take time to master, but the importance is being able to further one's ability to express themself with words, and to use words with which one is familiar. Math is similar, being able to use pi is far more important than being able to calculate pi. Maybe that made no sense, but I still think memorization is a big problem.

You have to be a hobbyist type of person to love maths, equally with physics and ever more so with computing. It requires dedication, genuine interest and the ability perceive and accept that your contributions are different from that of a brick layer, doctor, teacher or a lawyer. I'm a fervent follower of science yet I have one struggle that keeps me at bay from wanting to become part or at least some sort of affiliation with the scientific community or obtaining the title as scientist. What my job represents to others, how hard it is to become a scientist and lastly emolument, i've practically made 3 of the biggest mistakes in choosing what you want to do in life. Imagine that for everything and struggling to find dedication.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this video. I totally agree. We need to connect Mathematics and Science in general with History, Society and all science at all. With people and their stories (which can be super exciting and dramatic even in Mathematics).

His passionate speech brings tears to my eyes.

I get his point but as a masters level musician, I see art as a bit more than "we could live without it"

the thing people don't understand is that there is a real fear of math, some people have legit fears. i don't like math because it takes me a little longer to understand and i forget it if i don't practice it. i also get frozen with fear over it. yes i understand the beauty of math, how its the same in every language and also how the golden ratio represents nature in mathematical form. not everyone is going to care about how beautiful it is and neither am i. the problems with schools is that people are expected to learn things at a certain rate so when someone is struggling with it most of the time its not addressed, they are given bad grads and bam that's how hatred for math is born

1. Teachers are bad at teaching math 2. Endless meaningless basic math homework when you are a kid. Kids can learn a lot of stuff, but teachers burn them out with 12 digit divisions solving or endless sums. I have smart nephews but every single time I see them, they are busy doing extensive bullshit homework including endless sessions of math exercises, One of them, the smartest, really hates that crap. 3. Lack of real life examples when learning more advanced math. 4. Focusing on teaching by repetition of exercises rather than teaching by actually letting you the concept.

So nice to hear someone talking passionately about something. As a non-math person I find it awesome to hear him. Math is life and we all should appreciate it more, like he said. Like art. At least recognize it.

Of course I purchased Professor Frankel's book. I've commented elsewhere in a Numberphile post on the extraordinarily moving and inspiring presentations of the Scholars contributing and this commentary of the Professor serves to confirm that note. I am not a mathematical adept, alas! but hearing and watching Numberphiles' encourages me to drink up and enjoy number intoxication! Blessings to all that care to share and to all that listen to learn🙏🏽Peace

I don't dislike mathematics, it dislikes me. However, I do know that I dislike the overused "handy-cam" camera movement that's been overdone to death these days. It's pretty tiresome to watch when the subject is completely still yet there's extreme movement of the camera like there's going to be some added cinematic "drama" while interviewing a mathematician sitting in a chair.

I don't need math. When I grow up, I will make computer games.

When I know how to do one thing in maths I feel like a genius and u be like maths is easy 2 secs later I HATE MATHS

Numberphile is the biggest leap towards making maths more accessible and fun in modern day. I blame my "hatred" for maths on schools; the way things are taught, the topics deemed important, and of course that schools are run by people who dont really know much about the subjects taught there. I've become a math geek because of numberphile, and now having just entered college, I'm able to TRULY learn more about subjects that I never knew existed. I found a love for abstract algebra, and now I am taking a course on it, and loving it.

Math was one of my best subjects throughout school and I always loved dealing with numbers and understanding equations, where my friends were coming to me saying it's so annoying not understanding math I was out taking extra math courses that brought me into middle school math in elementary and high school math going into middle school. It's almost discouraging seeing people hate math when I find it so interesting. :\

As a student teacher, I've thought a lot about this and research seems to agree with professor Frenkel in that students find maths hard because they can't relate it to anything. Often (if not always), I've found that students learn and remember more if I can tie the subject to something that is relevant to them. Authors of maths text books are really good at relating exercises and examples to the real world up until they start throwing X: s and Y: s into the mix, then the examples stop and defaults to "This is how it works... because maths." and it is around that point where many students' grip starts slipping. I like to think of it more as a generic model for problem solving. Then again, my subjects are engineering and crafts, and that's what we do there.

The reason I was never interested in math is because some teachers kept telling me to memorize a trick without explaing why that trick matter and where it came from. What is the point of doing such an exercise? And finally the only kind of math that ever made sense is geometry because I could visualize shapes and structure. Geometry is real to me and appliable but algebra is just too abstract.

As a high school student who adores this channel, I can say the problem is not a lack of interest, but a lack of interesting subjects being discussed. Teach us about interesting complex Math, not about how to graph a line.

I see math as kind of like running. It challenges people to a point where failure is pretty much guaranteed UNLESS one really practices and gets up and at em to do it. Think about it, running is tedious, demanding, and downright exhausting work. So is math. And when that tedious, demanding, and exhausting work results in unsatisfactory results or even failure, we end up hating it.

3:42 "The art world tells us we should appreciate art more." *shows Van Gogh portrait* "And English professors will say we need our language skills improved." *shows Shakespeare book* "Computer scientists will say we need to understand code." *shows painting of woman*

Love what you have to say Edward. Great stuff! Thank you!

There is just one reason people hated mathematics. They hate what they didn't understand

When Mr. Frenkel talked about the "exposing maths to the public in an accessible way" I simply had to think about Numberphile. This Channel is basically the interface he is talking about. (Atleast to me. ;] I always couldn't really get myself to love maths, but atleast those videos here show me the fun sides about it.)

I don't hate maths... Maths hates me! :p

I keep coming back to this video. Love it.

I am a physics student whose passion is math. As I learn more I want to know even more, and I really love talking about it. Not only with people who work with math, I talk about it with my family, with my little cousins etc. Teaching mathematics to med students is one of the things I enjoy the most.

As I show on my channel, you can solve the Schrödinger equation of quantum physics without needing to know any complicated math in advance! Why weren't we taught that kind of cool stuff in school? I really wish that elementary and high school math courses would teach about the amazingly awesome things you can do. Instead, we were taught math as if it's a bunch of esoteric rules to memorize.

"hate" is a strong word. I wouldn't use it for mathematics. What did mathematics do to a man but teach him important things?

Love Edward Frenkel... so inspiring. I really hope that this mentality changes. I certainly grew up with everyone around me hating math, and I felt like a weirdo because I thought it was truly awe inspiring.

Professor Frenkel always touches something deep inside of my why I love mathematics so much