Lots of people heavily dislike maths. Lots of people find maths really difficult, confusing, boring and pointless. I want to share, with you, some of my own thoughts on how to overcome these thoughts and feelings about maths, and how to find the subject interesting, and even fun.

There are three key points I’d like to discuss, which hopefully will help you to see maths more positively, and hopefully tackle the subject more successfully.

It’s too difficult!!

Maths is difficult. It is the embodiment of logic, strategy and intricate thinking. It’s supposed to be complex.

That is a good thing, because we as humans find fulfilment from completing challenges and achieving something. If you master an area of maths, you feel good about it. When you finally understand how fractions work, or algebra, vectors, anything, you have faced the challenge of learning that topic and won. That feels good.

I know, some parts of maths are just unbelievably complicated, but take a step back, talk to your teacher, and go back to the earlier topics. Maths builds on previous knowledge all the time. Everytime you start a new topic, there’s something you have to have already learnt. To master trigonometry, you need to understand how to solve an equation. To learn algebra, you need a good understanding of how operations and their inverses work.

A lot of people feel embarrassed about their own mathematical knowledge, and this holds them back from progressing. If you don’t know your times tables, it’s ok. It’s not ok if you still don’t know them a few months from now, so go learn them. Then you can move on.

But it’s so boring!!

If you have learnt a new method in maths, you only need to practice it a few times a day for a week or two, and then a few times a week after that to keep it fresh in your memory. If you’ve just learned how to solve equations, you could do 5 equations a day for a week, and then 5 equations a week after that and that would be enough.

If you find maths boring, then it could just be because you are practicing it far too much. There are some topics which require more time and practice, but just take breaks and change it up a bit.

Working on maths takes focus, and you might notice it drains your energy and makes you want to sleep. Grab some food, do some exercise, and don’t do maths just before you go to bed. If you do then chances are, the next day, you won’t remember it.

But what’s the point in maths??

I read somewhere once about someone (I can’t remember who) who said if you can solve a problem mathematically, then you should solve the problem mathematically. In other words, if you are going to carry out a task, and you could use maths to help you, then you should use maths to help you, instead of doing it without maths.

Maybe you’re going to build a giant triangle out of wood. You could probably use maths to do that. Maybe you’re going to go for a drive for exactly 45 minutes, and want to know how far to go. You could use maths to do that. Or you could guess, and probably be a bit wrong, which might or might not have consequences.

Maths is not a task, or an award or a job. It is only a tool, and like any other tool, it has a time and a place when it should be used. No one ever questioned the point in a screwdriver, but the only time you need a screwdriver is to, I don’t know, build a giant wooden triangle or something.

I have another point I’d like to mention about what the point in maths is. If you can learn trigonometry, you might never ever ever use that skill in your desired career. But while you try to get your dream job, your employer might see your qualification in maths, and might think “well if they can do trigonometry, then they’ll probably be able to learn how to do this job.”

Yes, you might never use trigonometry, but it shows you’re able to learn intricate and complex skills. That is a big deal.