What's the Problem? Math.

Math has problems.

It is the case that, due to a a number of causes working in tandem, mathematics is not enjoying the pop culture prestige of its domineering cousin Science. Consider for a moment names like Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Albert Einstein, all names that, at their mention, can spark a conversation delving into the meaning of existence and the nature of perception. Mention names like Gauss, Gödel, or Euler however and you'll be met by a medley of crickets and dumbfounded looks. It, of course, is not the fault of anyone at this hypothetical party where these names are dropped that the attendees do not know the names of mathematicians, or the mathematical principles for which they are famous. Even someone like myself, who has taken more math classes than the average Joe College (but far fewer math classes than even a math major), can not converse about these mathematicians well.

Contrastingly, consider for example print media including, but not limited to, Scientific American, and Popular Science, two staples in the scientifically minded lay person’s bathroom magazine rack. These media sources and others like them have, if nothing else, made very complicated questions and answers in science available to the lay person with one important caveat, the lay person does not need specialized training in science! This really is quite an astounding context we find ourselves. We live in a world where persons with little to no training in a subject can converse intelligently, if perhaps clumsily, about the most complex topics in almost any given field of science from quantum physics to cosmology.

Perhaps with the addition of the one clause, “by comparison” I restate the aforementioned “Math has problems”. Even the word “math”, for some, harkens back to mind terrible experiences in a junior high classroom wherein, a stuffy old woman sat before a displeased audience of prisoners reciting line-by-line the solution to an algebra problem. It’s a shame really. I remember feeling quite dejected in junior high while my report card boasted A’s in every subject . . . save math. But it seems trite to relegate the pop-culture status of mathematics to a plethora of bad associations left by bad grades.

One problem in particular I’ve noticed lately is that, until a certain point, Math education is hierarchically linear. I mean that we begin to learn math at a very young age and we start with 1 2 3 . . . We need counting, then arithmetic, then algebra, then calculus and so on. It was never my intention in high school to study math but I distinctly remember my perception of it was formed by my experience of it. Take one class, then take the next hardest class and so on. Science is not like this. When I took science classes I took the basics and worked my way up for a while until it was time to take a new kind of science class. Biology was fun for a year, but after that came chemistry. I didn’t really need to remember anything about biology to memorize the elements or find molarity. It was a new system.

So if I had a question about math that was beyond the scope of the highest level class I had taken, I was out of luck. Somehow science has managed to get over this little snag and do something that all educators aspire to do i.e., take something complicated and make understanding it simple.

Which brings us to math videos. I do not believe that problems in math are inherent to the subject. Why? Because two semesters ago I took an upper division Number Theory class. What I learned was that the prerequisite mathematical knowledge for such a class is counting (and maybe a little algebra)! But mostly counting! To be clear, the class was very difficult indeed, but not because I didn’t have tools. Most popular science enthusiasts might not have Ph.D.’s in physics, but this doesn’t mean that they’re not capable of understanding the problems we face. In the same way, most people are quite capable of understanding many major problems is math (and their solutions). Math Made Almost Bearable, I hope, will be a step in the right direction. Frank and I do not expect to revolutionize the world, mathematical or otherwise. But we can aspire to “do no harm” with a camera and a whiteboard.