Edward Frenkel: Let's Stop Hating Math | Big Think

Edward Frenkel: Let's Stop Hating Math
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Mathematician Edward Frenkel knows why so many people hate mathematics. It’s simple really: the way math is taught is so draconian and ineffective that students can’t help but fear it. But Frenkel believes that someday we can bring the world of equations and algorithms back down to a place of popular understanding.
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Edward Frenkel:

Edward Frenkel is a mathematician working in representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics. Born in the Soviet Union, Frenkel first came to Harvard University as a visiting professor at the age of 21. He earned his Ph.D in only a year. Frenkel was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 1991 to 1994, and served as an associate professor at Harvard from 1994 to 1997. He has been a professor of mathematics at University of California, Berkeley since 1997. His best-selling memoir Love and Math was released to great acclaim in 2013. He has since been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Edward Frenkel: What is it that distinguishes us from, you know, cavemen? I would say it's the level of abstraction that we can reach. And, you know, to give a simple example, it used to be that there was barter trading so you would exchange, you know, wheat for meat or something like this. But then eventually there was an abstract idea, the idea of money. You know, it's like a piece of paper but this piece of paper actually signifies a certain value and you can exchange it for goods and services. So that's the next level of abstraction. But now we are dealing with an even higher level of abstraction because I don't actually see money that much. I see a piece of plastic, credit cards. I swipe my credit card.

So suddenly that's the next level of abstraction. So this credit card somehow has become this abstract entity which carries money -- which itself carries certain wealth, right. And now we're going even deeper. Now money could be nothing but a line of code which appears in a Bitcoin ledger. So that's the kind of progression, that's the kind of, you know, evolution that I'm talking about. Evolution of abstraction. And so abstraction is king in this brave new world and the key to abstraction is mathematics.

And I do believe that we will have a better freer society when we have less math ignorance and we have more understanding of mathematics. And, of course, I'm not saying that everyone should become a mathematician. On the contrary.

But what I would -- what I dream of is a society in which if mathematics is brought up people don't run away from it -- don't say, "Oh my gosh, this is terrible. I hate mathematics. I don't want to talk about it. I'm scared. I'm frightened." And I understand why people are scared and frightened. It's not their fault. It's because of how mathematics is taught in our schools. But it's a very unfortunate situation when you can't even begin a conversation about mathematics without people saying, "Oh my gosh. I don't want to talk about it." And it's kind of strange because no one would ever say, "I hate literature" or "I hate art" or "I hate music." At least intelligent people would never say that. It's kind of shameful to say that.

[ChompNom]

A problem is that people always go "when the hell will i ever need to use this in my life?" Which boils down to how math is being taught in schools :/ They only teach you what to do when faced with what problems, they don't teach you why and how is it applied in life

[xzabok]

I got only D's in math class up until high school. I found it boring.. You know certain data on a triangle, use this or that formula and calculate the rest. So? BORING! I didn't understand it because the teachers didn't really understand it and the exercises were putting me to sleep. Then in my spare time I got curious about computers and programming. I soon *needed* some math. With a lot of work I derived a general formula to put in my program. It used the formulas for arithmetic and geometric sums as solution to a recursion. It was an incredible moment. I was fascinated. I suddenly read my math book differently too and tried to derive the formulas (which were just written there). I discovered a whole world of possibilities. There were so many possibilities, different proofs for the same thing, it was so creative. I taught myself calculus. The formula for the derivative mesmerized me. You can understand change and other concepts with very precise formulas. My math grade jumped from D to A within a few months. But that wasn't important because I had discovered a wonderful universe no one ever told me about...

[thehoror]

I couldn't stand math for most of the time that i was in school. Every math class every year was the same thing, show up to class and listen to the teacher read out of a textbook and do a few problems on a whiteboard for an hour and then go home and do a bunch of the same problems out of the same textbook at home. It was taught in such a bland and boring way that i struggled to even stay awake in class. The exception was one year in 9th grade geometry where i had a teacher that actually found a way to make the class interesting, instead of just reading out of the textbook he would find interesting and fun ways to present the problems and suddenly i actually found myself looking forward to math class. While today i may not actively be researching and trying to learn about mathematics, i certainly do find it interesting and am not averse to learning more about math, and i credit that all to my 9th grade math teacher who was able to show me that it doesn't have to be as bland of a topic as it may seem in most math classes. Anybody can read out of a textbook, but if we raised our teaching standards and hired teachers that are actually passionate about what they are doing and put time into all the lessons that they are teaching, i think we would see students not only perform better in math classes, but we would also see them be genuinely interested in mathematics.

[bouseski]

Back in the beginning of Sophomore year of high school, I had a burning desire to learn more about astronomy, physics, and math. I loved outerspace and the math that relates to it. The problem was my interest for all of those things deeply plummeted throughout high school, and I became very rebellious.

Public education is a very, very poorly thought out system.

[Fleshcut]

The only reason why I'm not done with my bachelor degree is because I constantly fail physics and physical chemistry exams (which both requires maths). It makes me angry and kinda "hate" it. My mathematical inability doesn't bring up motivation to learn and solve it but hate because I have to repeat certain tasks over and over again and they are still not right. I'm just terrible at it.
Yet my favorite documentary here on youtube is the one about Andrew Wiles and Fermat's last theorem. Mathematicians, physicists and basically everyone who is able to outperform me in maths is deeply admired by me. I love Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, Newton, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, Tesla, etc. but still mathematics brings nothing but pure frustration for me :/

[SIG]

Each human being learns differently, teach it wrong to a person and this person gets frustrated. Eventually you teach this person to hate that specific subject.

[balthizarlucienclan]

I do not specifically hate mathematics, I hate my inability to grasp the concepts that would allow me to be successful in it. I have a fundamental inability to comprehend math in the number of ways it has been attempted to be explained to me and this leads me to have an intense self loathing as a side effect. If I had a way to side step my comprehension issues I would most likely enjoy math but it is currently far to difficult for me.

[lostcookies]

As someone who has always hated maths, i was very intrigued by what Edward was saying, but i really wished he'd elaborated. After watching this, i still don't know how society would be better if we were all mathematically interested. Could somebody please explain?

[croatianwarmaster]

I would not hate math if there was not a possibility of me getting an F if I do not know it.

[korereviews]

I blame math teachers for the fact that most people hate math. I was traumatized by math teachers in high school who belittled me for struggling with math. Even the nice ones had no idea how to teach math to people who aren't naturals. The problem is that math teachers are always people who always found math easy, so when it comes to trying to explain math to non-prodigies (the vast majority of people), they have nothing to offer and usually assume that we're just not trying. I would love to be better at math, but need to have it explained in a way that makes sense to me as a person who excels at languages and arts disciplines.

[DeviousMalcontent]

I used to hate maths until I started to see it as a language of abstraction.

[RentableSocks]

This man is a genius.  Thank you Big Think, for finally bringing back meaningful intellectual conversation.

[june]

I hate math. Im in high school and it's the only class that I hate, makes me feel stupid, and makes me want to break down crying in the middle of class. Also I agree the way it's taught has a lot to do with it plus I feel as though right when I'm about to get something we move on to a different topic and I begin to feel lost again. I know it's needed but sometimes I feel like there's just all these formulas and laws and stuff I feel that I won't get any use out of. Another things is people always tell me it's odd how I love science and can pass all my science classes with no problem when they work together essentially. I'm stressing just writing about 😩😩

[AutodidacticPhd]

People hate math because of the way we teach... not just the way we teach math, but the way we teach everything. Stop punishing people for mistakes, stop making what you do for practice something that still goes down on your permanent record, stop embarrassing people for not marching in lock step with everyone else... stop doing all the terrible things that don't make sense in modern education and people will naturally stop hating math... and classic literature, and history, and all the other things we teach badly today.

[manmanman]

Frenkel you're so right.. Not only are people frightened by mathematics, a lot of people hate it. And this is where i don't understand it anymore, i mean okay i can imagine how you can find it extremely difficult and therefor not motivated to talk about it whatsoever. But there's not even a tiny tiny bit of respect for math or mathematicians with some people. For example at a party i have some friends who like math and i start deriving some stuff for them and we all enjoy. Suddenly someone who doesnt know me and i didnt know her walks in and says with this annoying voice:'wtf are you doing, that's so lame' and starts to talk with other friends of mine about how lame it was what we did. No one dares to say anything against her, because of this taboo of loving math, well im breaking it now i fucking love it and it's so beautiful and full of patterns. I really really really would like to live in a world where you can say you love this or that aspect of math just like you can say you like this paintor or that one. Really sad it isnt reality :( at least frenkel's helping out

[waneagony]

Edward mentioned that we teach maths in a bad way in schools today. I agree. But what ways are better? Is there a better way to teach maths and if there is what way (ways) is that?

[Capgungoesbang]

I'm pretty sure people with dyscalculia have every right to hate math.

[Rubberducky]

I love math. I am actually majoring in math currently. One thing I hate is when I tell people that fact, they make that face. If you love math I am sure you have seen it. You can see their obvious hate for the subject and then it is usually followed by a comment like "Why would you do that?" or "Better you than me" or "Sorry". Honestly it hurts, obviously I chose it because I like it and they are dissing something that I love, but they think it's ok because most people hate math as well. I wish they would use a little common sense, at the very least politely change the subject. Obviously I need to find somewhere else to look for friends.

[johnaltemueller]

Math taught me how to fail. A lot. Never comprehended it, like I had a learning disability or something. So I concentrated on the things I could master, English, history, etc and some arithmetic and how to use software. I'm 72 now and never used algebra or calculus, never got that far, but I managed to carve out a successful life without them. All the best to those who like and can master mathematics. Most of us never will.

[STNKYCHSEMN]

to hate mathematics is to hate progress