Maths makes news: Recent letters in The Guardian and The Times

At the end of May, London Mathematical Society head Professor Ulrike Tillmann pushed back on the suggestion that maths should be rebranded as numeracy in a letter published in The Guardian. She wrote:

“Just as literacy is a necessary requisite to enjoy the richness and benefits of literature, so numeracy is just the key to unlocking the many wonders that mathematics provides… I would propose that the way to increase interest in the mathematical sciences and perpetuate the UK’s place as a maths superpower is not to tinker with what we call the subject but to invest in it properly to ensure that people of all ages have access to opportunities to receive the best possible teaching, pursue innovative research, and to experience the poetry of maths in all its fantastic and surprising depth.”

Read Professor Tillmann’s full letter here.

Earlier in May, the heads of the UK’s six mathematical societies together wrote a letter to The Times to express their concern about gender stereotypes and perceptions that maths and sciences are difficult and unappealing.

Their letter, which came in response to the government’s social mobility tsar’s comments that girls don’t like ‘hard maths’, was published in The Times on Saturday 30 April.

“Tackling these misconceptions, valuing maths properly as a society and funding it accordingly, and encouraging more students to study maths at every level of education, must be prioritised”, they wrote.

Read the full letter here.