How do you think and feel about using numbers?

I have always felt maths sat side by side with English as an essential basic skill, but understanding algebra has been a struggle, it's used in everything I do "x plus y =10" the same as 10 apples plus 20 orange =?. COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown revealed so many flaws for a lot of families including my own where these essential skills were put to the test and the scramble to find helpful free resources began! I've since returned to college to improve my maths skills and conquer my fear and I'm doing it for me.

We need good education in London without deliberately hard SATS tests,  I suspect the Year 6 reading test was made hard to free some secondary school places through suicide at 11.  We want the GLA to be allowed to write easier papers if the government does this again.

Although I had difficulty learning logs and equasions at school I have since learnt to read a set of accounts and can add almost as fast as a machine with simple numbers. I may be inaccurate when fractions or large numbers are involved but I quickly have an idea of the eventual outcome. I often amuse myself adding a number of things together or calculating the cost of goods or services in my head. I can calculate percentages and simple fractions and translate one to the other.

my worst subject I failed all my exams at school and other places and learning difficulties does not help one the reason why I cant get a job and health problems and no computer skills so I don't want a job after trying for 20 years and going to loads of back to work schemes and no outcome. I hate all employers and they can shove the interviews and their jobs and the same goes for all of their back to work schemes because all they do is categorize you in gardening so why do they grow up and see me as a person who knows what I want

You cannot survive effectively without maths but teach it to show that and go back to tables 

Hi,

for me , Math is my best subject, challenge of our daily life and for our children’s future, I believe that education in general is a must and in particular Math and Languages. I always find math as rules and methods learn them so you won’t fail. Therefore I played a huge role in my life to let my children to enjoy solving math problems which thanks god they succeeded. So apparently if parents like math then children might follow, am not saying all of them but majority. My late father didn’t get the chance to study neither to first grade but he used to know a lot of mathematics and because of him I loved math till now am a teacher at secondary school, so math and other subjects are important in our life. 
mid I would get the chance to do more math I wouldn’t regret doing it, however I believe the modern math now is absolutely amazing yet hard for the new generation. I believe we need more support to our children to be able to achieve in successful ways in their life .

I didn’t know that there is a free lessons for math ! It’s great which should be out loud.

thank you 

Apprehensive! I heard Rachel Riley speak really well about how numbers and maths can make sense to everyone if it's well explained and while I do agree with this to a degree, I don't think I have a natural ability with numbers. I can still do the basics though especially if I really focus on it.

I didn't like maths at school. We had a terrible teacher when we started our GCSEs to the point where he had to be replaced. His replacement was phenomenally good though and I ended up getting an A. I think how you're taught maths at school has a huge impact on how confident you feel with numbers throughout your life.

I don't think we realise how much we use maths in every day life. I use basic maths a lot when budgeting my household finances.  I also use it a bit at work but not a lot.

I think a lot of people would find it useful to have reminders of maths skills in adulthood especially without the pressure of exams. I wouldn't initially know where to go for classes so I'd probably do a search online or ask at my local library

Essential. 

Maybe we should move away from using the term 'maths' to using 'numeracy' or even plain old 'arithmetic'. Maths has connotations of square roots, sin cos and tan, integers and complex numbers.  I hated maths at school because of the teachers teaching by rote failed to get through to me.  However,  because of one teacher I eventually got an A level equivalent qualification.  She (the teacher) effectively took the four branches of maths out of the text book and put their application into every day life.   

It took time and both her and my patience - no eureka moment - and the realisation that numbers and numeracy were essential, practical, and universal elements of everyday life   Maths became part of daily life just like language.  Still hate geometry though!!

People are individual and have their own strengths.  We should consider how technology can assist those with limited numeracy skills.  For example, calculators, computers, mobile phones and apps provide an extraordinary level of numeracy.  So perhaps whilst looking to raise numeracy, we should also consider devoting resources to complementing maths learning with greater understanding of the numerical tools at our fingertips and how people with limited numeracy skills can fill any skill gaps with technology.  

I feel fairly confident about maths, numeracy or whatever you want to call it. I had good teachers at primary school that gave me a good foundation for the basics which were then built upon by teachers at my secondary school. Maths/numeracy is used daily but often people dont think of it as maths: shopping, measuring things for dressmaking, furniture, liquids etc, working out cooking times, working out travel times etc. I also use maths at work - budgets, timetabling etc

I try to do a number puzzle every daily e.g. sudoku as well as a literacy puzzle e.g. crossword which if nothing else does give me a confidence boost when I complete it. I also do the numeracy test on BBC website every so often (it explains how you get to the answer which is good)

Unfortunately the term 'maths/mathematics' is off putting to lots of people and we therefore dont equate it with every day things, especially financial matters; we fear the term & think people are 'clever' if they can 'do maths'.  Maths or numeracy needs to be broken down so that everyone knows & understands the basics and how they are necessary for 'daily' things, particularly as I say financial matters. Paying for everything by tapping a credit card is so easy to do nowadays but we need to understand the downside of this too - what's your budget, how much do you have left after tap, tap, tap.

Maybe terming something as a "finance course" rather than maths would be more successful. But I have no idea where to access free maths courses

How do I feel about maths - confident.  I love numbers!

What do I like about Maths - logical, an essential life skill, I use maths in one form or another every day.

Everyday - budgets and planning.  Making sure our accounts balance.  Helping my parents with their money.  I also work for a financial institution so use numbers at work.

I have always been comfortable with Maths and do not have any problems with using them for every day business.

As a retired Basic Skills Tutor, including Numeracy, I believe that employers should give people time and incentives to improve their Numeracy skills within working hours. I was briefly involved in an Basic Skills improvement initiative by a London council which never got properly off the ground because line managers were reluctant to free their workers for the 2 or 3 hours a week.  It would have boosted productivity, but short-term concerns of low-level managers scuppered it.

Confident.  I passed my GCE 'O' Level in Pure Mathematics with Statistics at the first attempt.  Having been brought up fatherless and in poverty, and having started earning at 16, I was always aware of my bank balance and never spent beyond my means.  Much of my career involved numbers and the creation of statistics, such as railway punctuality.  Following my introduction to Windows home computing, a best purchase I ever made was 'Quicken 2002' on a CD-ROM.  I've used this in all my versions of Windows right up to Windows 11, and enter my daily current account expenditure, while it lists all anticipated direct debits and standing orders.  Consequently, I always know my approximate bank balance and expenditure capabilities.  There is very little I dislike about maths, though I sometimes have difficulty remembering some essential formulae, such as calculating distance  walking times, as I often lead organised walks.  When meeting up with people, I use maths, combined with timetable information and knowledge to plan my departure from home and en route timings, and my return journeys by train . At home, I use Excel spreadsheets extensively as I find them very versatile, and have created numerous lists, and many formulae to perpetuate calculations often involving money and investments.  

Maths Skills are essential. We use them in everyday life, when going shopping we need to do mental arithmetic to understand what the cost might be, we need to understand percentages so we understand what the discount is and so we can compare different discounted items. When doing DIY one needs to understand measurements and sometimes angles. I love Maths but then I am a logical minded person and used it a lot in my work. I simply adore Spreadsheets, I do all my budgeting using spreadsheets and when doing large DIY projects it is essential to work out costs.

One of the problems with Maths at School is that is can be boring and it never uses real world scenarios. If it was taught with real life in mind maybe kids would come out of school and be able to apply it in every day life which is what matters most. Teach Compound Interest and the costs of Hire Purchase and Mortgages and Loans. Teach Salaries with Income Tax and VAT and thresholds. These are real life examples that will help kids use it in real life. And we need to teach mental arithmetic and rounding (up and down) so people can do simple addition in a shop and come up with a rough idea of the cost in their basket/trolley.

Teach Kids to use Microsoft Excel or something similar. Kids might find this more interesting as it is a bot more creative than just writing down answer to questions, many of which they will never use again. Simultaneous and Quadratic Equations are not the sort of thing one uses in regular life. Algebra was important for me as I became a Computer Programmer.

I used to go shopping with my Mum and add up every item to the penny in my head and then see if I was right at the till. Of course if she had any vouchers that always threw me. 

Maths problems need to be set in the real world of the biologist, healthcare professional, small businessmen or garage mechanic.  Otherwise to many they don't mean very much.

I have a Postgraduate diploma in mathematics and worked for a number of years as a maths teacher, then as tutor until ill health forced me to retire - so I love maths.  Most maths teachers want to make maths interesting, but are greatly constrained by the extreme focus on maths exam results and an over burdened curriculum.  Also, we have to state what one level we believe our students to be at - ignoring the fact that for a lot of students, some areas of maths are deemed impossible, whereas others are a piece of cake.  I believe almost everyone could shine at maths - if they want to.  But, the govt plan to extend maths in schools for everyone until 18 could really backfire - creating even more mathphobic children, and many, many exasperated teachers.

What people NEED to be comfortable with is basic arithmetic, estimation (you don't always need the exact answer, but do need to know when you are way out), statistics (interpretation, how the statistics were gathered, who gathered them, how they are displayed and reported), budgeting, debt, percentages and interest rates, basic ratios.

Most people will never need calculus nor Pythagoras, which is sad because they are (to me) great fun.

People need to learn maths that will impact their lives.

The media need to be much more maths friendly in their reporting.  Too much focuses on how 'everyone' hates and can't do maths - as though it is something to be proud of -  not on the positives.  When they report figures, they need to be careful what they are implying.  Eg. the recent price cap on energy costs was per unit of energy NOT on the total household bill, but what was reported was the expected average household bill, not stating that the more you use, the higher the bill.  Was the 'average' calculated on what people used on average in the past, or on what they might use if they cut back on a few things, or what???  And who is 'average'??

We need to have practical maths in schools AND more abstract maths.  Everyone should have to do the former, but the latter should not be obligatory after age 16 or so.

The one word I'd use is 'essential'. You need to be on the alert for rip-offs, many if not most of which, require you to have your wits about you when paying for something, taking out a contract or something else where someone or some organisation is basically trying to bamboozle you with figures. Having a level of competence with Maths skills is essential for that.

At school, I had some kind of mental block with Maths and I basically ended up having a fear of it. I don't think it was the school's fault - it just didn't click with me for some reason.

Now, I quite enjoy using everyday Maths and have become more confident. I do a rough calculation of what my shopping will cost as I tour the shelves at the supermarket, I can work out which is the better mobile phone deal etc; in other words, all the practical ways of using Maths are appealing and give you a boost if you can use those skills successfully in the real world.

Other than at an evening class at my local college, I wouldn't know where to access free Maths courses. 

I think a numeracy skills roadshow would be an excellent idea.

Arithmetic skills are useful as far as they go, but much more important is the ability to interpret data and most particularly all types of graphs.  So, what was being measured? Why? What has been omitted? Has the graph been stretched? What % of people / types of pollution etc has been used? Whose agenda is the data being gathered for?   We need interpretive and linguistic skills alongside the maths.  

My mental arithmetic is poor, though my grasp of concepts is good (I did A-Level maths decades ago).  But I find I get better with practice - helping a neighbour with budgeting over many weeks saw my ability to add and subtract in my head come back in leaps and bounds.  I'd like to sharpen my maths, possibly with a 'refresher' A-level, but I'd need to retire fully before I could countenance that.  Maths has its own beauty, and is empowering.  With the right grounding in the fundamentals, almost anyone (really!) can make enriching progress.

I've been working with a vulnerable neighbour, written off as having "learning difficulties" at early Primary stage - something that happened to a lot of children of Caribbean origin when they didn't appear to take to the Primary curriculum fast enough.  He's now 54, and I'm convinced this was unfair - my friend has a learning deficit rather than difficulties.  So I've been glad to hear about the Multiply program, and I've already sent in an enquiry after getting his agreement to look into it.

Phil

Maths is beautiful as it seeks to explain aspects of truth and in my view it is an abstraction of the real world looking in to the rules which govern the behaviour of the quantities. Some believe in going much further and break all links to the real world, I am much more conventional than them and I am a great admirer of Sir Isaac Newton in Mathematics and Physics.

Maths is a science and as such, has nothing to do with race, only merit, so "white privilege" doesn't exist in Maths (or anywhere else). That is how it should stay, if "having to show your results" is a problem, then you need to keep retaking the course as many times as necessary for that not to be a problem for you. You need to put together enough MERIT to continue learning Maths better and also to learn not to blame others for not putting in the effort, nothing to do with the colour of your skin only the arrangement of your braincells underneath your skin inside your head.