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Written by Manil Suri, professor of mathematics and statistics, UMBC

When President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Math Awareness Week in April 1986, one of the problems he cited was that too few students were devoted to the study of math.

“Despite the increasing importance of mathematics to the progress of our economy and society, enrollment in mathematics programs has been declining at all levels of the American educational system,” Reagan wrote in his proclamation.

Nearly 40 years later, the problem that Reagan lamented during the first National Math Awareness Week – which has since evolved to become “Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month” – not only remains but has gotten worse.

Whereas 1.63%, or about 16,000, of the nearly 1 million bachelor’s degrees awarded in the U.S. in the 1985-1986 school year went to math majors, in 2020, just 1.4%, or about 27,000, of the 1.9 million bachelor’s degrees were awarded in the field of math – a small but significant decrease in the proportion.

Post-pandemic data suggests the number of students majoring in math in the U.S. is likely to decrease in the future.

A key factor is the dramatic decline in math learning that took place during the lockdown. For instance, whereas 34% of eighth graders were proficient in math in 2019, test data shows the percentage dropped to 26% after the pandemic.

These declines will undoubtedly affect how much math U.S. students can do at the college level. For instance, in 2022, only 31% of graduating high school seniors were ready for college-level math – down from 39% in 2019.

These declines will also affect how many U.S. students are able to take advantage of the growing number of high-paying math occupations, such as data scientists and actuaries. Employment in math occupations is projected to increase by 29% in the period from 2021 to 2031.

About 30,600 math jobs are expected to open up per year from growth and replacement needs. That exceeds the 27,000 or so math graduates being produced each year – and not all math degree holders go into math fields. Shortages will also arise in several other areas, since math is a gateway to many STEM fields.

For all of these reasons and more, as a mathematician who thinks deeply about the importance of math and what it means to our world – and even to our existence as human beings – I believe this year, and probably for the foreseeable future, educators, policymakers and employers need to take Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month more seriously than ever before.

Struggles with mastery

Subpar math achievement has been endemic in the U.S. for a long time.

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that no more than 26% of 12th graders have been rated proficient in math since 2005.

The pandemic disproportionately affected racially and economically disadvantaged groups. During the lockdown, these groups had less access to the internet and quiet studying spaces than their peers. So securing Wi-Fi and places to study are key parts of the battle to improve math learning.

Some people believe math teaching techniques need to be revamped, as they were through the Common Core, a new set of educational standards that stressed alternative ways to solve math problems. Others want a return to more traditional methods. Advocates also argue there is a need for colleges to produce better-prepared teachers.

Other observers believe the problem lies with the “fixed mindset” many students have – where failure leads to the conviction that they can’t do math – and say the solution is to foster a “growth” mindset – by which failure spurs students to try harder.

Although all these factors are relevant, none address what in my opinion is a root cause of math underachievement: our nation’s ambivalent relationship with mathematics.

Low visibility

Many observers worry about how U.S. children fare in international rankings, even though math anxiety makes many adults in the U.S. steer clear of the subject themselves.

Mathematics is not like art or music, which people regularly enjoy all over the country by visiting museums or attending concerts. It’s true that there is a National Museum of Mathematics in New York, and some science centers in the U.S. devote exhibit space to mathematics, but these can be geographically inaccessible for many.

A 2020 study on media portrayals of math found an overall “invisibility of mathematics” in popular culture. Other findings were that math is presented as being irrelevant to the real world and of little interest to most people, while mathematicians are stereotyped to be singular geniuses or socially inept nerds, and white and male.

Math is tough and typically takes much discipline and perseverance to succeed in. It also calls for a cumulative learning approach – you need to master lessons at each level because you’re going to need them later.

While research in neuroscience shows almost everyone’s brain is equipped to take up the challenge, many students balk at putting in the effort when they don’t score well on tests. The myth that math is just about procedures and memorization can make it easier for students to give up. So can negative opinions about math ability conveyed by peers and parents, such as declarations of not being “a math person.”

A positive experience

Here’s the good news. A 2017 Pew poll found that despite the bad rap the subject gets, 58% of U.S. adults enjoyed their school math classes. It’s members of this legion who would make excellent recruits to help promote April’s math awareness. The initial charge is simple: Think of something you liked about math – a topic, a puzzle, a fun fact – and go over it with someone. It could be a child, a student, or just one of the many adults who have left school with a negative view of math.

Can something that sounds so simplistic make a difference? Based on my years of experience as a mathematician, I believe it can – if nothing else, for the person you talk to. The goal is to stimulate curiosity and convey that mathematics is much more about exhilarating ideas that inform our universe than it is about the school homework-type calculations so many dread.

Raising math awareness is a first step toward making sure people possess the basic math skills required not only for employment, but also to understand math-related issues – such as gerrymandering or climate change – well enough to be an informed and participating citizen. However, it’s not something that can be done in one month.

Given the decline in both math scores and the percentage of students studying math, it may take many years before America realizes the stronger relationship with math that President Reagan’s proclamation called for during the first National Math Awareness Week in 1986.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 250 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.

Written by Manil Suri, professor of mathematics and statistics, UMBC

March 14 is celebrated as Pi Day because the date, when written as 3/14, matches the start of the decimal expansion 3.14159… of the most famous mathematical constant.

By itself, pi is simply a number, one among countless others between 3 and 4. What makes it famous is that it’s built into every circle you see – circumference equals pi times diameter – not to mention a range of other, unrelated contexts in nature, from the bell curve distribution to general relativity.

The true reason to celebrate Pi Day is that mathematics, which is a purely abstract subject, turns out to describe our universe so well. My book “The Big Bang of Numbers” explores how remarkably hardwired into our reality math is. Perhaps the most striking evidence comes from mathematical constants: those rare numbers, including pi, that break out of the pack by appearing so frequently – and often, unexpectedly – in natural phenomena and related equations, that mathematicians like me exalt them with special names and symbols.

So, what other mathematical constants are worth celebrating? Here are my proposals to start filling out the rest of the calendar.

The Golden Ratio

For January, I nominate the Golden Ratio, phi. Two quantities are said to be in this ratio if dividing the larger by the smaller quantity gives the same answer as dividing the sum of the two quantities by the larger quantity. Phi equals 1.618…, and since there’s no Jan. 61, we could celebrate it on Jan. 6.

First calculated by Euclid, this ratio was popularized by Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, who wrote a book in 1509 extravagantly extolling its aesthetic properties. Supposedly, Leonardo da Vinci, who drew 60 drawings for this book, incorporated it into the dimensions of Mona Lisa’s features, a choice some claim is responsible for her beauty.

The first inkling that phi occurs in nature came from another Italian, Fibonacci, while studying how rabbits multiply. A common reproductive assumption was that each pair of rabbits begets another pair every month. Start with a single rabbit pair, and successive populations will then follow the sequence 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and so on – that is, get multiplied by a monthly “growth ratio” of 2.

What Fibonacci observed, though, was that rabbits spent the first cycle reaching sexual maturity and only began reproducing after that. A single pair now gives the new, slower progression 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… instead. This is the famous sequence named after Fibonacci; notice that each population turns out to be the sum of its two predecessors.

How does phi show up amid all these randy rabbits? Well, progressing through the sequence, you see that each number is about 1.6 times the previous one. In fact, this growth ratio keeps getting closer and closer to 1.618…. For instance, 21 equals about 1.615 times 13, and 34 equals about 1.619 times 21. This means the rabbits settle down to reproducing with a growth ratio that is no longer 2, but rather, gets closer and closer to the Golden Ratio.

Actual rabbits are unlikely to follow this rule precisely. For one, they have the unfortunate tendency to get eaten by predators. But the Fibonacci numbers – like 5, 8, 13 and so on – show up extensively in nature, like in the number of spirals you might see in a typical pine cone. And yes, phi itself makes a few appearances as well, perhaps most notably in the way leaves arrange themselves around a stem to maximize exposure to sunlight.

The constant ‘e’

February offers another blockbuster constant, Euler’s number e, which has the value 2.718…. So mark next Feb. 7 for the shindig.

To understand e, consider “doubling” growth again, but now in terms of the “population” of dollars in your bank account. By some miracle, your money in this example is earning you 100% interest, compounded each year. Each $1 invested becomes $2 at year’s end.

Suppose, however, the interest is compounded semiannually. Then 50% of the interest is credited midyear, giving you $1.50. You get the remaining 50% interest on this $1.50 at the end of the year, which works out to $0.75, giving you $2.25 ($1.50 + $0.75). So your investment gets multiplied by 2.25, rather than 2.

What if a war broke out between banks, each offering to compound the same 100% interest over shorter and more frequent intervals? Would the sky be the limit in terms of your payout? The answer is no. You could raise your growth ratio from 2 to about 2.718 – more precisely, to e – but no higher. Although you get more frequent credits, they have progressively diminishing returns.

In the late 17th century, the discovery of calculus led to a quantum leap in people’s ability to grapple with the universe. Math could now analyze anything that changed – which extended its domain to most phenomena in nature. The constant e is famous because of its iconic role in calculus: It turns out to be the most natural growth factor to track change. Consequently, it shows up in laws describing many natural processes – from population growth to radioactive decay. The constant e is a big part of calculus – and turns up in all kinds of natural phenomena.

Next on our calendar of mathematical constants would come pi, of course, for March. My nominee for April is Feigenbaum’s constant delta, which equals 4.669… and measures how quickly growth processes spin off into chaos.

I’ll wait for my first batch to achieve official holiday status before going any further – happy to consider any candidates you want to nominate.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article and see more than 250 UMBC articles available in The Conversation.