By: Gerior Féliz High School Coordinator of Physics and Mathematics at New Horizons Bilingual School and professor in the mathematics department at UASD. He is an Electrical Engineer with a Master's degree in Pure Mathematics. Are you afraid of math? Feeling afraid of things we don't understand is normal. Understanding the usefulness of math and realizing how we unconsciously use it in our daily lives is one of the main tools we can use to overcome our fear of math. Learning math is something within everyone's reach, and excuses like believing we're "just not good" at this subject don't help at all. The methods for learning math vary depending on the student's age, but it has been shown that we start learning it from the moment we are born. One of the fundamental problems we can face when learning math is not building a proper foundation in our first math courses, which are so necessary for advancing to higher levels of math. But if we work on the basics and move forward step by step, we'll realize that this subject is much easier to learn than we thought. Some of the recommendations commonly given to overcome the fear of math are the following: Get rid of the idea in our minds that math is impossible for us. Relate it to our own interests and everyday life. From children to adults, we'll always find countless applications and connections—direct or indirect—where math is involved; it's worth citing one of the famous quotes from the scientist Galileo Galilei: "Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe." Always think about its benefits: we use it in our daily lives, it develops our logical thinking, and it helps us better understand nature; moreover, thanks to math, we have made great advances in technology. It's fun and dynamic. Learning math while enjoying it helps us build confidence in ourselves, which in turn strengthens our self-esteem. It's important to know that in order to motivate children and young people in their learning, we must leave behind prejudices or bad experiences—it doesn't help at all to pass on to children the fears or negative ideas that adults may have had. It's important not to see math homework as a punishment. Attitudes are learned by example. If children hear us speak positively about math and emphasize how important it is to us, they will form a good opinion of it and their interest in learning it will be sparked.
