If we reassessed what maths is, perhaps it wouldn’t make us so anxious

Maths phobia is older than you might think. A hundred years ago, German physicist Felix Auerbach, lamenting the phenomenon and hoping to find ways to address it, wrote a little book called The Fear of Mathematics and How to Overcome It. Maths, he said, has so much to contribute to society that addressing this fear is a challenge of the highest importance.

Auerbach was a fascinating character – a scientist but also a patron of the arts. Edvard Munch painted his portrait and Bauhaus School founder Walter Gropius designed his house. For a mathematician like myself, the pleasure of…