[Applause]
who here loves maths raise your hands
I see a few hands but not enough today I
want to tell you all of you that we are
all mathematicians let me tell you the
story of my life on Friday afternoons
school is finished the teachers are at
the pub I have a drink in my hand a half
pint and meet someone and introduce
myself hi I'm Bobby they'll ask me what
do you do Bobby I respond I'm a school
maths teacher at this point they usually
say I need to head to the bathroom what
did I say it's like deja vu I think
maths teacher might have put them off
they'll return and I'll call er them
politely and ask them why did you
abandon me and they'll respond I hated
maths at school sadly this is a
conversation that many experienced
people would never admit that they can't
read yet it's culturally acceptable to
mock maths more than that it's a badge
of honour to say you can't do maths
let's change the dialogue I have similar
conversations at school at parents
evening there was a dad looking at the
results of his 11 year old daughter
Emily Emily didn't have the best of
starts to school mouths so dad said
don't worry Emily I didn't have a mouse
brain and maybe you don't either
this point I want to have a proper go at
the dad but I reported him politely dad
there's no such thing as a maths brain
do you either can or can't do maths do
you remember when Emily was born oh yes
yes yes I remember
Emily's obviously looking a bit
embarrassed now when emily is born and
the hospital there have been a nurse
with the clipboard checking vitals
so Emily's got two legs two arms two
eyes two years before she died Emily
does not appear to have a maths brain
that last bit didn't happen did it dad
there is no such thing as a maths brain
I believe that we are all mathematicians
I'm an ambassador for the charity
national numeracy whose aim is to raise
levels of numeracy with children and
adults let's look at what their research
shows us with the question they asked
about numerical competence so imagine
you're earning 9 pounds an hour and your
boss gives you a 5% pay rise
clearly inflation busting how much do
you now I can see a few cogs turning few
cogs if you got nine pounds 45 give
yourselves a pat on the back really
really do give yourself down the back
there are many mental methods to do this
one is to work out 10% of 9 pounds
that's 90 P and then half that for 5%
which is 45 P and add it on nine pounds
45 you see that method when explained
it's not too challenging and yet in the
UK
nearly 50% of adults struggled with this
question even with a calculator really
that's one in two adults struggling to
work out five percent of nine pounds why
is this competence and confidence
one issue that might impact people and
their relationship with the subject is
maths anxiety
maths anxiety is a negative emotion
response we feel when encountering maths
it can happen to school children in the
classroom ending long division or even
to us adults in the real world when it's
time to split the restaurant bill even
myself as a maths teacher
I feel under pressure to get the
arithmetic correct we need to change
that let's change the dialogue we need
to move from a place where people have
that fear of math to one were they
excited about maths where we are all
mathematicians people who neatly
sometimes say oh but Bobby Bobby you've
always loved maths yes yes there is a
element of truth to that I've had a
positive relationship with maths numbers
data's shape for a while
in fact my first job out of university
was as a financial markets trader at the
investment bank Lehman Brothers didn't R
to be a good choice of bank but that's
for another TEDx talk I was then a
chartered accountant and now a school
maths teacher so you're probably
thinking why did Bobby change careers
from high-powered finance to teaching
I'll tell you more if you wait till the
end although you have no choice about
that so the question to ask is why did I
change careers and more importantly
about that is how did I get into math in
the first place when I was born at the
hospital was my dad there with a nurse
and the nurse going oh yes your son
Bobby's definitely got a mouse brain
that bit definitely didn't happen so the
question is how did I get into maths in
the first place what was my hook so for
young Bobby it was football growing up
in East London
lots of kids collected football stickers
the ones that you carefully peel off and
stick into books friends used to always
speculate about which players were
better often with no evidence just who
could Scheldt the loudest I remember one
conversation a friend said Southampton's
Letizia is a better striker than
Arsenal's e'en right the sticker books
were treasure trove of information for
the football players
it contained names ages heights goal
scored left for right for penalties
appearances and so on I took all the
data for the two players compared them
and I found that Ian Wright was probably
a more effective striker so I told my
friend Ian Wright is probably a more
effective striker and he said oh that's
a good point Bobby okay it didn't make
me more popular but it did show me the
power of numbers numbers don't lie and
they can help us look at things
more objectively and it's in this world
that we are all mathematicians so how do
i hook my own students into maths I was
teaching a class of yes 7 11 to 12 year
olds and you remember Emily she wasn't
quite sure what to make of maths mr.
Sehgal you're quite a nice teacher but
your subject is dead my subject dead
you think maths is boring Emily yes
sadly yes mr. Sehgal it's true
she's calling my subject boring at this
point as a teacher I have one of two
responses to deal with this emergency
either I could tell Emily be quiet and
get on with your work or i could engage
with her i opted for the latter so i
told the class there's something called
the millennium prize problems seven of
the most difficult problems and maths
and if you solve any of them there's a
cash prize available for $1,000,000 at
this point Emily's I think he bursts out
of a head Oh mr. Seagal can we spend
every lesson working on them and if we
get them correct we'll split the money
30 ways okay calm down Emily calm down
there are seven of these problems only
ranging from computational maths physics
and geometry but this one in particular
that you might understand which one is
that mr. Segal it's called the Riemann
hypothesis and the Riemann hypothesis is
about prime numbers so Emily what are
prime numbers oh that's easy sir prime
numbers are whole numbers they're only
divisible by 1 and itself good well done
so 11 is prime because it's only
divisible by 1 and itself but what about
nine oh nine is also divisible by three
so it's not prying
the class were hooked and listening
intently knowing that prime numbers
could be their passport to $1,000,000
but stepping away from the classroom
mathematicians can be obsessed by prime
numbers but there's a reason for this
obsession prime numbers are the building
blocks of math just like primary colors
in painting or verbs for writers or
atoms for chemists but maths and prime
numbers are more than just obsessions
every time you use a cash point or a
secure website it's highly likely it's
relying on the use of very large prime
numbers even in nature we see prime
numbers on the east coast of America
there's little creatures called cicadas
and because they're tasty lots of
predators want to eat them
these cicadas emerge from their
hibernation cycles every 13 or 17 years
I wonder what's special about these two
numbers mm-hmm well they're prime
numbers and their prime number cycles
avoid predator cycles you can Google
more about insects and maths but it's in
this world that we are all
mathematicians moms and dads out there
when you're going shopping you'll be
planning your journey time comparing
discounts
what's better value buy two get one free
or 50% off and assessing whether the
food you bought is enough to serve your
family parents out there show your
children you're using maths
and numbers all the time let's change
the dialogue and adults whether you're
planning a gym routine taking
measurements for home improvement or
even assessing your probability of
finding your true love you're all using
maths in some way we are using maths all
the time all the time
maths is a truly universal language if I
set a piece of school maths work here in
Britain or Brazil or Bangladesh we can
agree on the same answer and if aliens
landed on the earth today they might not
like our food or our music or our art
but they would still have the same
understanding of prime numbers as us
math is truly universal earlier I said I
changed careers from high-powered
finance to teaching why you guessed it
maths is the reason the word math itself
instills fear into people and yet maths
is beautiful meaningful and can help us
connect with the world I want to change
the dialogue I want to challenge
perceptions I want everybody to embrace
maths wholeheartedly I see a future
world connected by maths maths uniting
everything in the Peter Pan stories
every time a child says I don't believe
in fairies a fairy drops down dead
in the real world every time someone
says I can't do math there's one less
mathematician so let's change the
dialogue the next time you meet me in a
pub I'll introduce myself and say hi I'm
Bobby the school math teacher and you
know what you're gonna say
oh yeah math that's quite a cool subject
and more than that I truly believe that
we are all mathematicians
[Applause]
[Music]
you