It all adds up

14th March 2025

When I write these messages I could each week focus on a significant national or international day – there are so many. Last week I discussed World Book Day, for example. This week I could write about International Women’s Day. A very important day, right across the globe. In a whole range of countries and jurisdictions the challenges that women face are difficult and, in some cases, profound. I do feel that I would be on a ‘sticky wicket’ commenting much further than that; other than to say thinking about the issues facing girls and women should not be something we put our mind to just on one day. I’m sure most of us want to put our mind to the profound nature of the challenges that girls and women face, each and every day.

Staying on safer ground I will point out that today (if you’re reading this on Friday 14th March) is Pi day (no, not pie day, but Pi day). Which neatly and nicely moves us from last week’s messages about the importance of reading and literacy into the equally important need to encourage mathematical competence and numeracy.

You’ve probably got it but, just in case, Pi day recognises the mathematical constant – Pi is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, which has been used to help us build (for example) for 4000 years. The first three most recognised digits of the constant are 3.14. (or, as the Americans would write 14th March – 3.14 rather than 14/3).

As somebody who is reasonably numerate, and nothing more than that, I do find it extremely difficult to understand why so many of us are frightened of numbers. There are very few subjects where we would accept not being able to do something or ‘it’s hard’, as a reason for not having a go. Every other subject area, which we would encounter throughout our lives, in school or in college, we are encouraged to work hard, and although there will be misunderstandings and knowledge deficits, as a consequence of that endeavour we make progress. In maths and with numeracy there seems to be a different hurdle to get over. There’s much more of an attitude described by ‘you either get it or you don’t get it’ or ‘it’s innate, it’s just the way that we wired up’. That is absolutely wrong.

We may or may not, as individuals, find numeracy and maths more or less interesting, but there’s nothing to stop every single one of us working to overcome some of the numeracy deficits we’ve got. I have the pleasure of spending some time in Sitwell Junior School and when we watch or work with our 7,8,9, 10-year-olds we don’t hear those messages from the children – they give it a go and enjoy the subject as a consequence. But as we grow older we seem to have a societal acceptance of innumeracy. It is about the attitude and approach. I can think of no other area of life well people so readily say ‘I just can’t do it’. Not only is that wrong, it’s incredibly damaging; to the individual and to the nation. We need all of our population, and within that we are also talking about our children and young people, to be as numerate as much as we would expect them to be literate. It’s a pillar upon which we build.

And so, in celebration of Pi day and for the love of numbers, why not …

Celebrate the day with a slice of a pie cut using the mathematical constant of pi.

Host a pie-eating contest.

Discuss the significance of the number π.

Watch the Life of Pi.

Look for 3.14 in unexpected places. For example, prices, street numbers, or license plates.

‘You don’t have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers.’ John Forbes Nash, Jr.

‘The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers.’ Maryam Mirzakhani

‘Numbers have life; they’re not just symbols on paper.’ Shakuntala Devi

‘I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.’ Steven Wright