• Question: Hey lovely people I would like to know, what ignited your passion to study mathematics in further education and would you recommend it?

    Asked by best522case on 28 Jan 2025. This question was also asked by were522case.
    • Photo: Paul Terrill

      Paul Terrill answered on 28 Jan 2025:

      Hi!

      The real driver for my passion was that I found I had a good ability for maths, and for science topics in general. I found them enjoyable, which must partly have been because I could ‘do it’, but I also preferred formulas and maths problems more interesting than assay writing, for example. Given this, the path to continue to study mathematics in further education was a natural one.

      Would I recommend it? Yes, if you enjoy the topic and want to continue to learn about it. Also, whilst A levels provide a great foundation for maths, there is an awful lot more to learn and if you want to go into a maths based job then a maths based degree will definitely help.

Comments

  • Photo: eloisabrook

    eloisabrook commented on :

    Hello 🙂
    My passion was ignited when I first did Algebra, and solving alegbraic equations. The way these equations had formulas to solve them and there was just “one right answer” made it so easy to follow and get right.

    Because I found it fun, it meant I could spend many hours solving equations and doing all the problems set as homework quickly.

    I would absolutely recommend it if you enjoy it, it definitely opens many opportunities to careers.

  • Photo: kerrygordon

    kerrygordon commented on :

    This equation is what did it for me: (e to the power of i times π) + 1 = 0.

    In that single equation, we have the base of the natural logarithm (e), the square root of minus 1 (i), the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter (the famous π), the plus sign (+), the multiplicative identity (1), the equals sign (=) and the additive identity (zero).

    The fact that these most fundamental mathematical symbols can actually all be connected in a single, elegant equation has been cited by some as proof of the existence of God.

    You bet I’d recommend it!

  • Photo: Edward

    Edward commented on :

    I was good at maths, which helped! I found it easier than english essays where I never knew if I had written a good essay or not. I liked the certainly of knowing that for the vast majority of maths, there is an answer.
    Maths at school is very much on learning methods and applying them through examples.
    I really enjoyed further maths because it introduced the concept of ‘proof’. Maths is built on proving statements as true or false. We learned about proof by induction (google it) which can prove statements about the natural numbers for example. For instance, you can prove that for all natural numbers 1, 2, 3, etc, the sum of the first ‘n’ numbers = n(n+1)/2.

    At university, you learn a bit more about the wider structure of mathematics, how it fits together. You also learn some mathematical programming, which is really useful as it allows you explore industry problems where you don’t have all the answers.

    It was so helpful for me as maths is a giant toolkit for solving problems and checking whether you have a plausible answer. Also, it helped me to explain my work to non-technical people, which is really useful in employment.

    I thoroughly recommend it as it is great training for life, not just mathematical problems!