Chancellor’ s sums add up for maths

SIR, – Chancellor Rishi Sunak clearly understands the power and value of mathematics to society and the economy. He has pledged £7 million to provide every region in England with funding for a specialist maths school. The money is being made available to open 11 such schools for 16 to 19-year-olds. Let us hope that the Scottish Government matches this wonderful initiative. We need teachers who truly love mathematics and are enthusiastic to share that love with their pupils.

Too often one hears comments like “I was rubbish at maths”, expressed almost proudly. Somehow it’s OK for people to chuckle about not being good at maths. Yet, if I said: “I never learned to read”, they’d say I was an illiterate dolt.

The recently deceased AfricanAmerican mathematician Katherine Johnson (who featured in the movie Hidden Figures) said: “Some things will drop out of the public eye and go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.’’

Doug Clark, Muir Wood Grove, Currie, Midlothian