Anyone watching The Celebrity Traitors knows it’s a game about keeping your cool, but how many of us have felt flustered when faced with a tricky numbers situation?
Keeping calm under pressure when it comes to maths
Last night’s episode proved that even maths geniuses need time to think things through. In order to open a gate to add prize money to the pot and avoid the “Death Parade”, the contestants were asked the question:
?+?+? = 710
What made things even harder was the fact the options they had to choose from were all in Roman numerals, adding an extra level of difficulty to the problem.
Step forward Hannah Fry. As Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics, all eyes were on her as she attempted the sum, but it can’t have been easy with so much pressure, not only from her expectant fellow contestants, but with time ticking away also.
Keeping calm, she successfully navigated the challenge, but the mission was an important reminder that pressure is not necessarily very helpful when working out a numbers task!
Top tips for dealing with pressure and numbers
Fortunately, in the real world, we don’t face such constraints when dealing with numbers and it’s good to take the time you need to work out any maths-related problem.
National Numeracy ambassador and personal finance specialist Iona Bain advises:
“One of the things I always advise people, is don’t put yourself under any pressure. Try not to put yourself in situations where you might be under pressure, or at least ask the people around you to give you a bit of time and space so that you can get the sums right.
“I always say that life is not a competition, there will be people who will be able to do those sums easily – which is fantastic – but there’ll be people who will not be able to do those sums easily but so long as they understand how they can get the answers, that’s all that matters.”
Professional dancer and Iona's fellow National Numeracy ambassador Katya Jones says:
“It’s the pressure of the group sometimes, isn’t it? Because obviously, when we go to school it’s a group situation and everybody learns at different speeds and I know that as a dance teacher, who every year has to find a new way of delivering information, because everybody learns differently, they learn at a different speed.
“For me, what I’ve realised is the moment you let go of the expectation of yourself and allow yourself and give that freedom to go wrong, or even just to simply admit: ‘Do you know what? I don’t know it. I’m confused,’ or ‘I’m slower than others,’ you let go of that pressure and then you’re open to actually learning and asking for help.”
Meanwhile, Dr Tom Hunt, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Derby, says, in relation to maths anxiety:
“It is important to question the source of any pressure you are experiencing. Are you putting pressure on yourself unnecessarily? Are your expectations unrealistically high? What are you basing those expectations on? Try and be realistic. Yes, have a growth mindset, but also think about what is suitable for you, individually. Don’t compare yourself against others.
“Your target might not be to achieve a high grade on a new maths course, it might not even be to pass. Rather, it might be to get through the process of enrolling on to the course itself. Be proud of your own achievements and be incremental in the challenges you set yourself.”
The National Numeracy Challenge is a free and easy-to-use online tool which uses everyday maths examples to help get people started with improving their number confidence and skills.
It’s a great, friendly, non-judgmental way to improve your number skills and confidence in your own time and at your own pace so you can get on with numbers at work, home and in life. Why not give it a go?
