How to inspire a love of maths, with Dr Sophia Frentz

Dr Sophia Frentz is a Data Platform Product Owner at Wesfarmers, where their day-to-day operations consist largely of strategising how to best use data to support colleagues and customers.

Sophia is a passionate believer that people are much better at maths than they think they are. Here are Sophia’s tips on inspiring a love of maths in your child.

1. Have you always loved maths, or did it take some time?

I'm autistic, so I've always loved things where the rules are clear and definable – a love for maths was really an extension of that! Other subjects seemed so (ha) subjective, when 5 times 5 would always equal 25, and as a child that was reassuring and reliable to have in classes.

I also really burned out on maths in my final year of high school. Coming back to it as an adult definitely took time.

2. Do you remember what originally (or eventually) inspired a love of maths in you?

I think my love for maths as an adult is how we do it all the time. People tell me they're bad at maths or data management, but our brains do maths all the time – catching a ball, deciding what time we need to leave for an event, footy tipping, or even trying to guess what the weather will do later (and, if you're in Melbourne, completely failing to do so successfully).

3. Why is maths important or valuable to everyone?

It already is! Everything from catching a train to the weekly grocery shop involves mathematics – geometry, arithmetic, even ideas developed in higher maths and calculus help further develop the thinking we do every single day. If you've ever said the word ‘mostly’, you've probably been applying ideas from statistics. Watching a ball pause at the top of its arc is calculus. There's no escaping it.

4. Aren’t some people just inherently bad at maths? Why should I push my child to study a subject they’re struggling with?

I think some people don't thrive in a school maths environment. That's not the same thing as being bad at maths. I'd advise trying different ways to approach these same ideas, possibly in conjunction with your child's educator (but please note, I don't have children so do what works in your family environment).

5. If I struggle with maths myself, how can I help my child?

Again, I promise you, you don't struggle with maths generally, you just struggle with the way it has or is being taught. Also remember: you don't have to know more than your child. There have probably been plenty of times where your kid has known more about dinosaurs or marine life (thanks, Octonauts). So doing the problems alongside each other and quizzing together could be a way to help show your child that there's nothing wrong with struggling in class, while helping build your own confidence.

6. Sticking with maths is one thing, but loving it? How do I turn my (or my child’s) mere tolerance of maths into a full-blown love affair?

Get real dorky with it, keep practising, and try stuff! Talk to your child's educators, as they'll know what kids are into these days, and may have ideas about how to apply that at home.

Personally, I loved the Murderous maths books as a child. But I have precisely zero spatial reasoning, so I have literally never solved a Rubik's cube and there is a collection of lateral thinking puzzles gathering dust in my attic.

You (and your child) don't have to be good at everything, so it's OK if you're amazing at packing the car for a long trip but have to get your phone out for arithmetic.