Math phobia is older than you might think. 100 years ago, the German physicist Felix Auerbach wrote a little book to lament the phenomenon and try to find a solution: Fear of math and how to overcome itAddressing this fear is of utmost importance, he said, because mathematics has so much to contribute to society.
Auerbach was a fascinating man: a scientist and a patron of the arts. Edvard Munch painted his portrait and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius designed his house. For a mathematician like me,…