When I went to school many years ago, maths was far from sexy. I had Mr Rogers, the maths teacher from hell. He was a balding old guy that wrapped what little hair he had around his shiny melon in an attempt to cover his considerable large bald spot.
Anyone good at math didn’t associate with the dorky kids that struggled to get B , C and D’s in their tests. It was assumed that these nerdy girls and boys would go on to invent something worthwhile, or save the planet from some apocalyptic disaster simply because they could add.
They wore dark rimmed glasses, and generally couldn’t hold a conversation if it didn’t involve a mathematical formula.
Now Danica Kellar, who played Fred Savage’s girlfriend Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years, is on a mission to promote the sexiness of math. The actress-turned-mathematician, is about to release her third book, Hot X: Algebra Exposed in August and posed almost naked for the latest issue of Maxim to promote her cause.
She explains that the intention of her books is to:
help girls who (believe) that stigma that math is only for guys or you have to be a nerd to like math.
She adds:
Let’s make math fun and sexy and glamorous. Smart is sexy, that’s one of my main messages.
The married and newly pregnant actress says that she appreciates the sexiness of guys with sound mathematical ability:
It’s really cool when a guy tips 20 per cent quickly and effortlessly so that when the check comes, he opens it and signs his name and done.
I must remember that.
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