My mum says I hated maths when I was little. Well, I don't really remember that. All I remember is that I didn't care much about maths until I discovered, in my second year of primary school, just by accident, NEGATIVE NUMBERS! Woohohow!

And there, I believe, it all started...

It's like it happened yesterday:

I was doing my maths homework, and the last line was 1 - 2. I told my dad that I thought there was a mistake. They surely meant 2 - 1, which I knew was 1, right? =) I'm sure now it was a mistake because we hadn't been introduced to negative numbers yet in my class. But technically, we all know now, and my dad told me the same: it's not a mistake.

"The answer is minus one." "What?!" (If I would've known some swear word at that time, I would probably have used one – that's how surprised I was! =)

That time, it felt the same as when I first discovered the complex domain and the reality of so far hidden square roots of negative numbers (yeah, it seems negative numbers always somehow – in a positive way – shatter my current view on maths).

So what's the thing that makes me love maths? YES! I said it – I love maths, and I'm not ashamed.

Simply, in maths, ALL matches and makes sense; everything is connected to each other. Like formulas for logarithms – how come logarithms can be multiplied by a power of their argument (that one, which is so well hidden INSIDE of the logarithm)? Well, because... logarithms ARE just another expression of powers, so they work that way, and it's so amazing to actually realize such a simple, but brilliant thing.

Okay, I see, it's starting to seem like I'm a bit crazy. I admit, I am, but in a good, funny way, really.

But let me tell you more: in maths, NOTHING changes. I mean – in history, you can find out that someone else actually poisoned that king or that the old fossil isn't so old because it's fake (that moves us to some other science, right?). Or geography! Come on! Even myself, and I'm still quite young when writing this article, could say I've been through TWO geographical/political – which always go hand-in-hand – changes in my homeland (for the record – first getting rid of the Soviet Union the year I was born, then, a couple of years later, peacefully saying goodbye to our Slovakian brothers). So there are changes in other subjects, but not maths. Even physics – think about so many theories that were in the end not verified (therefore we think they're not correct). So maths and its laws stay, and that's great. Even though I love changes, but not when I learn something and soon I have to learn new names (either of king's slayers or countries) and so on...

And not to forget in the end, not that I would go to study maths at uni just to let people drop their jaws when I say "yeah, I have a maths degree" (I went to study it because I love maths), but it's always fun to see all those jaws being dropped down! =)

When revising the article, almost a decade after it's been written, a thought occurred to me, so circling back to the idea that "I hated maths when I was little"...

I think my mum was referring to my dislike of those quick 5-minute maths tests we were having so often in primary school. I never liked those because I wanted to be given time to check my answers so I could correct any mistakes (mistakes happen to all of us, duh). Being rushed at maths is definitely something I never liked, that's true.

LUCKILY I never let that affect my inner maths spirit and curiosity (which is innate to ALL humans, that's a fact I firmly stand behind). But sadly, that often happens to too many young learners; something goes wrong (like the frequent and stressful quick maths tests), and they let their inner maths spark die off. With that approach at schools from a young age, we're creating continuous generations of maths-hating people.

My mission is to help break the cycle of generational maths trauma. If that's something you want for yourself and for your dear young learner, keep your eyes peeled on my blog and social media or hop on my mailing list (see below, there's always an invite to my mailing list somewhere) and grab yourself an awesome free maths goodie while at it.

Together, we can break the cycle; together, we can make maths an asset in our lives, not let it be the quirky little bugger that makes out lives a hell.