What does it mean to say math should be fun?

(written by Lawrence Krubner, however indented passages are often quotes)

So true

How can I be saying this? Because I’ve realised that if you have to tell somebody that something is fun, it means that you have lost the argument. I also believe that calling something “fun” inadvertently trivialises it. The subliminal message is that fun things are not important things. And in any case, the notion of fun is extremely subjective. One person’s fun is another person’s worst nightmare. Want to come to my next karaoke evening? That’ll be fun.

Being told that something is fun simply doesn’t work if you don’t already believe it. If somebody told you that (say) trainspotting was fun, it wouldn’t convert you, it would make you think: “These people are clearly on a different planet.” Those who aren’t maths converts react the same way to being told maths is fun.

Some people in the media also seem to be part of a conspiracy to use the word “fun” as a method of sidelining maths. I was once invited onto the Today programme on Radio 4 to talk about (I thought) the creative side of maths.

To my horror, the presenter James Naughtie waved me to my seat, then confronted me with what rugby players call a hospital pass. His opening gambit was: “So Mr Eastaway, make maths fun for us.” To this day, I’m still not sure what decent response he was expecting to that request, though it would have been tempting to reply: “OK, but first Mr Naughtie, you have 30 seconds to make politics fun for me.”

I realise I’ll now be making quite a few maths teachers feel a bit awkward. I’ve lost count of the number of schools where I’ve seen “Maths Is Fun” emblazoned on the wall, or where a teacher introducing me before a talk has told the somewhat disaffected-looking group of teenagers that they are about to really enjoy themselves.