Thinking about math in relation to delicious baking is an ongoing project for Eugenia Cheng; Cheng is the scientist-in-residence at the Art Institute of Chicago where she teaches artists how math and creativity are constant companions. She has also written a book about this topic called How to Bake Pi.
Making math fun helps us all not only child learners. Is there a math game you prefer?
Using creative techniques will make math easier to learn for most.
Cheng developed the connection between math and baking after teaching math to undergraduates who were not connecting to the subject. She sees associating math and cake as a good way to promote a warmer feeling about math, but she also delights in exploring how math and baking are similar as activities where we can learn principles and then apply them in fun experiments.
In class, Cheng sometimes guides her students through projects that don’t have “answers” at all, which she says is closer to what mathematical research is really like. “So, it’s not about getting the right answer,” she says. “It’s about exploring the situation. And then whatever you discover about the situation is valid.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Key takeaways
- Math needs a friendly face — and that’s where Eugenia Cheng comes in
- The line connecting mathematics and baking is pretty clear
- If you’re learning something and you have no emotional connection with it, then it’s very hard for it to stick
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