Math is a vital subject for students as it is necessary for everyday life. It improves problem-solving skills, analytical skills, and the ability to think and understand. It makes them smarter and so, having good knowledge of the subject is important for everyone.
As a teacher, the onus lies on you to help kids accept mathematics as a fun and exciting subject. There are several ways you can explore to make learning math relevant and interesting. One way to motivate your students to build interest in the subject is through inspirational math quotes.
How can math quotes help middle school students?
As we know, quotes are words spoken by a person, especially someone who holds a prominent position in a particular field. So, using math quotes in the classroom to inspire your middle schoolers makes complete sense as they will realize that one can earn a command over the subject with time and effort. Other ways how math quotes can help students are –
- Quotes build a positive outlook toward the subject.
- They create awareness and help the students see the subject from a broader perspective.
- Quotes can motivate students to brainstorm over a problem and figure out ways to solve it.
- They encourage students to learn from their mistakes.
- Quotes provide comfort and inspire students to learn new concepts.
Inspiring math quotes for middle school students and teachers
1. “The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.” – Paul Halmos
2. “Just because we can’t find a solution it doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.” – Andrew Wiles
3. “There’s no reason to stereotype yourself. Doing math is like going to the gym – it’s a workout for your brain and it makes you smarter.” – Danica Mckellar
4. “We are all concerned about the future of American education. But as I tell my students, you do not enter the future – you create the future. The future is created through hard work.” – Jaime Escalante
5. “Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one’s mind right.” – Ibn Khaldun
6. “Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.” – Rene Descartes
7. “Wherever there is a number, there is beauty.” – Proclus
8. “Mathematics is the queen of the science.” – Carl Friedrich Gauss
9. “The advancement and perfection of Mathematics are intimately connected with the prosperity of the State.” – Napoleon
10. “The mathematician does not study pure mathematics because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it and he delights in it because it is beautiful.” – Georg Cantor
11. “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” – Albert Einstein
12. “Do not worry too much about your difficulty in mathematics, I can assure you that mine are still greater.” – Albert Einstein
13. “Film is one of the three universal languages, the other two: mathematics and music.” – Frank Capra
14. “The book of nature is written in the language of Mathematics.” – Galileo
15. “A Man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.” – Tolstoy
16. “Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half.” – Talib Kweli
17. “A Mathematician who is not also something of a poet will never be a complete mathematician.” – Karl Weierstrass
18. “No human investigation can be called real science if it cannot be demonstrated mathematically.” – Leonardo Da Vinci.
19. “If you stop at general math, then you will only make general money.”– Snoop Dogg.
20. “Do not worry too much about your difficulty in mathematics, I can assure you that mine are still greater.” – Albert Einstein
21. “How can it be that mathematics, a product of human thought independent of experience, is so admirably adapted to the objects of reality?” – Albert Einstein
22. “Beauty is the first test; there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.” – Godfrey Harold Hardy
23. “The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment.” – Alfred North Whitehead
24. “Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding.” – William Paul Thurston.
25. “Mathematics is the music of reason.” – James Joseph Sylvester.
26. “It is better to solve one problem five different ways than to solve five problems one way.” – George Polya
27. “The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.” – Charles Caleb Colton.
28. “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” – Dr. Seuss
29. “Mathematics is a place where you can do things which you can’t do in the real world.” – Marcus du Sautoy
30. “All mathematicians share… a sense of amazement over the infinite depth and mysterious beauty and usefulness of mathematics.” – Martin Gardner
31. “It’s fine to work on any problem, so long as it generates interesting mathematics along the way – even if you don’t solve it at the end of the day.” – Andrew Wiles
32. “There should be no such thing as boring mathematics.” – Edsger W. Dijkstra
33. “Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit.” – Stefan Banach
34. “Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.” – Shakuntala Devi
35. “What is mathematics? It is only a systematic effort of solving puzzles posed by nature.” –Shakuntala Devi
36. “Mathematics is the result of mysterious powers which no one understands.” – Marston Morse
37. “It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.” – Sofia Kovalevskaya
38. “Where there is matter, there is geometry.” – Johannes Kepler
39. “Why do children dread mathematics? Because of the wrong approach. Because it is looked at as a subject.” – Shakuntala Devi
40. “Pure mathematicians just love to try unsolved problems – they love a challenge.” – Andrew Wiles
Interesting Ways to use math quotes in the classroom
Using proper teaching techniques is essential for giving kids a great learning experience. And using quotes in the classroom is a great way to spark interest in students. You can use math quotes in a couple of ways to motivate students to think critically and enjoy learning the subject.
- Organize a “Quote of the Day” activity. Let a student read a quote at the beginning of the class to kindle interest in mathematics.
- Display posters with math quotes on a wall or a display board. It will add an element of color to the classroom and grab the attention of students all year long.
- Use them to start a discussion before starting a new topic. This would create excitement in the class and stimulate students’ minds to learn something new.
- Ask the students to use their favorite math quotes for projects and presentations.
Summing up
There can be times when students may start to lose interest in a particular subject. This can happen if they’re not gaining clarity on a topic if they’re not motivated enough, or it could simply be because the learning environment is not in tune with their mindset.
Therefore, teachers must strive to keep their interests alive. A strong foundation in mathematics in middle school prepares students to learn new concepts in high school. Besides the quotes shared above, you can also use quotes involving the concept of fractions, geometry, or funny math quotes to liven up the mathematics session. Remember to tell your students the value maths adds to their lives. Once they understand its importance, your students will thank you for guiding them and helping them build confidence in the subject.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,