The UK can’t build what it doesn’t understand - that’s why maths matters

But the issue it was there to draw attention to should concern our politicians and policymakers more than it currently does.

The robot was making its way to the Maths Expo at Parliament today as part of Maths Week England. The event brings together some of the country’s most brilliant mathematicians, the industries and organisations that generate and apply cutting-edge maths, and parliamentarians who must do better at appreciating the value and the wonder of the mathematical sciences.

Maths is fundamental to our modern technological society. And it is key to our brightest future.

The Strider robot was exhibited by pioneering robotics firm Oxford Dynamics. Alongside them were organisations like the Met Office, health firm Epic Life, and pharmaceutical giant GSK. All recognise that mathematicians are crucial to their operations and maths is vital to their success.

So it goes for the nation as a whole.

Estimates vary as to the exact value of maths to the UK economy, from around £200 billion up to half a trillion pounds. Whatever the exact number, it’s huge. And we know that maths jobs are more productive and attract salaries up to 48 per cent higher than the average..

The figures are as impressive as they are important. And the Chancellor would do well to bear them in mind as she juggles her own numbers ahead of next week’s Budget. Investment in maths supports good jobs.

Maths can put a value on things. But more than that, maths tells a story about the country we are and the prosperous, innovative nation we could be. We need politicians to grasp that and to speak up for and support mathematical sciences vigorously.

Plenty of politicians like to talk up AI as the technology of the future. Too few refer to the mathematics that underpins AI. Without maths skills, we may host the data centres and servers needed to run AI, but we will not develop and benefit from the next step, the cutting-edge algorithms and advances that will give the UK the edge in the global race.

Maths is crucial to running our defence systems. We need a healthy pipeline of mathematicians researching, experimenting and blue-sky thinking to keep ahead of threats from other nations and to come up with the breakthroughs that will keep us safe far into the future.

During the Second World War, Bletchley Park was part laboratory, part playground for the nation's greatest maths minds, and it’s no coincidence that the Enigma code was cracked there, and the fighting foreshortened as a result.

Organisations like the Campaign for Mathematical Sciences, which organised the Expo, work to ensure maths enjoys a higher profile in parliament and politicians understand the subject’s salience to so many aspects of society.

But we need to see more action. That pipeline of talent needs nurturing from nursery and primary school through to the most advanced university research. Maths teachers like me are doing our best; the subject is consistently the most popular A-Level.

But we need the freedom to spark pupils’ imagination. And despite so many sitting maths at A Level and at university, the number of graduates is flatlining at the very time we need to see a boost to service the technologies of the future.

The government needs to speak up about our success in maths, the wonder of the subject, and the absolutely crucial role it will play in our future. And to back up those words with funding for schools, universities, and research.

The Expo and all the activities during Maths Week England are brilliant ways to raise awareness and profile for the mathematical sciences. We take them for granted at our peril.

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Bobby Seagull is a maths teacher and TV presenter.

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