Images of Mathematics in Popular Culture - Adults‟ Lives: a Study of Advertisements in the UK Press

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri

The success of adult return-to-learning mathematics policies depends on motivation, which in turn is shaped by beliefs, attitudes, and emotions connected to mathematics. Motivations reflect school and home experiences and broader cultural discourses. This study examines how popular cultural products such as advertisements and films portray mathematical knowledge and how this may influence affective responses. A systematic review of UK daily newspapers identifies very few mathematical ads, then analyzes their varied and subtle images and messages using discourse theory and hybrid semiotic methods.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Emotional issues and the educational policy agenda

Mathematics as a gatekeeper and adult learning context

Public images of mathematics and negative attitudes

Representations through advertisements and films

Images of Mathematics in Popular Culture / Adults‟ Lives: a Study of Advertisements in the UK Press Jeff Evans, Middlesex University, London, UK <[J.Evans@mdx.ac.uk](J.Evans@mdx.ac.uk)> Anna Tsatsaroni, University of the Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece <[tsatsaro@uop.gr](tsatsaro@uop.gr)> Natalie Staub, Middlesex University, London, UK <[N.Staub@mdx.ac.uk](N.Staub@mdx.ac.uk)> Abstract The success of policies to attract adults back to the learning of mathematics, at various levels, is often linked to questions of motivation. However, motivations depend on relevant beliefs, attitudes and emotions about mathematics-which themselves reflect, together with experiences with maths in school and in the home, wider cultural discourses on mathematics. The work presented here is part of a larger study examining the complex relations between popular cultural products such as advertisements and films, the way that knowledge is portrayed by them, and possible consequences for people‟s affective responses. The initial phase of the project (Evans, 2003, 2004) analysed small „opportunistic‟ samples of advertisements and films. The advertisements portrayed mathematics as generally negative, whereas the films were more ambivalent. In the next phase, we produced larger samples of both advertisements and films. In this paper, we report on our search through a systematic sample of issues of UK daily newspapers for „mathematical‟ advertisements. A notable finding was the very small number of advertisements containing images of mathematics. Those few advertisements we found were most frequently for cars, or for services to businesses. Using a discourse theoretical perspective and a hybrid methodology, we categorise advertisements according to features such as their „appeal‟ to potential consumers - and we also produce semiotic readings of a sub-sample of advertisements, as to their „message‟, in particular their images of mathematics, and of people doing, using, or teaching mathematics. Here we find these images to be much more varied and subtle than in the initial phase. We end by discussing some of the consequences of our analysis for perceptions, teaching and use of mathematics in today‟s market economy societies. Keywords: images of mathematics; popular culture; advertisements; discourse analysis; emotion; motivation. Introduction Despite long-term neglect of emotional issues in education, they are today firmly on the educational policy agenda. This is evident from the way that resources are drawn from diverse cultural fields to please and to educate learners in formal educational settings. The “emotional turn”(Hartley, 2004) has shifted the emphasis in the polarity rational vs. emotional, within the educational discourse. But terms such as emotional intelligence and emotional literacy theorise emotions as something to be taught, learned and evaluated. They function to regulate and to manage learners - especially adults, a newly significant target group, since, for instance, the inception of the UK government‟s Skills for Life strategy, launched in 2001. The emotional and attitudinal issues are especially important in mathematics education, since mathematics functions as a gatekeeper, both as a qualification for further study and desirable jobs, and as a prerequisite for certain types of cultural participation. Thus, recent policies on lifelong learning, in the United Kingdom (UK), in the European Union (EU), and around the world, argue for a substantial return to learning by adults, notably in mathematics and numeracy, to help eliminate inequalities (e.g. Parsons & Bynner, 2002; Hughes, Blaxter, Brine,& Jackson, 2006) Yet there is concern over the persistence of low levels of motivation and high levels of avoidance of mathematics and resistance towards it (e.g. Wedege & Evans, 2006), both among schoolchildren and adults. These „negative‟ attitudes have been linked in the research literature to emotions experienced during sch

FAQs

Why does adult learning motivation in mathematics matter in this study?

Because policies that encourage adults to learn mathematics are often linked to motivational factors. These motivations depend on beliefs, attitudes, and emotions about mathematics.

What did the researchers find when searching UK daily newspapers for mathematical advertisements?

The search found a very small number of advertisements containing images of mathematics, and the discovered examples were most often related to cars or business services.

How do the authors analyze meaning in the advertisements?

They use a discourse-theoretical perspective and a hybrid methodology, categorizing ads by consumer appeal and performing semiotic readings of selected advertisements’ messages and depictions of mathematics and people involved with it.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri