An excerpt of this interview was published in BPI’s 2023 Annual Report, College for a Better World.
On changing the narrative surrounding mathematics:
Tammar Cancer ’17: I didn’t really start studying math until I was 30 years old. When I enrolled in BPI, and they offered “Intro to Algebra” and “Advanced Algebra,” I realized very quickly that this was just new terrain for me. It wasn’t the fact that I had learned this a long time ago and forgot it; I never learned these things. I was totally a fish out of water, and I think what made me persevere was the fact that I found it difficult. And, eventually, something started to click.
Francis Su: Yeah, I love the way you put that. That’s sort of highlighting another virtue that can be built by working on hard problems — you love the challenge of the growth, right? It’s kind of like when we work out in the gym — at some point you grow to love the burn. Here, you have a mental burn that you’re nurturing in some sense. You love the challenge of working hard on a problem. And then, you have that thrill of solving the problem. And you’re like, “Whoa!”
TC: Every semester, by midterm, I would say I’m done with math. I’m not taking any more math classes. Then next semester, I’m taking more math classes. So it’s definitely that relationship there.
Me and another BPI alum, we’re trying to design what we call “Hood Mathematics.” There’s phenomena that takes place in a hood that you can use to demystify mathematics — we have these scenarios and the math behind it just jumps out. It leaps out to me. So, we’re trying to figure out a way where we can actually demystify it for the youth and the hood, right, just to get them comfortable with math. Listen, this is math, you see. You run into it every day. It’s just about demystifying mathematics for everyday life, I believe.
FS: Math does that, right? It gives us a richer way of understanding the world and the things that are going on around us. You have a new lens by which you view the world. It enables you to see the world differently and live your life differently.
On the transfer of math-related skills
TC: I think the study of mathematics, while it can deliver a decent job, I think what’s more important is you just get this mental toughness, this mental rigor, that you can translate to any facet of life. Just the ability to stay with a problem, even when you’re frustrated, even when you’re confused, angry, you’re exercising those muscles while you’re pushing through these problems. I think that that skill — that ability in itself — is priceless. I remember working on a problem one time from 6pm to midnight. The same problem. And when I finally solved it, I felt like I won a championship.
FS: Yeah. And that toughness is what’s gonna carry us through other hard problems in our lives, right like, whenever you encounter some other situation, I know that I often lean on the fact that I I’ve I’ve worked on hard problems in math, and I know what it means to sit with the problem and not solve it for a long time. And that’s that’s okay. Right? Just like in our lives, I have these hard problems I don’t know how to deal with. But part of me knows that it’s okay if I don’t solve it right away. But, if I think carefully about this, and put my mind to it, maybe eventually I will see a way out. And that’s, I think, a toughness of spirit that is hard to come by in other ways.
On building transferable skills through math
TC: I have courage. I’m not afraid to take on something. I may have never come across it before. As Director of Special Projects at Center for Community Alternatives, I get projects all the time that I’ve never come across, but I just know that all I have to do is ask myself the right questions. I pull the rope with the question mark on it, and I just keep tugging it, and I keep tugging it. And I keep tugging it. And eventually, you know, I’m going to either hit the target, or at least get near it. I’ll be closer than where I was when I first began. I have courage because I’m not afraid to tackle it. I’m not afraid to dive right in. And I think that definitely comes from going from not having the courage to get up to a whiteboard, and, you know, do an algebra problem to translating it now to problems in life.
FS: I think one thing that math has built in me is an expectation of an enchantment. And what do I mean by that? I guess what I mean is that feeling of when you’re working on a hard problem and then you suddenly get that “Aha!” moment. That feeling of like, “Whoa, that’s pretty neat, right?” That it’s neat how that worked out. And, of course, not every hard problem is gonna have a simple or elegant solution. But every once in a while, something happens, and you see something in a different way. And suddenly a hard problem is easy. There’s a certain feeling of enchantment when you see that. It’s like the end of a mystery movie where everything gets explained. You suddenly understand why something is true. That’s one of the best feelings in the world.
Tammar Cancer graduated with a Bard bachelor’s degree in Social Studies in 2017. Tammar has worked as a Bard Writing Fellow since 2021 and is now employed as Assistant to the Executive Director & Director of Special Projects at the Center for Community Alternatives. He is also an active part of the upstate reentry community.
Francis Su is Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and former president of the Mathematical Association of America. His book, Mathematics for Human Flourishing, published by Yale University Press, won the 2021 Euler Book Prize. It offers an inclusive vision of what math is, who it’s for, and why anyone should learn it.
