(Economic & Social Research Council) Images of maths 'geeks' stop people from studying mathematics or using it in later life, shows research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.Many students and undergraduates seem to think of mathematicians as old, white, middle-class men who are obsessed with their subject, lack social skills and have no personal life outside maths.

The student's views of maths itself included narrow and inaccurate images that are often limited to numbers and basic arithmetic.