Looking on the lighter side of Maths learning - Luca Panconi's story

Luca Panconi is a Mathematics undergraduate at the University of Birmingham and co-founder of the project Crystal Math, which aims to help GCSE students with Maths revision with light hearted YouTube videos.

Characters 'Panks' and 'Tanks' take students on a journey of mathematical problems and common maths concepts with animated videos. Luca also successfully applied for the B-Enterprising Ideas Fund and so we caught up with Luca to hear more about his idea.



In Luca's words...

'Crystal Math is the brainchild of two dysfunctional mathematicians who have adopted the cumbersome ambition of teaching mathematics to people who would’ve otherwise dumped it at GCSE. We exist for the sole purpose of supplying non-specialists with uncharacteristically un-patronising tutorials, practice problems and solutions, all designed to help them obliterate any mathematical obstacles they should come across in their respective disciplines.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the idea came about, we’d both always expressed some deep-seated desire to teach mathematics. However, we began to notice that many of our friends, most of which had abandoned maths at the first opportunity, were being subjected to rigorous numerical and statistical torture in the form of unwanted mathematical modules. And so, being the generous geniuses we are, we set about devising tutorials suited to the non-specialist: to show the world just how useful maths can be once you wade through the bog of nasty notation and terrible terminology.

We’d go so far as to say it was essential. You’d think having some mathematical expertise would make you proficient with finances, but alas, we are still students, and therefore inherently broke. The funding we acquired was crucial to affording the right equipment, which has massively improved the quality of our videos and website. And from a more wishy-washy philosophical perspective, it was great to have someone believe in us.

The best part of running Crystal Math is that we get to do the thing we’re good at. The worst part is that the thing we’re good at is maths. It’s a lot of fun, and very satisfying to see the finished results, but dear lord above you’ve got to put in the man hours for it.

Getting stuff done TAKES TIME. Between thinking, scripting, recording, editing, crying, producing, designing, uploading, deleting, re-uploading, and doing a masters, we get a lot less time to ourselves. But it’s good fun, and if it’s what you think you want to do, you’ll make time for it. Also your friends will roast you for setting up a YouTube channel regardless of how good your intentions are.

We started from nothing but our wits and built a fully-functioning website with an expansive backlog of un-uploaded resources. Just looking back at the progress we’ve made, and reminding ourselves we’ve come infinitely further than we ever expected we would, feels fantastic. Also it gives me something to say other than ‘unemployed’ when distant relatives ask what I’m doing with my life at family gatherings.

Self-belief is incredibly important. Even if you’re just fuelled by overwhelming hatred and exist exclusively to prove others wrong, that’s enough to push you to success.'

If you would like to get help funding your own idea, the B-Enterprising Ideas Fund can help you get started.

Blog written by Luca Panconi
Edited by Bob Lee