As a teenager, Vanessa Vakharia never expected math to factor into her future. “I wanted to be a rock star and marry Keanu Reeves. Still do,” Vakharia says in a phone interview as her band drives ...

One of my first vivid memories of math is of timed tests. I still remember how visceral my panic felt–sweaty palms, heart pounding–as I scrambled to recall facts before the clock ran out. You might ...