About Derek

Nearly ninety years old now, I have lived a very varied life. I grew up and went to school in Leominster, a country town in Herefordshire, England. I was not very good at maths to begin with. I learned the rules and applied them but had no idea why they worked.

One rule the teacher told me was ‘Take it to the other side and change the sign!’ It worked but the teacher never explained why, and it is now my opinion that it was a crazy way to teach. No effort was made to relate maths to real life; it seemed so out of touch and just a series of meaningless exercises.

Eventually I did understand maths and obtained my degree in Economics and Mathematics at Nottingham University. I became an accountant, then a management consultant and finally I a lecturer, first at the Manchester Business School and then at the London Business School. Mathematics is not a subject that is taught at Business Schools, and so I taught in the Finance and Accounting areas, always looking to link the subjects with maths wherever possible.

You can find out even more about me and my current activities by visiting my other website ‘understandaccounting.com’ and my ‘you tube channel ‘derekstone pacioli’ ‘.

Now take a look at ‘About Family Math(s) Bites‘ and see what I intend to do about this for people who, like me, feel they ‘missed’ out on maths at school.