Math anxiety is a phenomenon that is often considered when examining students’ problems in mathematics. Ashcraft defines math anxiety as “a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance” .Hembree conducted a thorough meta-analysis with 151 studies concerning math anxiety. It was determined that math anxiety is related to poor math performance on math achievement tests and that math anxiety is related to negative attitudes concerning math.Math anxiety can cause math avoidance, an empirical dilemma arises. For instance, when a highly math-anxious student performs disappointingly on a math question, it could be due to math anxiety, or the lack of competency in math because of math avoidance.People's fear of math can be related to test taking and performance anxiety. Some scholars have suggested a strong relation between math anxiety and math performance.Students often develop mathematical anxiety in schools, often as a result of learning from teachers who are themselves anxious about their mathematical abilities in certain areas. Typical examples of areas where mathematics teachers are often incompetent or semi-competent include fractions, (long) division, algebra, geometry "with proofs", calculus, topology. In many countries, would-be math teachers are required only to obtain passing grades of 51% in mathematics exams, so that a math student who has failed to understand 49% of the math syllabus throughout his or her education can, and often does, become a math teacher. His or her fears and lack of understanding then pass naturally to his or her students. To prevent math anxiety include:

* Accommodating for different learning styles
* Creating a variety of testing environments
* Designing positive experiences in math classes
* Refraining from tying self-esteem to success with math
* Emphasizing that everyone makes mistakes in mathematics
* Making math relevant
* Letting students have some input into their own evaluations
* Allowing for different social approaches to learning mathematics
* Emphasizing the importance of original, quality thinking rather than rote manipulation of formulas

Children learn best when math is taught in a way that is relevant to their everyday lives. Children enjoy experimenting. To learn mathematics in any depth, students should be engaged in exploring, conjecturing, and thinking, as well as in rote learning of rules and procedures.