I was just working through the sheet music for “As Time Goes By”. I don’t remember ever having heard the intro — it was left out when the song appeared in Casablanca, and seems never to have been performed since. It begins with the lines
This day and age we’re living in gives cause for apprehension,
With speed and new invention, and things like the third dimension.
Yet, we grow a trifle weary with Mister Einstein’s theory,
So we must get down to earth, at times relax, relieve the tension.
“Third dimension” — pretty scary! (Those interested in the influence of geometric ideas on early 20th century literature, in particular the work of Franz Kafka, could look at this paper. Though typically the anxiety about dimensions started at four.)
I’ve commented earlier on suggestions that math education should be confined to the rudiments to spare children from math anxiety, and the use of math anxiety by unscrupulous politicians to distract attention from their policies.
Common Infirmities 