"A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form" explains why there is a common misconception on what the mathematics is.
A complete prescription for permanently disabling young minds — a proven cure for curiosity. What have they done to mathematics! There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun. </quote> ([pdf] (25 pages) http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf )
A complete prescription for permanently disabling young minds — a proven cure for curiosity. What have they done to mathematics! There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun. </quote> ([pdf] (25 pages) http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf )
Here's the corresponing discussion on HN http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=130499