BigSoftEd would like to help you educate yourself, and help you educate those around you.

Ed's main focus is maths, as Ed believes the ability to calculate, solve logical problems, etc., are genuinely useful skills for everyday life. Maths is also useful for mental exercise (because your brain needs a workout, just like the rest of your body) and entertainment (games and puzzles use more maths than you might realise).

Ed won't tell you maths is fun, because that's like telling someone a joke is funny.

Ed won't tell you maths is easy, because it isn't. But nor does it deserve the reputation for being impossible to learn except by some chosen elite. Maths is a language and, just as hearing people talk or seeing something written in an unfamiliar language can be confusing, even unnerving, so it is with maths. Once you can speak the lingo, it loses some of its mystery.

And why educate those around you? Why not leave it to the professionals? For the same reason you take an interest in the health of loved ones even if you don't know much about healthcare. Education is too important to leave in the hands of others.

There's another reason: the best way to really understand something is to teach it.

So where do you start?

Well, if you've ever said, "I've never been any good at maths," you can start by promising to never say that again, especially in front of children.

If you really want to be good at it, you only need one more thing: to be prepared to work at it.

Ready?