According to a story published by Pop Science magazine, people actually develop a fear of math and it is even capable of causing pain. The anticipation of doing a math problem causes the person to experience a burning sensation due to a phenomenon in the brain.

            When a person with mathematics anxiety is faced with a math problem, his or her brain has a figurative panic attack. Technically a person doesn’t even have to be working a math problem to feel this anxiety; even walking to the class can trigger a neurological response.

             A survey taken by Beilock and Ian Lyons from the University of Chicago studied 28 adults, 14 feared math and 14 did not, and recorded their responses to different math problems. The survey revealed that people who had higher levels of math anxiety anticipated more, causing the part of the brain that recognizes threats and pain to react. On the other hand, these people showed no responses to pain while actually working the problems.

            The fear of math is common among students, PLoS One journal says. Student who fear math will sometimes avoid taking math classes, or even avoid a career involving math.