Thousands of students in secondary schools across Africa are sitting their final year exams at the moment and in the coming few weeks.

In the maths paper, they are certain to come across one question from the quadratic equations topic requiring them to find X.

Very few people on the continent look back at their days of finding X with joy, because maths has never been a popular subject for the vast majority.

Statistics from the 2023 exams show there was a mean score of less than 30% in maths in most countries.

For the Africa Daily podcast, Alan Kasujja embarks on finding out where the problem lies by talking to the man ranked by Stanford University as the second best mathematician in the world.

Originally from Cameroon, Prof Abdon Atangana is currently professor of Applied Mathematics at South African University of the Free State. He’s also the chairman of African Mathematical Commission for Research and Innovations.