For many young students in New York, math is not their strongest suit. But Glen Whitney, executive director of the National Museum of Mathematics, is hoping to change that.

“We sort of have this strange attitude toward mathematics,” Whitney, a former hedge fund quantitative analyst, said. “And, I’ve seen it, you know, at a party, it’s okay to say: ‘Hey, You know, I was terrible at math. Weren’t you?’ … It’s socially acceptable. You would never say, ‘ You know, I could never really read very well.’”

Located right across from Madison Square Park, “MoMath” focuses on the visual and physical elements involved in math. Interactive exhibits are designed to illuminate  geometry, algebra, or calculus in a way that is meant to be both informative and fun.

A young girl takes a ride on the Square Wheeled Trike, one of the museum's most popular exhibits. MetroFocus/Esha Ray.

One example is the highly popular Square Wheeled Trike exhibit. At first, it seems impossible that a square-wheeled tricycle will ride smoothly over a bumpy track,  but that’s exactly what it does.  Since the length of each side of the square is equal to the length of the arc in each bump, the square wheels roll smoothly.

“[W]e want to show here that with math that you can make things that seem to be impossible, you can make them possible,” Whitney said. “It’s that element of surprise. It’s that element of like,  ‘I’ve never seen anything like that before.’”

Other exhibits at MoMath include the Human Tree, an exhibit that transforms your body into a tree, sprouting scaled down versions of yourself from your arms as you stand in front of a digital screen.  It’s a way to explain how fractal trees work.

Since opening in December, MoMath has seen over 55,000 people come through its doors, from young children to elderly couples. Whitney hopes that museum-goers walk away with a sense of wonder and curiosity when it comes to math.

Walk onto the Math Square, and watch the display of lights change and detect your feet as you move around in a maze, pattern, or game. MetroFocus/Esha Ray.

“We want to have experiences that can be entered in a sort of visceral level,” he said. “If we spark curiosity then that illumination, you know, it takes work, like anything … So that illumination is going to come through the kind of attention that maybe can’t happen in a museum. But we can light the spark here.”

MoMath is located at 11 East 26th Street in Manhattan, and is open everyday from 10am to 5pm.

In this edition of MetroFocus we report from New Jersey and New York on what’s ahead for the region six months after Sandy.

NJ Today’s Lauren Wanko reports from Ortley Beach in Ocean County, NJ where business owners and residents are still struggling to repair and reopen as summer approaches.  In New York City, the focus is on public housing. We take a look back with an excerpt from a story reported by Jon Gerber and Kristen Reed last November. Two Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism students take us inside the Smith Houses on the Lower East Side when the lights were still out. Host Rafael Pi Roman follows up with an interview with New York City Housing Authority General Manager Cecil House about what’s ahead for the agency and its tenants, and lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy.

Dr. Harold Koplewicz of the Child Mind Institute talks to Pi Roman about a new project to make mental health care for children a higher priority and about how to respond to children’s questions about the Boston marathon bombings.

The New York Executive Director of the Nature Conservancy Bill Ulfelder joins Pi Roman to talk about “LEAF”, a growing program that takes urban students to the wilderness and helps them become environmental leaders.

And Pi Roman takes a trip to Manhattan’s new Museum of Mathematics to see what’s making math fun.

Watch the individual MetroFocus segments below and stay up to date on MetroFocus news from the New York region on Twitter.

Public Housing Recovering Slowly From Sandy’s Wrath

Host Rafael Pi Roman follows up with an interview with New York City Housing Authority General Manager Cecil House about what’s ahead for the agency and its tenants, as well as lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy.

National Campaign Highlights Barriers to Children's Mental Health Care

MetroFocus talks to the Child Mind Institute's Dr. Harold Koplewicz about the organization's upcoming children's mental health campaign.

Environmental Leaders of the Future

The Nature Conservancy's New York Executive Director Bill Ulfelder discusses the ways in which the Conservancy is adapting to a changing world.

A Museum All About Math

The new National Museum of Mathematics at Madison Square Park hopes to teach students, parents, and teachers about the wonders of math.