People with arithmophobia may fear all numbers or only specific numbers. Sometimes, arithmophobia has its roots in superstitions about numbers. You're more likely to have arithmophobia if you've had negative experiences with numbers, such as being bullied for performing poorly in math. The generalized fear of numbers, that is, the fear of all numbers, can seriously affect a person's ability to do mathematical calculations.
This limits educational and professional opportunities. The fear of particularly large numbers is often much less limiting, allowing the person to perform basic calculations. Numerophobia, also known as arithmophobia, is the fear of numbers. There are a few different triggers for numerophobia.
It's more common for children to suffer from it, especially after they start taking math classes at school. Therefore, they would try to avoid doing math at all costs. Adults with numerophobia often have different triggers than children, due to mystical associations with numbers that are believed to influence events or outcomes, such as the unfortunate number 13 (triscaidecaphobia) or 4 (tetraphobia). Both children and adults can be afraid of large numbers (meganumerophobia).
Dyscalculia is a learning difference that causes problems with math. However, dyscalculia is not the same thing as math anxiety. Math anxiety can cause children to question their math skills, even if they have strong skills.
