Dubai: For Eddie Woo, there's a direct link between the trouble many adults have with maths and the election of Donald Trump, Brexit and climate change denial.

Mr Woo, the Cherrybrook Technology High School maths head teacher who has become known around the world for his maths YouTube videos, said the inability of many people to understand data and statistics has become a major social problem.

Cherrybrook Technology High School maths teacher Eddie Woo says the way maths is taught in Australia and around the world needs to be changed radically. Credit:Janie Barrett

"We've just had major election results that stem directly from mathematical illiteracy, because people don't have the mathematical wherewithal to understand the statistics they're being fed," Mr Woo said.

"They look at them and say, 'Well OK, sure, I don't know any better.' The fact that climate change denial can survive has a direct causal relationship with mathematical illiteracy."