In fall 2011, Michele Osherow, associate professor of English, and Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, collaborated to jointly teach a freshman seminar, “Mathematics and What It Means to be Human,” in which they explored the connections between the two disciplines. They are discussing their collaboration, and its challenges, in a three-part series on The Chronicle of Higher Education. In the first part of the series, the two discuss what led them to teach the class, and their experiences in planning it. “Ever since the word problems my father forced on us at dinner, I’ve always been terrified of math,” Osherow …