In the past he has criticised previous attempts at a maths curriculum for non-mathematicians as "sterile" and prone to asking "questions that are purely mathematical, and extremely easy compared with A-level maths".
BBC: New sixth-form maths course will focus on 'real' problems
For a subject such as economics, applicants might have an A grade in A-level economics, but some universities might also require pupils to have a high grade at maths A-level as well.
Before that, students had to wait until they had done a year of A-level maths before they knew enough to aim higher.
There are slightly more A-level entries for biology from girls in 2012, for chemistry the numbers are about the same and 40% of pupils studying A-level maths are girls.
BBC: State schools 'failing girls who want to study physics'
Her father Paul said she was due to sit A-Level maths next year and has been invited to read maths at the University of Cambridge if she passes.
Cleverly, who achieved an A grade at A-level maths, said the degree course, particularly the social side, had helped him to cope with the rigours of training up to six days a week.
Yoga Kissoon, a semi-retired maths teacher from Norwood in South London, has had exactly this experience and has been pursuing a complaint with Barclays bank.
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An early check of the A-level further maths paper on 31 May found an error and the paper was returned to the printers to be altered.
"If this is not the case, we risk young people being under-prepared for the rigours of studying maths at A-level - a concern that would appear to be shared by QCA, the government's own advisers on the school curriculum, " Prof Brown said.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Advisers sound maths GCSE warning
Thirdly, the new system will demand a lot from schools: teaching a 13-year-old with a talent for maths alongside pupils several years older (and vice versa) is tricky.
Last year, the BBC's tables showed 74% of 11-year-olds in England met the required levels in English and maths - a Level 4.
But the university has denied reports it will go on to set papers for a new maths A-level.
BBC: Cambridge University funded to offer A-level maths help
Some maths students are likely to take maths A-levels at 15, anyway, so the extra help is useful.
In July last year Liam, a talented musician who had three A-grade A levels and a degree in maths, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for 72 hours after running in front of a bus.
She studied physics, chemistry and maths A-levels without any real idea of what she wanted to do, but she already had an interest in meteorology from doing her weather badge as a Girl Guide when she was 12.
Six hugely impressive stoppage wins followed, with the youngster - who is due to complete a maths degree at Cardiff University this summer - picking up the British and then European titles.
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A-level candidates in, say, maths, to learn things that only a few will need.
And the board of K-theory, a maths journal owned by Springer, a German publishing firm, quit in 2007.
Language teachers might also take a leaf from the further-maths textbook.
It suggested that many students are left struggling with degree courses because they lack a good understanding of maths, with sixth-formers simply taught to pass exams at A-level.
The report also warned that some schools were discouraged by the system of league tables in England from entering many students for high-level maths courses, either at GCSE or A-level.
"We do not think that research based on tests in a small number of specific topics taken in 11 schools by 11 to 14-year-olds is a good way to judge standards in the maths GCSE - an exam which tests the full breadth of the curriculum and that is taken by older pupils from all schools in the country, " she said.
A-level too: it's possible to get an A in maths without a solid grasp of calculus, for example.
The government said it had already instigated top-to-bottom overhaul of maths in schools, extending from primary school to A-level.
BBC: Rushed maths leads to 'superficial' learning, report says
Mr Laws told delegates it was "quite literally intolerable" that in some schools and certain areas of the country almost eight in 10 children on free school meals - a key measure of poverty - failed to get five good GCSEs, including maths and English.
Without maths as an accompanying A-level the application will be less likely to succeed.
Schools minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said maths was a "key priority".
The BBC tables will also show how schools fared with their high-fliers - the percentage of pupils achieving a Level 5 (the level expected of a 14-year-old) in maths and English.
Nikini, who went to King Edward VI High School (for girls), had taken French, maths, further maths and classical civilisation - a subject in which she came in the top five in the country.
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The researchers looked at data on children featured in the British Cohort Study - a large group of people born in April 1970 - to look at the link between reading and maths scores at age 10, and earnings at ages 30, 34 and 38.
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