Beach House on the Moon is the twenty-third studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and was released on May 24, 1999. It is his second and last studio album released on Island Records and the last release of Margaritaville Records. It reached #8 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The song "Math Suks" caused a minor and brief media frenzy over Jimmy Buffett's seeming disdain for math education. The lyrics tell of the author's frustration as a math student. The song's lyrics refer to hearing the phrase "Math sucks" on an interview on TV, though Buffett later noted that the inspiration actually came from graffiti on a bridge in Key WestFlorida.[2] Mathematical terms are used in a superficial way in the song, which drew criticism from mathematicians and mathematics teachers.[2][3] The song was condemned by the USNational Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Education Association for its alleged negative effect on children's education.[2][4]
^Picker, S.H. and Berry, J.S. (2000): "Investigating pupils' images of mathematicians". Educational Studies in Mathematics, volume 43, pages 65–94. doi:10.1023/A:1017523230758
^National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1999): "A conversation with Jimmy Buffett shows math doesn’t 'suk' after all". NCTM News Bulletin, volume 36, issue 1, pages 1 and 4–5.