Actress Natalie Portman is encouraging children to enjoy studying arithmetic by guest editing the upcoming issue of American magazine Scholastic Math.

Portman loved learning about mathematics in her own school days, and she wants today’s kids to appreciate the importance it has in everyday life.

In her editor’s letter, Portman writes: “Math was one of my favourite subjects at school. It always gets a bad rap and I’m not sure why… Sure you need to use math daily for knowing how much tip to leave at a restaurant or how much flour you need to make double the amount of cookies in a recipe, but it is the less obvious practical parts of math that are most fun for me - like considering the principles of infinity.”

She added: “It made me excited about life to consider the limitlessness of the mind and what we can do with it.”

Scholastic Math isn’t the only publication Portman has written for recently - she has also penned an article for US magazine Parade, in which she writes about staying sane in Hollywood.