I always thought the British were silly to put a s at the end of math.
Yes, I do know the argument for both spellings, so no need for any FReeper dissertations.
What I always found a bit disconcerting over in jolly ole England was their concept of noun and verb agreement. We use the singular verb form with a collective noun. They use the plural verb form.
We say, The team is practicing.
Brits say, The Team are practicing.
We say, The UN is a pile of crap.
They say, The UN are heaven incarnate.
Just kind of jars the ears when you hear it in conversation and when reading the newspapers. But then I liked the ‘Haste Ye’ back signs when you pull out of a gas station.
‘Math’ bemuses us.
You study physics, not physic. You study statistics, not statistic. So you study mathematics, not mathematic. We cannot understand the logic/argument for math singular. It does not make linguistic nor common sense.
I can only put it down to ‘simplified spelling’. Which of course forms a great deal of everyday American English.