I don’t need a mathematician to tell me my child will throw a raging tantrum in the car | Nell Frizzell

Diligent researchers have drawn up a formula to predict the precise timing of the screams. I could have saved them some work

The first time my son ever went in a car, aged three months, he screamed so hard he foamed at the mouth, turned purple and then passed out for an hour. In a good light, you can still see the self-inflicted nail marks in my thighs.

Now, researchers have drawn up a neat little formula to explain precisely when such a tantrum (in this case known as T") may rear its head during a long car journey.

Nell Frizzell is a journalist and author of The Panic Years