High number of adults unable to do basic mathematical tasks
Adults have had difficult times dealing with employment and career advancement but now there is proof that Adults cannot perform simple math. Participants were asked questions such as: “Suppose, upon your trip to the grocery store you purchase four types of tea packs: Chamomile Tea (US$4.60), Green Tea (US$4.15), Black Tea (US$3.35) and Lemon Tea (US$1.80). If you paid for all these items with a US$20 bill, how much change would you get?”
Four in every ten adults in places like England, Canada, Spain and the US can’t make this straightforward calculation even when they had a calculator to hand. Similarly, less than half of adults in places like Chile, Turkey and South Korea can get the right answer.
The results clearly highlight how many adults are ill equipped to make key financial decisions. And how in fact, many struggle to cope with even very simple financial tasks. In the long term, this highlights the critical need for financial literacy to be taught in schools, to ensure young people are equipped for the complex financial decisions they will face in the real world.
Which brings up the current United States Department of Education wishes to force Common Core on most students when in fact simple math skills are vastly more important than ever.
Now as a software developer you may ask how does this affect me ? In fact a person who cannot deal with simple math, how can you expect them to perform an algorithm or handle your software product successfully ?
This is a major crisis in the United States where people need a machine to inform them of the results since they cannot perform it mentally. So the next time you get angry at the concession stand it could be that the person cannot figure out the proper change to give back to you but then again you can swipe your card.
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