![]() So, to the $64,000 question, or whatever the adjusted number is these days. National Numeracy, who commissioned the UK study by Pro Bono Economics, says half the working population there have the maths skills expected of a primary school child. It was part of a push to get maths slouches back to their books or to at least spend 20 minutes testing their numeracy. The UK study defined low numeracy as primary school level and below. Almost two-thirds of prisoners were less numerate than an 11 year old.Ī modern economy like Australia, we can’t keep digging holes forever One quarter of the jail population had the number skills of a seven year old or below. More than one-fifth lacked confidence investing, seemingly with every reason. The numerically challenged smoke more and enjoy life less – at least on average. Poor maths skills coincided with depression and perceived physical decline. To reach the more-rubbery 2.2 per cent of GDP, Pro Bono Research factored in the social costs. ![]() So, how do they work out bad maths causes such big numbers? They estimate the pay rises people forfeit by being restrained by their maths, the tax the government misses out then and the cost of one business in five struggling to find mathematically-skilled staff. ![]() The 2.2 per cent estimate pushes it out to $36 billion. The 1.3 per cent of that would be $21.4 billion, one Gina, in a hat. Now, multiply those monetary glitches and bad financial choices by roughly six million to create a fiscally dysfunctional household as big as our wide brown land. If, like one in six Brits, you are unable to work out which number on your bank statement is the balance, you’re in even deep trouble. You peak early at work, slump early in life, so research says. (What’s inches to cm again?) Finance companies send you Christmas cards. Power and phone companies see you coming. You make up the weed killer too strong and throw out food you were never going to use in time. So, assuming Australia has a GDP, how much, and how, is bad maths costing us? “A modern economy like Australia, we can’t keep digging holes forever.” “(A maths skill shortage) is seen as an acute issue in many western countries now,” he said. The search for missing flight MH370 boiled down to “mathematical stuff”. Mr Pryor says mathematics is becoming more important in a world of Big Data and mathematical modelling. While wary of the “dark art” of economics, the UK study “resonates with our own experience”. “Even people who enjoy maths, one bad teacher kills it for them,” he says. A lack of great maths teachers perpetuates the shortage. A shortage of maths whizzes bumps up their commercial value and prices them out education. Mathematical Association of Victoria chief executive Simon Pryor says part of the problem is a vicious supply and demand circle. “They tend to show Australia is fairly similar to other English speaking nations,” ACER spokesman Steve Holden says. The Australian Council for Educational Research says the two major world studies into numeracy show Australia’s maths standard is, at best, treading water. In a decade our maths has slipped the equivalent of wagging six months of school. Just over one adult in five couldn’t perform calculations with whole numbers and decimals or manage simple measurements. That’s one mark off.Īn OECD report last year found our numeracy was in line with similar nations. If you think we are ok, that we are smarter than Brits – perhaps you sat near the Barmy Army at the cricket? – well, sorry. In a stack of dollar coins it would reach 78,000km high, 130 times higher than the Hubble Space Telescope.Ī pesky 1.3 per cent of that would still pass the telescope by 400km. That is twenty six with eight zeros, one zero for each of your fingers, thumbs excepted. It doesn’t sound all that much, does it? Get out your pens. Last month, world-first British research put the cost of numerical illiteracy there at between 1.3 and 2.2 per cent of GDP. ![]() Put that with other research that says people wildly overestimate their maths prowess and that they very readily shrug and surrender to this deficiency. New research has found that nine in every 25 adults feel they’ve been dragged back in life by poor maths skills, significantly and personally number-crunched. Even people who enjoy maths, one bad teacher kills it for themįor many Australians, the closest they get to algebra is watching the X Factor and wondering, Y? ![]()
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