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arithmetic

Some numbers about assorted people’s grasp of arithmetic:

  • % of population who think they know enough household mathematics to handle problems:
    80%

  • % of population who got at least one-half of test questions on a sixth-grade arithmetic test right: 42%

 

The less math people know, the more confident they are in their decisions.

  • Scores on a test of simple arithmetic of people who have already been foreclosed:

    • Score in top quartile: 5%
    • Score in bottom quartile: 30%

  • Willingness to seek help and/or do research:

    • Best informed: most likely
    • Least informed: least likely

This entry was posted on January 27, 2012 at 12:30 am under Science. Tagged . Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Comments

  1. Jack William Bell says:

    This is known as the Dunning Kruger effect. It applies to things other than math skills. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

    January 27, 2012, 10:49 am

  2. Keith says:

    Just out of curiosity, where’d you get these statistics from , Fred?

    January 27, 2012, 11:26 am

  3. Theophylact says:

    Ah, yes: The Dunning-Kruger Effect rears its ugly head once more.

    January 27, 2012, 11:57 am

  4. Larry Kollar says:

    Who was it that said learned people agonize over a problem, while the ignorant have full faith & confidence in their wrong answer? (I’m sure I’ve garbled the quote, but someone will know what I meant.)

    Seems appropriate that a simple math question is required to post a comment to this blog. :-)

    January 27, 2012, 10:56 pm