to be surprised a third of adults cant calculate change?

[darkriver198868]

www.theweek.co.uk/92326/one-in-three-english-adults-stumped-by-everyday-maths

This has surprised me to be honest.

One in three adults in English and Northern Irish struggle with simple maths

And how many journalists can’t grasp basic English?

Oh dear

I didn't write the article..

Well if you ask questions like
"If a litre of cola costs $3.15, how much will you pay for a third of a litre?”
You're bound to get some smart-mouthed responses to that.

That's a shit question as can you even buy it in a third of a litre and the price per litre is rarely the same for different sized containers. Maybe if the example was petrol, where it is sold by volume it would make more sense.

I can't it's really embarrassing. Redoing my maths GCSE is on my bucket list. Hasn't stopped me from completing a psychology degree though at times maths would have been really helpful.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who would have given a smart mouthed response to the cola question. It’s a stupid question.

How did they do the sampling for this? Who chooses who gets to sit the test.

Lots of people are bad at arithmetic.

Einstein was bad at arithmetic.

I have a maths based degree and I struggle to work out change.

I'm not surprised- I am no longer amazed by the number of my pupils (secondary school) who can't read a clock at all. As in, 'miss what time does this lesson finish' 'twenty past' 'when's that?' 'There's a clock on the wall' 'Yeah but how long til twenty past?'

It's depressing.

Einstein was not bad at arithmetic. That’s an urban myth.

I am always amazed( and saddened) by the amount of sales assistants who are massively flummoxed by what change to give when the till tells them
So it's telling them to give me 75p change and they stare into the change drawer and go "uh..." and then look at me hopefully when they've given me some coins back and I say " yes that's fine. "

I wish I was exaggerating or joking but I'm absolutely not.

Missing capital letters, missing apostrophe. problematic hyphen usage.

You missed the capital letter at the start of 'problematic', Rose. Good job we're on an internet forum, rather than being examined on our SPAG, eh?

As a former retail worker (who dealt with customers and their money almost every day) that does not shock me at all. Also shocking is the amount of people who don't know the difference between a credit card and debit card.

have a maths based degree and I struggle to work out change.

I really hope you are not being serious. Dear god. From which bastion of learning did you gain your...erm...degree?

Oh I missed a P!?

It was a typographical error - typo to you.

Actually, the full stop is errant due to my idiotic autocorrect.

HTH

It’s ok rose I forgive you. You’ve proven time and time again you’re not brightest button.

Many mathematicians are good calculus and crap at arithmetic. Or vice versa. It’s quite well known.

I don’t believe this for a second. 1 in 3 of their respondents struggled. 1 in 3 adults don’t

Or a Standing Order or Direct Debit book.

I used to work in a bakery in the days before tills told you what change to give, this was only in the early 1990s, not the 1870s I hasten to add, so I had to be good at mental arithmetic as we had to add up manually and calculate change, the till didn't do it for us.

So it's drilled into me and I still find myself doing things that completely blow the minds of younger people in shops and bars. For example I once toddled up to the bar, quite pissed and asked for 2 pints, which I knew would cost £6.50. I had about 4 quid change in my purse and a £20 note and I didn't want more change so I gave the (probably teenage) barman £21.50.

He looked at the money, looked at me, looked at the money, looked at me, repeat a few times more and eventually typed £21.50 into his till, when of course, it told him that I needed exactly £15 change.

He would have looked less shocked, surprised and impressed if I had walked away with the two pints balanced on my head.