Henry Baker wrote:
In today's specialized world, it isn't clear that the productivity of the economy is all that much better if 50% of the population got a little better in math. However, a case could be made that it is vital that the best 5% be very, very good at math. Ask everyone on an airplane going Mach .9 at 40,000 feet if they hoped that the designers of that airplane were very good at math!
But that's a straw man argument. Of course people who design airplanes ought to be good at math -- and they are! But in the worst case, the airplane-designer type will end up good at math despite their high school math curriculum, not because of it. --Michael -- It is very dark and after 2000. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a bleen.