Math knowledge of the general population?

[storm5510]

I saw something a while back which may be a bit related. In a documentary, a college professor went to a local county fair for three consecutive evenings. She had with her a rather large glass jar, with lid. Inside the jar were various colors of ping-pong balls. The jar appeared to be about three-quarters full.

She also had 100 slips of paper. She asked 100 people to write on one of the slips how may balls they thought were in the jar. She would then take it all home. She would calculate an average of what all the people had written on the slips of paper, then count the number of balls in the jar. She had no prior knowledge of the actual count.

Each time, the average would be within 10% of the actual count. The documentary referred to this as "The Wisdom of Crowds." I wondered if the professor has asked 200 people how many were in the jar, would the percentage be closer to the actual, or would it be above 10%? I felt it could go either way.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by alpertron

In Argentina merchants are required to indicate the price per kg or liter, so this cheat cannot be done.

True in most of Europe too.

OTOH, hardly anyone reads the small print. I am a member of a tiny minority.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by storm5510

I saw something a while back which may be a bit related. In a documentary, a college professor went to a local county fair for three consecutive evenings.

https://www.all-about-psychology.com...of-crowds.html

[rudy235]

Took about 15 min to figure the geometry. (asuming water temperture at 0.1ºC (32.2ºF) and air pressure about 4.6 Torr)
and then 5 mins to do the math. it comes to Sqrt(15)*4 + Sqrt(2)*2= 37/8*4+2.8= 18.3 miles.

Rechecking every assumption and calculation another 5 minutes.

As to how many American adults? I would say a range between 3%-7%. 10% is way too optimistic!



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innume...Innumeracy.jpg

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by alpertron

In Argentina merchants are required to indicate the price per kg or liter, so this cheat cannot be done.

That is a non sequitur.

Unit prices are given on the shelf stickers here too, but the larger package has the higher unit price anyway. Even though this is indicated in black and white on the shelf stickers, people usually don't read them. One reason is, this is difficult due to their placement, layout, and print size. (The fronts of the shelves where the stickers are placed are usually rounded. The unit price is at the bottom of the sticker, facing somewhat down. The stickers for items on the bottom shelf are almost impossible to read without getting on the floor due to the type size, and reading the unit price almost requires standing on your head. To read the unit price on the next shelf up you also have to do some contortions. The type is small enough that you might have to squint to read the stickers for the top shelf.

Also, comparison is sometimes made less easy by stating one unit price per ounce and the other per pound. As a result, I often find it easier to just calculate or estimate the unit prices for items I want to compare. But even this is made difficult, by placing the "Contents" or "Net contents" figure -- the amount the package contains -- to make it inconspicuous.

Usually, the disparity is large enough that a simple estimate will reveal it. For example, small cans of tomatoes are often 14.5 ounces (formerly 16 ounces), and large cans are 28 ounces (formerly 32 ounces). So, double the price for a small can, and compare the price for two small cans to the price of one large can. It is often less -- even if the large cans are being advertised as being "On Sale!"

No punishment severe enough for such practices has yet been devised by the wit of man. Whether eternal damnation is severe enough is debatable.