Numeracy and literacy are not antonyms!! Numeracy might be a specific form of literacy, as in the ability to read and write quantitative information. Alternatively, numeracy might be a complementary skill to literacy: reading, thinking, and writing with words is complemented by the ability to read, think, and write with numbers. One could argue that literacy is primary and numeracy is secondary, but the idea that these two abilities are opposed is nonsense. The book Mathematics & Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy offers an extensive discussion of the definition of numeracy, and quantitative literacy, which the book treats as a synonym. Consider this gem, for instance: "As it turns out, it is not calculus but numeracy that is the key to understanding our data-drenched society."
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robroot commented on the word numeracy
Numeracy and literacy are not antonyms!! Numeracy might be a specific form of literacy, as in the ability to read and write quantitative information. Alternatively, numeracy might be a complementary skill to literacy: reading, thinking, and writing with words is complemented by the ability to read, think, and write with numbers. One could argue that literacy is primary and numeracy is secondary, but the idea that these two abilities are opposed is nonsense. The book Mathematics & Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy offers an extensive discussion of the definition of numeracy, and quantitative literacy, which the book treats as a synonym. Consider this gem, for instance: "As it turns out, it is not calculus but numeracy that is the key to understanding our data-drenched society."
October 4, 2015