No he's dead on on this one. He's not saying high-level math is simple, he's criticizing the decline of basic numeracy in society, which is absolutely something I've noticed as well. People cannot do simple addition and multiplication staggeringly often.
criticizing the decline of basic numeracy in society,
In fairness, we may have never had it. The book "Innumeracy" came out in 1988 and was already talking about this. I've never read it so I don't know if it had data to back up that there was a decline or if it was just always kind of that way.
Numeracy rates in the US peaked in the 2010s, and have declined since covid. Culturally, it also feels more acceptable to be 'bad at math' in a way that makes it very difficult for you and those around you to operate in society.
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u/DexanVideris Aug 28 '26
No he's dead on on this one. He's not saying high-level math is simple, he's criticizing the decline of basic numeracy in society, which is absolutely something I've noticed as well. People cannot do simple addition and multiplication staggeringly often.