Negative Numbers are Confusing

[kipin]

numeracy = dental hygiene

the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE = they have some nasty

maths = teeth

[Yeti]

there are 60 mil people in the uk

can't be bothered to look up how many are under 18, but like sci said, probably a quarter?

so 1 in 3 adults can't get a G at GCSE (exams you take at 16). i can't attempt to quantify what you would need to know to get a G, but i'm pretty sure i could have got higher than that when i was 6 years old.

[diddyeinstein]

^^ Hey you got your modship back. Congrats.

I'm teaching this kid some math for the GRE. We came to a problem of essentially sorting negative numbers. He got it wrong, I wanted to shoot myself in the face.

[marchron]

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My Uncle works for the Indiana Lottory and when they first introduced Texas Hold Em scratch cards they had by far the highest number of unclaimed prizes of any scratch card they had ever produced, presumably because people couldn't discern winning hands.

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funny thing is even if they were too dumb to figure out the winning hand

lotto tickets have 2letters that if they match it means you win, so its easy to see if you won

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Indiana's have three. T-E-N means you win $10, etc.

Whenever I saw a scratched-off Hold'em game laying on the ground or whatever, I always checked it just in case someone overlooked that they had a straight flush or something.

[Vavavoom]

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"More than 15m adults in Britain have poor numeracy - the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE maths "

heh wildddddd stat, i don't really believe it for a second.

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No way - thats 1 in 4 people .... .Impossible !


Edit : Just seen a few others quote this as well...

What a piece of tripe, where do they get that sort of information from......(Mind you consider the location of the paper)

* Meanwhile, This Londoner runs for cover*

[Yads]

They definitely should have used hotter, colder. Even the retarded chick with the quote must realize -8 is colder than -6.

[grando]

heh

[wtfsvi]

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If they were good at math, they probably wouldn't play the lottery in the first place.

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I don't like this assumption. I play the lottery (on rollovers) even though it has poor EV. If I win, £10m is a lot of money. If I lose, £5 is an irrelevant amount of money. The utility of winning is high whilst the cost is essentially zero, so why not enter? It also ensures some money goes to charity and that you get to harbour the fantasy of winning.

I do like the idea that the odds of you winning the lottery are essentially the same whether you enter it or not though.

[/ QUOTE ] That's why I said probably. I realize there are some people like you, but I don't think you are in the main target group nor are you one of the customers that spend a lot on lotteries.

I don't think people that are bad at math generally think lotteries are +EV of course. But I definitely think they are overrepresented among people who accept these heavy -EV gambles, where the house keeps about 50%.

[Kimbell175113]

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numeracy = dental hygiene

the equivalent of a G or below at GCSE = they have some nasty

maths = teeth

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hahaha

[CrayZee]

But how can you have "negative numbers"? I can only have 0 or more lotto tickets. I can't have negative lotto tickets!

I'm taking this back to debate back to -100 A.D.