hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) (05/05/91)
In article <11053@hub.ucsb.edu>, doner@henri.ucsb.edu (John Doner) writes: .................. > In the hallway after the trial, we chatted with the lawyers. One > said, "You USED the table? I don't understand that; the JUDGE doesn't > understand it. You're the first jury I've had that used it." > > There's a communication gap between the mathematically inclined and > others. Abstract concepts which seem trivially simple to us may be > obscure to the average person. So don't give up too easily when you > need to explain some mathematical idea. This illustrates what is wrong with our presentation of mathematics. As John Doner pointed out, in this case he taught the other jurors the concepts involved without teaching them how to calculate. The same could be done for the lawyers, the judge, and most of the general public. It is the understanding of the concepts which is mathematical literacy. Doing manipulations has no more importance for this than penmanship or typing has to do with literacy in English or some other language. -- Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399 Phone: (317)494-6054 hrubin@l.cc.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet) {purdue,pur-ee}!l.cc!hrubin(UUCP)