Mastering the Basics

What does it mean to be good at mathematics?

Well, it must include a comfort and fluency in the language of numbers: good numerical literacy, or numeracy.

I am terrible at mental mathematics. I’m a slow thinker; I like to let a problem sit in my subconscious for a good few days. The type of fast thinking that makes someone good at mental calculation escapes me.

Imagine approaching a large door. On the other side of the door, you hear chatter that grows louder and more frantic as you get closer. You open the door, and hear people yelling numbers to and fro, communicating batches of small and large numbers from one end of the floor to another. To understand what is happening in this room would require a high level of numeracy.

Numeracy is having the confidence to use basic maths at work and in everyday life.

https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/what-numeracy

What we want is mastery of the very basics, which will prove to be invaluable in our everyday lives.

Without numerical fluency, in the part of life most of us inhibit, you are like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

Charles T. Munger, Poor Charlie’s Almanack

Onwards and Upwards!