How are your math skills? Back in school, mine were fine until 10th grade when I started paying more attention to the girl sitting next to me than to my homework. I stalled out in Geometry and never caught up.
And I guess I am not alone. Supposedly, Americans are at the bottom of developed world in math skills. And one study suggests that this deficit may be one cause of all the mortgage problems.
Americans who have trouble dividing 300 by 2 are much more likely to end up in foreclosure than consumers with average math skills, a new study has found. The research is among the first to directly link mortgage trouble and financial literacy, according to its authors. NBC Redtape Blog
Can’t divide 300 by 2? And here I was embarrassed because I never learned quadratic equations!
Anyway, these science nerds gave a test to various mortgage-holders. And their scores directly related to their ability to maintain a healthy credit score. Here’s the test:
- In a sale, a shop is selling all items at half price. Before the sale, a sofa costs $300. How much will it cost in the sale?
- If the chance of getting a disease is 10 per cent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease?
- A second-hand car dealer is selling a car for $6,000. This is two-thirds of what it cost new. How much did the car cost new?
- If 5 people all have the winning numbers in the lottery and the prize is $2 million, how much will each of them get?
- Let’s say you have $200 in a savings account. The account earns 10 percent interest per year. How much will you have in the account at the end of two years?
It’s alarming, but a LOT of people can’t solve these problems. Number 5 is the hardest. (answers below)
The takeaway is FINANCIAL LITERACY or, I suppose, NUMERACY. Learn your financial ABCs and don’t back yourself into a corner. So lean on your kids to do well in math, because there is always hope. I may have ended up as an English major, but that girl sitting next to me in 10th grade is now the head of the math department at an East Coast university!
Read the article – it’s really interesting. And happy Tuesday!
Answers: 1) $150 2) 100 3) $9,000 4) $400,000 5) $242 (compounded annually)
It is true about a lot of student that have a graduation and then the University , but you ask about a any question regarding math and the first thing they do is work with a calculator…..before we have to deal with our mind and resolve all without a calculator or a computer…thats is why part of the problen is not the childrens is the new way of learning …Now if you dont have a computer or a tablet…..you can`t resolve any kind a math….If you put most of then in a room and ask not to use any of thie method..they could`nt come with an answer….Thats is why the new products will do the work and they dont use the mind……Thank you and thats my opinion……Nilda..