re: #294 LudwigVanQuixote

I think the world would be better if people actually knew algebra and rather than seeing it as something to get defensive about not knowing, would see it with shame shame as not being able to read.

I’d be tickled if more people actually knew arithmetic. For instance, is it really possible that NASA spends 24% of the federal budget, or a Hellfire missile costs $2 million, or 400 ppm CO2 is just some kind of incomprehensible jargon, or 95% of welfare recipients are black? Plenty of people think so and it can only be because they do not grasp some very basic facts about quantities, dimensions, and numbers themselves.