Although innumeracy is an unfamiliar term, this describes a very familiar condition. Although a lot of people are competent when it comes to Arithmetic, some are also not good in Algebra, Fractions, and other mathematical skills or problems. Innumeracy is like the mathematical counterpart of the term illiteracy. The people with this condition think that scientific notations are foreign language, they are uncomfortable with quantitative comparisons, and they are having a hard time in putting large numbers in the proper prospective. Those who suffer innumeracy admit to themselves and they only recognize a little impact this condition has to their lives.
It is the goal of Paulo to make sure that all Americans may have proper knowledge in the world of Arithmetic. Paulo wants to reach out to those people who are highly educated but are having innumeracy and let them realize that if this condition is left unnoticed or not given much concern, this may affect their lives as well as the people around them. He wants those people not to ignore the condition. It is is said that Mathematics is a very important tool in decision-making may it be for personal or political usage thus problems related to math must be properly solved.
Paulo points out a lot of negative consequences if mathematics is to be understood in faulty ways. One is, a person is prone to vulnerability to coincidences. Another effect is on the medical field where person only sees the practitioner’s success rates and will not consider the rate of success. Innumerates do not consider this angle in the medical field and they may tend to miss the significance of knowing the mentioned concept. With these, we can conclude that innumeracy must and should always be given importance. The specialists in these field must then act on he necessary things to do for this condition not to worsen. For if innumeracy is to be ignored, a lot of worse things can happen and may lead to problems which may already be hard to solve.
