Why (In)numeracy Matters

Technology has buried us in an avalanche of numbers and graphs and charts, many of which claim to present the truth about important issues. At the same time, our personal facility with numbers has diminished, leaving us at the mercy of quantitative reasoning and presentation that is often wrong and sometimes not disinterested. Numeracy is basic numeric self-defense: how to assess the numbers presented by other people, and how to produce sensible numbers of one's own.

 

Although this Professor is NOT a Saints graduate, his very important talk is useful for students everywhere as well as the general public. Go to http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2011/02/kernighan and start the video.