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A fifth of adults are so bad at math that they struggle to perform basic mental arithmetic, a survey has revealed. More than a third can only manage sums that total less than 100 and have to use a calculator for anything larger. One in 50 people were stumped by adding or subtracting in their head if the total was more than ten. And one in three parents believed their children’s ability exceeded their own. …

Imagine you're a trader. You're on the trading floor, trying to price out if a 15-year bond issued by General Electric will generate the returns needed to placate your investors. Bad news, your calculator is dead and the trader from Cantor Fitzgerald is readying to signal his buy. What to do? Well, if all you need to do is double the investment in five-years, you're in luck. That's probably not the case, and maybe GE isn't issuing 15-year debt. But we compiled a list of eleven math tricks that might just come in handy at various times in life. If...

America's downfall doesn't begin with the "low-information voter." It starts with the no-knowledge student. For decades, collectivist agitators in our schools have chipped away at academic excellence in the name of fairness, diversity and social justice. "Progressive" reformers denounced Western civilization requirements, the Founding Fathers and the Great Books as racist. They attacked traditional grammar classes as irrelevant in modern life. They deemed ability grouping of students (tracking) bad for self-esteem. They replaced time-tested rote techniques and standard algorithms with fuzzy math, inventive spelling and multicultural claptrap. Under President Obama, these top-down mal-formers -- empowered by Washington education bureaucrats...

... After fifth grade, he found, student assessment becomes a matter of “a teacher’s subjective assessment of the student’s performance,” and is further removed from the guidance of objective test results. Teachers, he says, tend to assess students on non-cognitive, “socio-emotional skills.” This has had a significant impact on boys’ later achievement because, while objective test scores are important, it is teacher-assigned grades that determine a child’s future with class placement, high school graduation and college admissibility. Eliminating the factor of “non-cognitive skills…almost eliminates the estimated gender gap in reading grades,” Cornwell found. He said he found it “surprising” that...

President Obama often boils down the issues around his plan to raise income taxes by saying it's all about the "math," a subject he doesn't seem to know much about. No doubt the White House would argue the point, but the uncomfortable fact remains that after four years in office, the unemployment rate remains painfully high and economic growth is slowing down. Clearly, the president's math isn't working well, and neither are 23 million Americans who want full-time jobs. But even a cursory analysis of the mathematical issues at the center of the battle over the "fiscal cliff" raises some...

California students who fail algebra and repeat the course are pretty much doomed to fail again, a vicious cycle that wastes limited resources and precious learning time, according to a report released Friday. Just over a third of students in the 24 school districts studied had to repeat Algebra I either in ninth or 10th grade, yet even after a second year of study, relatively few were proficient in the subject. Of those who took the class in eighth grade and repeated it as freshmen, just 1 in 5 scored at a proficient level on standardized tests. And of those...

Fact is, it doesn’t matter. Not one bit. And I’ll show you mathematically: 1) When the US federal government spends money, expenses are officially categorized in three different ways. Discretionary spending includes nearly everything we think of related to government– the US military, Air Force One, the Department of Homeland Security, TSA agents who sexually assault passengers, etc. Mandatory spending includes entitlements like Medicare, Social Security, VA benefits, etc. which are REQUIRED by law to be paid. The final category is interest on the debt. It is non-negotiable. Mandatory spending and debt interest go out the door automatically. It’s like...

. . . That said, there are some things to look at that can perhaps help you sleep tonight. I. Michael Barone There’s not a lot of people smarter about American politics than Michael Barone; he’s worked for both parties over the years, he’s made a life study out of American politics. And he’s been saying for weeks that he thinks Romney will win. He said it today, again. Bottom line: Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election. II. Today’s Washington Post In a story today...

President Obama’s admission to talk show host Jay Leno that “my math expertise tops out at the 7th grade level” isn’t a handicap as Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod sees it. “Some are going to jump to the conclusion that a person like Mitt Romney with his financial experience in multimillion dollar business investments would be a better person to manage the government in a time of fiscal crisis,” Axelrod said. “But we don’t agree.” “We think the vast majority of voters will identify with the president’s aversion to math,” Axelrod pointed out. “Most people find math to be hard...

JAY LENO: When you help your daughters with their homework, is there a subject you struggle with? PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, the math stuff I was fine with up until 7th grade. But Malia is now a freshman in High School and I'm pretty lost. It's tough. Fortunately, they are great students on their own. And if something doesn't work I'll call over to the Department of Energy to see if they have a physicist to come over!

CNN: Not Only Is Obama's Plan Old But It Doesn't Add Up

'I try to forget I had a good life," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson wistfully quips about his career before being elected in 2010—or as good a life as could be had running a business in the midst of an unrelenting regulatory and rhetorical assault from Washington. Mr. Johnson jumped into the fire two years ago when he toppled progressive Democrat Russ Feingold in one of the year's marquee Senate races. He met with Journal editors this week to discuss what he has learned during his first two years in office and what he hopes to accomplish in the next four....

I understand that we are more than $16 Trillion in debt and unemployment has been above eight percent for 43 straight months, but education reform is a moral imperative that cannot wait: We have a crisis in our schools. This is not a new revelation, but it needs to be stated regardless, particularly at the start of another academic year and at a time when America is struggling to compete in the very fields — math, science, technology — that are defining the global economy. Consider that U.S. high school students graduate with just a 32 percent proficiency rate in...

A team of scientists has developed an algorithm that can identify the source of an epidemic or information circulating within a network, a method that also could be used to help with criminal investigations. Investigators are well aware of how difficult it is to trace an unlawful act to its source. The job was arguably easier with old, Mafia-style criminal organizations, as their hierarchical structures more or less resembled predictable family trees. In the Internet age, however, the networks used by organized criminals have changed. Innumerable nodes and connections escalate the complexity of these networks, making it ever more...

America has a math problem. We've had a math problem for at least fifty years - since the Soviets launched Sputnik, if not before. Our high school students have trouble competing with those raised in considerably poorer nations, and we aren't producing enough talented scientists and engineers to ensure our nation a leadership position in the twenty-first century knowledge economy. If you think about it the right way, that's not just one math problem - it's two. You might think of improving math skills of both "average" students and the nation's top students as two birds that could be killed...

I came across this video which compares the traditional methods of teaching multiplication and division to the new methods. The new methods are deliberately dumbed down, the textbooks claim it’s a waste of time for students to try to master math concepts, and use of calculators is heavily encouraged. The narrator concludes by telling parents that they should ignore these new methods, and instead, use the math textbooks that are currently being used in Singapore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI

Getting rid of algebra and beyond in our public schools is equivalent to an average American failing algebra because they just didn’t care. If we throw in the towel instead of emphasizing the fact that hard work and self-responsibility aren’t essential qualities in a person, what kind of example are we setting? Furthermore, how can we truly prepare students to go into the workforce if they think they can just drop out of something too difficult instead of putting in the hours and hours of work that is required?? It doesn’t make sense.

A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t. My question extends beyond algebra and applies more broadly to the usual mathematics sequence, from geometry through calculus. State regents and legislators — and much of the public — take it as self-evident that every young person should be made to master polynomial functions and parametric...

It was a 1992 Barbie doll who accurately reminded us, “Math class is tough!” So hard that even a man with two Ivy League degrees, President Obama, is stumbling over the basics. The president seems to think that women can hold half the places in some fields of study — and a majority in the rest.

Edward Yacuta felt rushed and nervous when he took a test to determine whether he was ready for college-level English classes at Long Beach City College. The 18-year-old did poorly on the exam, even though he was getting good grades in an Advanced Placement English class at Long Beach's Robert A. Millikan High School. Most community colleges would assign students like Yacuta to a remedial class, but he will avoid that fate at Long Beach. The two-year school is trying out a new system this fall that will place students who graduated from the city's high schools in courses based...