Before delving into the concept of numeracy, consider its counterpart, “innumeracy”. What does that term bring to mind? The American mathematician John Allen Paulos (1988) defines innumeracy as “an inability to deal comfortably with the fundamental notions of numbers and chance.” If someone is “innumerate”, then, what is it that she/he can not do? Write cheques? Calculate tips? Interpret statistics in the news? Calculate a batting average? Measure the floor area of a room? These activities, and so many others encountered in dayto- day living, involve the ability to “deal comfortably” with numbers and their applications.

If one agrees that being “innumerate” implies an inability to deal with quantitative situations arising in everyday life, then being numerate must logically imply a level of competence in dealing with just such situations. Numerate individuals possess a level of comfort with and understanding of numbers and computation which enables them to deal effectively with common quantitative situations related to everyday life.

Now, if that seems to be a cumbersome description of numeracy, consider the 1959 definition of numeracy in the United Kingdom’s Crowther Report:

[Numeracy involves] an understanding of the scientific approach to the study of phenomena – observation, hypothesis, experiment, verification … the need in the modern world to think quantitatively, to realise how far our problems are problems of degree even when they appear as problems of kind.

Fortunately, the definition(s) of numeracy have become more clearly defined since 1959.