numeracy
nounUK /ˈnjuːməɹəsi/
Etymology From numerate + -cy, from Latin numerus; coined with numerate in 1959 by the UK Committee on Education, presided over by Sir Geoffrey Crowther.
› Numerical skill.
1
Competence with mathematics and with how to apply it to practical applications; sufficient ability to think critically in a quantitative way.
- John Allen Paulos and others have asked our society to consider numeracy and innumeracy in a way closer to how we view literacy and illiteracy.
- Numeracy includes such things as comprehending intuitively that a mean can sometimes be vastly different from a median and thus does not always represent a typical specimen, even despite being called "average".
2
Ability to manipulate numbers at all, even for the simplest of arithmetic, such as adding two and two.
- The man lost all numeracy when he had a stroke, so he now depended on his wife for even the simplest financial matters, such as making change or paying a cashier.
- Related terms
- numerate, innumerate