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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Paulos believes that elementary schools lack ______ in their curriculum?

2. What is a student's last chance to learn math?

3. Paulos was encouraged to learn math because ____.

4. Many people assume that cashiers can calculate ________.

5. What do people often use to rationalize things?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is used as Paulos' example of educated innumerates? What is the person known for in the scientific world?

2. What is most frequently taught in elementary school math classes?

3. What is the discussion regarding the number of certainties involved in math?

4. In what areas of one's life is estimation important?

5. Explain Paulos' example about Ronald Regan and the incorrect use of substitution values.

6. How common is innumeracy? What is the opinion of the general population regarding the subject?

7. What are the most obvious causes of innumeracy?

8. If algorithms are taught in elementary school, why is it difficult for students to learn and use them?

9. What other fallacies were contributed by Freud?

10. What is the author's opinion of the most common example of innumeracy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Name at least five major or famous examples of probabilities and coincidences such as the Lincoln/Kennedy connection and the Columbus/Fermi correlation. Explain each in a coincidental sense and a probability sense.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the principles covered in chapter one. Outline and give examples of each. Which do you feel is the most important? Why?

Give at least three examples of the principle as it might apply to your daily life. How would you arrive at the answer? How could you determine if the answer was correct? Are there any other correlating principles that might help you to determine the answer?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Paulos' definition of "Extreme Intellectual Lethargy." What is it? How is it described? Do you or anyone you know suffer from EIL? Explain. What are the symptoms? Are there any remedies for EIL? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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