Math is Precise, Period, vs. Math is Precise, Strings Attached

About the Book

This book is the outcome of my conclusion that current mathematics education, taken in total, is a disaster and that by sharing my experience and thoughts about teaching mathematics I might be helpful to colleagues, students, and others who are concerned about mathematics education to mitigate this state of affairs.

Mathematics education disaster in what sense? No, it’s not in the sense that I believe insuffi cient attention is being given to number fundamentals. It has to do with the almost unanimously held erroneous view about the nature, precision, and infallibility of mathematics that we acquire from the current state of mathematics education.

Current mathematics education does not prepare us for life in the 21st century, which requires an understanding of the mathematical modeling perspective, of what mathematics can do and its limitations, and an appreciation of the questions that should be considered to help us distinguish numbers that inform from those that deceive.

If the wizards of Wall Street had a 21st century mathematics education, there is a good chance that they would not have put unquestioning faith in their value at risk math models and the fi nancial meltdown of 2008-09 would have been avoided, or at least softened. If the nation’s decision makers and the public at large were better educated about what questions to give thought to when numbers continually hurled at them are the basis for decision making, they would be less vulnerable to accepting faulty numbers and all of us would be less at risk to the consequences of bad decision making.

About the Author

William J. Adams, Professor of Mathematics at Pace University, is a recipient of Pace’s Outstanding Teacher Award. He was Chairman of the Pace N.Y. Mathematics Department from 1976 through 1991. Professor Adams is author or co-author of over twenty books on mathematics, its applications, and history, including Elements of Linear Programming (1969), Calculus for Business and Social Science (1975), Fundamentals of Mathematics for Business, Social and Life Sciences (1979), Elements of Complex Analysis (1987), Get a Grip on Your Math (1996), Slippery Math in Public Affairs: Price Tag and Defense (2002) and Think First, Apply MATH, Think Further: Food for Thought (2005), The Life and Times of the Central Limit Theorem Second Edition(2009). His concern with the slippery side of math and what math can do for us and its limitations is a prominent feature of his writings on applications. Concerning higher education in general, he is the author of The Nifty-Gritty in the Life of a University (2007).