Weekly Word: Innumerate
Innumerate means “unfamiliar with mathematical concepts and methods” — in other words, innumeracy is another way of saying “numerical illiteracy”.
I never knew there was a word for it, but I’m definitely familiar with the concept. Even though I’m technically a math major, I’m still innumerate when it comes to leaving a tip! Funny how you can be good at calculus without being able to do simple arithmetic.
The opposite of innumeracy is numeracy (short for “numerical literacy”). According to Wikipedia, those two terms were coined by two different people, thirty years apart.
July 29th, 2008
Hi Liz,
Actually there is a very good book titled Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences by John Allen Paulos. Quite intriguing.
July 30th, 2008
Yeah, I looked at the Wikipedia article again and that’s exactly how the word innumeracy was coined — by that guy! I’ll add the book to my “get around to it” list.
Thanks for pointing that out.