John Allen Paulos is a professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia who has gained fame as a writer and speaker, usually on the topic of public ignorance about mathematics. He also has a great interest in newspapers, having served for two years on the editorial board of the Philadelphia Daily News, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is currently a columnist for ABCNews.com. Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that began publishing on March 31, 1925, under founding editor Lee Ellmaker. ... The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of the most prestigious schools of journalism in the United States. ...
Bibliography
A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market (2003)
Once Upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories (1998)
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)
Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man (1991)
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1989)
I Think Therefore I Laugh: The Flip Side of Philosophy (1985)
Mathematics & Humor (1980)
Mathsemantics: making numbers talk sense by Edward MacNeal, (1994, 1995 Penguin paperback). A valuable discussion -- influenced by MacNeal's study of General Semantics -- complementary to Paulos's books.
There is also a Kalamata in the Democratic Republic of Congo, see Kalamata, Democratic Republic of Congo Kalamata (Greek, Modern: Καλαμάτα, Ancient/Katharevousa: -ai), older forms: Kalamai is a city in southern Greece, on the Peloponnesos, by the Mediterranean. ... Peloponnesos (Greek: Πελοπόννησος, sometime Latinized as Peloponnesus or Anglicized as The Peloponnese) is a large peninsula in Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Isthmus of Corinth. ...
Paulos is right in his outrage: innumeracy -- like illiteracy -- is unacceptable, and the cost to society (in bad decisions made on the basis of bad and misunderstood maths) far too great.
Paulos did get himself a gig at ABCNews.com clearing things up, and there are a few watchdogs and debunkers out there (generally ranting and raving very much at the periphery), but a more realistic solution lies in decreasing mass-innumeracy itself.
Paulos does consider both the causes and the possible ways to decrease the prevalence of innumeracy, but his discussion and suggestions are necessarily barely elaborated on (he has a lot to get to in this short book).
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