Recent letter shows how math skills are essential The letter by Gaeton Lion published on July 6 is a great example of the importance of math education. Lion starts with information taken from an article about gaps in access for an obesity drug. With a bit of arithmetic — not even algebra — Lion showed that the cost of supplying this drug to everyone is larger than the entire cost of Medicare.
Lion concluded that these gaps in access are unavoidable. This is a perfect example of why we teach people math. So often, you have all the information you need, but there’s some rephrasing that gives you a better understanding.
You know the drug costs $1,000 per month; you want to know how much it costs to supply America. Sure, this isn’t the most beautiful side of math. It isn’t why I enjoy it.
But it’s what makes math an essential skill, rather than an optional art. So a successful math education should teach people how to do this sort of calculation. This means unit conversions, fast approximate calculations and facility with large numbers.
More importantly, it means the ability to recognize when there’s something to calculate, and the confidence to do so. — Ryan Tavenner, Novato MC field lights plan should be reconsidered In his letter published July 6, Ron Arlas implied that neighbors should be OK with proposed field lights at Marin Catholic High School because the nearby MarinHealth Medical Center uses very bright lights 24/7, 365 days a year. I think this is a lud.
