Do the math.When it comes to the math skills of 15-year-olds, Finland tops the charts. Who's number two? Korea. Canada comes in third. Does the U.S. make the top 10? No. The top 20? Guess again. The top 30? Well, yes--just barely. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a recent survey by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA Pisa (pē`sä), city (1991 pop. 98,928), capital of Pisa prov., Tuscany, N central Italy, on the Arno River. It is now c.6 mi (9.7 km) from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which once reached the city. ), U.S. 15-year-olds rank 28th out of 41 countries in mathematics savvy. PISA looked at students' ability to perform four different types of math skills: quantity (as in arithmetic), space and shape (as in geometry), change and relationships (as in algebra algebra, branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as ), and uncertainty (as in statistics and probability). Among other countries ahead of the U.S. are the Netherlands (#5), Japan (#8), and the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. (#15). Some of the countries below us are Portugal (#29), Serbia (#33), and Indonesia (#40). Does it matter? Even with relatively low math scores, the U.S. is a titan when it comes to economic and technological power. Those fields require number knowledge, but calculators and computers can do all the brainwork brain·work n. Intellectual activity, especially as an aspect of a person's profession. faster and more easily than humans. We seem to have enough brainiacs to program and fine-tune the high-tech tools we depend on--for now. But do the math: If we are to stay ahead of the pack, we'll need a new crop of math wizards to invent the next generation of must-have technology. Are you up to the challenge? |
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