Letter: How to demystify mathematics

Thursday 25 August 1994 23:02 BST

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Sir: Alison Wolf bemoans the fact that students in England are able to avoid continued study of maths beyond the age of 16, unlike in many other industrialised countries and advocates that all students be required to continue maths beyond 16. Most people only need a certain amount of elementary arithmetic in their everyday adult lives, not mathematical theory as such. True, this country probably does need more scientists and engineers, but not everybody can be a scientist or engineer. So why insist on maths for everyone throughout their school career?

HOWARD SIMMONS

Grays, Essex

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Letter: How to demystify mathematics

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