Math Watch

See also: teaching-mathematics

Idea of encouraging student engagement in mathematics by identifying common misuses of mathematics in the general media and other daily practices. Original idea rose out of a unit plan I developed during my Grad Dip. Inspired by the [ABC Australia TV show Media Watch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Watch_(TV_program) but with a focus on examining the use of mathematics in "real life".

Similar:

• Math Arguments

Examples

• Exponential Growth

"it went from zero dollars spent [...] to billions of dollars spent now, a truly exponential growth" No. You can't go anywhere from zero in an exponential fashion. Exponential growth from zero will be just.... zero. For ever.

• Australia's wealthiest 20% worth 90 times the country's poorest, new report reveals

  Newspaper article reporting on a report from ACOSS and UNSW. Finding that "income inequality has remained relatively steady, wealth inequality has increased over the past 20 years". Researchers then offer some solutions to this. Bits of the data are described

  • The wealthiest 20% on average are worth $3.2m (2019) (6 times the middle, 9 0 times the lowest 20%)
  • Middle 20% on average $588,000
  • Wealthiest 5% on average $6.7m - holding ⅓ the country's wealth
  • Wealthiest 20% hold 82% of all investment property and 78% of all shares/financial investments

  And causes suggested

  • Most wealth in property