One of the most vivid arithmetic failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than the Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W’s burger. And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cited these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it.
Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we failed. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were being overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same amount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at McDonald’s. The “4” in “¼,” larger than the “3” in “⅓,” led them astray.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/magazine/why-do-americans-stink-at-math.html
America: Failing 2nd grade math since the 1980s.
In fairness, the people they surveyed grew up breathing lead. I wonder if a modern audience would handle that test better
Nope. Failure rate would be the same.
I would think worse actually, fairly sure our literacy and numeracy scores are worse now than in the 80s.
Ah, ok, they peaked in 2012, been declining since, almost back down to 70s/80s levels.
This graoh only goes to 2022… and other sources have those scores continuing to fall.
And we also have TikTok destroying everyone’s attention spans and capacity to self regulate today.
Should have called it the 2/6 pounder.