Mathematical Digest
Short Summaries of Articles about Mathematics
in the Popular Press
"Arithmetic and the Candidates," by John Allen Paulos. abcnews.com, 4 January 2004.
In this piece, subtitled "Shouldn't Every President Know Math? A List ofProposed Quiz Questions," Paulos advocates that debate moderators apply "let nocandidate be left behind" by asking a politically neutral question involvingsome thought and calculation. Paulos then puts forth 10 questions regardingpopulation, percentages, the Electoral College, approximation, medians,fractions of a budget, pollsters, for instance. He provides the answers in thecolumn.
--- Annette Emerson
