numeracy

Noun

numeracy (countable and uncountable, plural numeracies)

1. Competence with mathematics and with how to apply it to practical applications; sufficient ability to think critically in a quantitative way.
   • John Allen Paulos and others have asked our society to consider numeracy and innumeracy in a way closer to how we view literacy and illiteracy.
   • Numeracy includes such things as comprehending intuitively that a mean can sometimes be vastly different from a median and thus does not always represent a typical specimen, even despite being called "average".

   Antonyms:

   innumeracy, dyscalculia

2. Ability to manipulate numbers at all, even for the simplest of arithmetic, such as adding two and two.
   • The man lost all numeracy when he had a stroke, so he now depended on his wife for even the simplest financial matters, such as making change or paying a cashier.

   Antonyms:

   innumeracy, dyscalculia