royfellows said:
yes, and how many other people on here actually understand pounds shillings and pence
It always bemused me - we spent our childhood happily counting in number systems to base 4 (farthings), 8 (pints), 12 (pennies), 14 (lbs), 16 (ozs), 20 (shillings), 24 (hours), 60 (secs and mins) - then, when computers started appearing as something the average scientist might use, and they decided that we should be taught binary - three quarters of the class found themselves totally flummoxed. (Or decided it wasn't anything that would ever be remotely useful to them, so they switched off).
Even today, some people are adamant that maths isn't something they need, and yet we're all trying for example to make decisions based on info such as "eating X will double your chance of Nasty Disease A".