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Couples with math skills have more wealth by middle age

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by

mwkruse
in , ,

Post-Gazette.com: Couples with math skills have more wealth by middle age (HT: Gruntled Center)

If you're OK in math, you're more likely to be well off.

That's the conclusion of a study by think tank Rand Corp., which found that couples who scored well on a short test of math skills accumulated more wealth by middle age than couples who scored poorly.

Researchers found that when both spouses correctly answered three math questions, family wealth averaged $1.7 million. That compared with $200,000 for households where neither spouse answered any question correctly.

Household wealth increased sharply as scores of either the husband or wife rose, the study said. …

So what were the three questions?

1. If the chance of getting a disease is 10 percent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease?
2. If five people all have the winning numbers in the lottery, and the prize is $2 million, how much will each of them get?
3. Let's say you have $200 in a savings account. The account earns 10 percent interest per year. How much would you have in the account at the end of two years?

My takeaway is that you should do what I did and marry an engineer. 😉 But seriously, is it social injustice that people who handle math better should become wealthier?
 

Comments

One response to “Couples with math skills have more wealth by middle age”

  1. Richard H Avatar
    Richard H

    “But seriously, is it social injustice that people who handle math better should become wealthier?”
    Since our society has instituted special taxes on people who don’t understand math (lotteries), society as an aggregate doesn’t seem to think so.

    Reply

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