President's column

摘要

Imagine a world without mathematics: there would be no mobile phones, no internet shopping, no CDs or DVDs, no DNA analysis, no climate modelling, no science. Mathematics is critical to modern life and it will be essential for formulating a response to the current economic crisis. These were the opening lines of my submission to The Australian on the dire state of mathematics education in Australia~1. In addition to this article headed 'A disturbing set of numbers~2, I have had a letter published in the Australian Financial Review, was interviewed for an article in the Sunday Telegraph and interviewed on ABC radio three times on World Mathematics Day.