What kind of math skills are you talking about that people lack that causes them to not have any money?
One of my in-laws bought a house in the suburbs. She kept her low-wage job downtown, despite pay being average for her vocation, and she could easily get a job closer to her new home.
So now she has a long commute, and decided to get a petrol car.
Despite knowing very well that petrol is taxed heavily and electricity is cheap here in Norway, petrol cars have significantly higher road tax and congestion charge than EVs here. The distance she needs to commute is well within what even a first-gen Leaf could do during winter, so she had plenty of EV options.
She also knew the job had no parking for employees, so she has to park at a public parking facility, which downtown costs a fortune.
Basic math skills shows that between the petrol, the road tax and congestion charge and the parking, that car is costing her half her daily paycheck each time she goes to work.
Didn't take long after she got the car till she started complaining she was "broke each month".
That doesn't mean you won't be rich. It's just some of the lowest hanging fruit are not an option.
I remember a rich man interviewed on TV who said he got his start making money in high school by running gambling games. He understood statistics while the other kids did not, and although the game was fair, he cleaned up regularly.
Take a walk through a Vegas casino, and you'll see legions of people who do not understand statistics and pay a heavy price for that.
At the risk of stating the obvious, and not adding to the conversation, I think we all know that people putting their life savings into slot machines aren't doing so because they don't understand expected value. They may or may not understand that they are going to lose all their money, but they are gambling because they are addicted/have some kind of mental health problem. Knowledge of statistics doesn't really affect things for problem gambling.
As for those putting modest amounts of money into gambling, most of them will tell you that card games/etc. are fun, and are therefore worth it.
Watch people at the slots. Do they look like they're having fun? Not to me.
Personally, I've gambled a few times. Lost money. I don't like losing money, it is not entertaining to me in the slightest.
Tell me about people who play the lottery, picking their "lucky numbers". It's sad.
Or are these "systems" for slots?
The original thread was about how statistics education will not cause people of gambling. Of course people almost always lose money gambling, except for very rare exceptions, but that doesn't really have anything to do with my point that people spending meaningful amounts of money on gambling are addicted. Addicts aren't going to just tell you that they gamble, because they are addicted(maybe some will but not in general).
> Personally, I've gambled a few times. Lost money. I don't like losing money, it is not entertaining to me in the slightest.
Some people could probably say the same thing about video games, but nobody disputes that some people enjoy video games.
We also don't teach car repair, or hunting, or sewing, or cooking much anymore either, not because we don't need those things but because those high-friction tasks have been highly optimized to the point of being background noise.
(commenting on the internet can be fun you know ;-) )
That or everyone else is an idiot, but I've found that mindset is only good for feeling smug about yourself and underestimating people, so let's assume it's not that and try to find something else.