ABSTRACT

Mathematics, the science of space and number, plays a great role in the development of an individual, society and nation. To Sidhu (1995) a common man can get on sometimes ‘very’ well without learning how to read and write, but he can never pull on without learning how to count and calculate. Any person ignorant of mathematics will be at the mercy of others and will be easily cheated. A person may belong either to the lowest or highest class of society, but he utilizes knowledge of mathematics in one form or the other. Going beyond speaking of an engineer, a business man, an industrialist or a banker whose use of mathematics is glaring, a laborer has to calculate his wages, make purchases from the market, and adjust the expenditure of his income. Most individuals’ and group projects in life fail for want of sense of calculation. A person who can calculate, estimate and approximate properly can anticipate all the possible handicaps to be faced in a project and thus can adopt precautionary measures to avoid possible failures and loses. According to Osafehinti (1990) the influence of mathematics to the individual in his daily undertaking is so enormous that the knowledge of mathematics is indispensible tool for a successful and balanced human existence on this planet. This is in agreement with the views of UNESCO in Odili (2006) on the importance of mathematics. UNESCO maintained that “lack of arithmetical literacy, that is, skill and understanding of the fundamental operations with whole and rational numbers in decimal notations, on the part of millions of inhabitants of our planet shows either a lack of school or failure in instruction at elementary level. Because of the importance of this knowledge in every facet of life, it goes without question that the acquisition of skill and understanding of arithmetical computation and its application to the solution of everyday problems is still the primary objective of elementary school mathematics”.