Proof that MPs are morons. I hope George Osbourne got the question right though. If not the country is screwed!

That seems believable. Labour don't seem to understand that subtracting spending from revenue gives you a negative number, which isn't really ideal.

who gives a rats ass? seriously, I vote for them on policy not on whether they know algebra and shit.

The two seem like they might be related.

I mean... how can you understand economic policy if you can't understand Jr high level math.

The thing is, "one heads and one tails" are actually two different result: "Head - Tail" and "Tail - Head", so you have 4 possible outcomes: "Hea - Head", "Head - Tail", "Tail - Head", "Tail - Tail". Two of which involve one of each, so 2/4 = 1/2 is the chance of getting one of each out of an honest coin.

@sethnindendo

None of this really matters since they have no information o nthe coin (actually it's very likely that it was at least implied it was honest): It might be heavier on the tail side just as well as it might on the heads side, so all of these unkowns cancel each other.

meh, I imagine they understand enough, plus your point is somewhat irrelevant as there is no such thing as "jr high" in the UK :p

This clearly shows they don't understand near enough. Besides, not only wether there's something called "Jr. High" in England or not doesn't change math or what it's used for, I bet you most of what's learned in math courses in English schools is pretty much on par wioth other developed countries, names apart. Also, being math math, I doubt the order at which much of it is teached or perceived complexit of the matter at hand differs much either.

Math (and specially probability) can be extremely usefull in most of decision making (let alone when it comes down to things like economy). I understand that politicians can't all be math geniouses and that they have aides and, but a basic understanding would go quite a long way to actually understand what these people say, specially where there's controversy.

And, again, this is just ridiculously basic, and even worse than it seems at first look, since some of the ones who got it right may have it right for all the wrong reasons.

Maybe they simply didn't put much thought into the question because their minds are preoccupied with more important matters, such as economic policy.