"I have never used any of the maths I learnt at school. None of it was any use in the real world." How many times have you heard those feelings expressed?

But Britain's Education Secretary, David Blunkett, is now calling for schools to focus their attention on basic skills - like spelling and arithmetic. He wants an hour of maths taught in every school every day.

How much is seven times eight Mr Byers? (23")

And it seems that Mr Blunkett's call has not come a moment too soon. The desperate state of the nation's numeracy was graphically highlighted by the Minister for School Standards Stephen Byers. When asked on BBC radio, he claimed that eight sevens are in fact 54 and not, as is generally believed, 56.

However, despite the concern shown by the government some people - including some in the News Online team - say they never use what they were taught and have, in fact, forgotten it all anyway. In a world where we have calculators and computers to add up for us, should we be expected to duplicate the same functions? - what a waste of energy!

Is it a generational difference?

On the other hand, one of our staff says he never trusts the answers from a calculator. For him it is important to know he can solve the same problem in his head - if he needs to - rather than rely on a machine. Afterall, he argues, spell-checkers can't be relied on either.

Children in Britain are allowed to take calculators into their exams - as long as the calculators can not store information or draw graphs. But one of our team says it is precisely this reliance on technology that means Britain produces fewer and fewer engineers.

Is maths a basic tool for life? Or will some basic arithmetic do? Perhaps it's not necessary at all.

I don't trust a calculator unless I have done the sum in my head as well...
Bob Eggington, Richmond, Surrey

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