ABSTRACT
It is important for managing readers lives, the daily actions of individuals, communities, corporations and governments. Mathematics has evolved in many contexts; it has been and will continue to be a tool for the solution of human problems. Few people realise that most of the mathematics taught up to age 16 in England and Wales was developed by other cultures and not brought into Western Europe until the late 15th century. Probability and statistical techniques began as rules of inheritance in Jewish and Arabic legal practices, while Mediaeval Arab scholars completed most of advanced school trigonometry. Teaching mathematics requires attention to the quality of pedagogy and to student engagement. Engagement in mathematics is necessary to go beyond procedure following, by making connections with concepts in active discussions. Mathematics has arisen wherever people have begun to settle and organise production of food, measuring land, building storage facilities, irrigating fields and so on.
