There were no calculators or devices. And the Calculater when it did arrive was prohibited in all exams. In my first saturday job in a shop, even the till did not add up.It all had to be done in your head or in my case, discreetly on a bit of paper.Ledgers had to be filled in by hand, added up by hand and yes' you could be shown how to use a lathe or a machine, but to do precision work with it you had to know how to measure, use a slide rule, and other measuring devices, check measure and check again, and work in both imperial and metric again converting in one's head.Even working in a Pub required numeracy. 37 1/2p for a half pint and someone would order 5 pints of Light and bitter and 3 halves of the same. I still can't add that lot up or pour it properly.A proper office typewriter was full of bits that required a degree of skills in both literacy and numeracy.
Raymond Havelock ● 1550d