In a space opera setting where FTL travel is widespread, what level of math proficiency should normal people possess?

In a space opera setting where FTL travel is widespread, what level of math proficiency should normal people possess?

No more than most today's people?
Basic operations and a few other stuff?
I mean, cars are widespread but not one one in ten people can tell you exactly how they work, with all the math and stuff.

Space Opera is all about not sweating the finer details of 'how' while playing around with the 'what's going on'. The normal people don't need a lot of math, since they've clearly got robots and computers to do that for them.

sinx-cosx+24x+C

Pretty much this. It's implicit that the characters know how all this shit works, but the technical details are not important and can be abstracted for play.

Whoops *-24x

In a modern setting where multiple relativity-accounting satellites permit near-instantaneous communication in addition to a widespread information network, what level of math proficiency should normal people possess?

We have computers and worldwide logistics these days but the average person still doesn't need to know much more than how to balance income and expenses which hasn't changed in quite a while.

>"war. war never changes"
Assuming humanity is basically unchanged is a big part of space opera.

If you were playing a transhumanist game then I'd say half the population does calculus subconsciously, and the other half relies on their neural-linked phone to add any number larger than 10.

>which hasnt changed in quite a while
are you daft? the past 100-150 years have shown a sharp increase in the average iq of people, and its still on the rise.

Iq doesn't rise, the average is and always will be 100.

The actual definition of IQ is that 100 is "average for the population"

Remember.
Robots automate various things.
So the average person could perhaps know less than today's mathematics. From today's society at least.
So the real question is, how much would have society changed in the time of where FTL has been achieved, and would people value knowledge much more in this society?

Not much different from today. Your NAV computer will calculate and engage any route planning. If it or your warp drive break, you send out an FTL emergency pron probe to call SAAA (Space AAA)

the system might adjust to accommodate to for the rising iq, does not mean that iq is not on the rise.

No, it really does mean it's not on the rise.
It means that an IQ of 100 today might come out as an IQ of 120 a century ago, and as an 80 a century from now, but the average will still be 100.

A lot of what an IQ test tests for isn't based on education. There's a lot of pattern recognition and abstract thinking involved, stuff that doesn't change much over time.

A score of 100 today would only be a little higher than 100 a century ago, and a little lower a century from now.

Future is all about genetic engineering and cybernetics. There will be radical changes in the following centuries. The age of the baseline human will soon be over.

flynn effect, baby

about tree fiddy

Could be anything. Education systems are a political football - some groups will want to teach propaganda, some groups will want to teach different propaganda, some groups will believe in the inherit virtues of specific fields of study and teach those (also teaching that worldview), some groups just want to make the system depend on their corporate buddies. Which one has been in power recently and for how long determines what you can expect people to know.

We live in an age where most activities require computers and most people can't program.

These guys are right but don't even mention the far greater problem. IQ doesn't measure discrete math skills. IQ tests don't have to include numerical tests, and almost never have anything more complicated that fairly basic addition. IQ, when it comes to math, only really has to do with the spatial reasoning and pattern recognition. Numerical skills aren't a necessary part of IQ

Highschool to college level math, but most of it is lost when they leave academia and go into the real world, where they will become specialized in whatever mathematics are required for their chosen profession. Just like Real Life.

A ship's cook is probably not going to bother with much calculus. They will follow their recipes, service and maintain their equipment, and regulate the caloric intake of their crew.

A merchant could probably rough out interest rates in their head, or if they are really good, estimate the exact point where a expedition would become profitable.

A mercenary doesn't need much more than basic multiplication and division, and probably does trajectories (for indirect fire) "by feel" much, much quicker than by estimating local gravitational values and plugging numbers into a formula. Or he lets his gun's onboard AI calculate it for him.

Your dashing rogue space opera captain might be able to calculate the necessary gravitic effects on an immediate hyperdrive jump, but stare blankly at the bill in the cantina while trying to calculate a 15% tip.

Real Life makes us all specialists.

The way average of 100 is achieved can change by having drastically more geniuses and retards than average Joes