"Mathematical literacy" implies that a person is able to reason, analyze, formulate, and solve problems in a real-world setting. Mathematically literate individuals are informed citizens and intelligent consumers. They have the ability to interpret and analyze the vast amount of information they are inundated with daily in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. Children initially use math as a way to quantify and understand their world, but soon lose their belief that math is a sense-making experience. Teaching students to "mathematize" should be a primary goal of mathematics education. Problems should be grounded in the real world and the mathematical solutions should relate back to that context. When real-world applications are used in the mathematics classroom, student interest is piqued and they are motivated to learn.