An important commonality in the above descriptions of numeracy is the presence of mathematical elements in real situations, and the notion that these can be used or addressed by a person in a goal-oriented way, dependent on the needs and interests of the individual within the given context (home, community, workplace, etc.), as well as on his or her dispositions. Our earlier discussions further imply that numeracy involves more than just arithmetical skills as assessed in IALS, but extend to possession of number sense, estimation skills, measurement, and to multiple ways of responding flexibly to a mathematical situation. Finally, given the extent to which numeracy pervades the modern world, it is not necessarily just commonly encountered situations that require numerate behavior, but also new situations.

With the above in mind, a brief definition of numeracy proposed for the ALL is:

Numeracy: The knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and respond to the mathematical demands of diverse situations.

This brief definition of numeracy, and the fuller definition of "numerate behavior" provided in the next subsection, are much broader than the definition of QL as used in the IALS (see section 1.5). Its key concepts relate in a broad way to situation management and to a range of effective responses (not only to application of arithmetical skills). It refers to a wide range of skills and knowledge (not only to computational operations) and to a wide range of situations that present actors with mathematical information of different types (not only those involving numbers embedded in printed materials).

The brief definition above implies that numerate individuals are those who respond autonomously to situations in which mathematical ideas are embedded, actively using the power of mathematics rather than delegating or ignoring quantitative issues. However, a broad, inclusive definition alone is not enough to fully describe what a numerate person can do. The next section elaborates on specific facets of numerate behavior that underlie the general terms used in the above definition. These facets provide the detail necessary to develop an assessment tool to evaluate numeracy in adult populations.