He added that he wanted to see a greater emphasis on logical and mathematical thinking, and that he would like to see algebraic concepts and the beginnings of probability introduced and developed throughout the primary school.

BBC: Primary maths plan threatens 'too much too soon'

Steven Hillion is vice president of analytics at EMC Greenplum, and has led engineering at firms such as Siebel, KANA and QRS. His educational background includes a major in number theory at the University of California, Berkeley, which got him thinking about moving software engineering closer toward mathematical applications.

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