> Surely in 2017 the average person would know what an algorithm is, outside of any tv show. Right? No. It doesn't take much effort to reach the top, say, 10%

> Surely in 2017 the average person would know what an algorithm is, outside of any tv show. Right? No. It doesn't take much effort to reach the top, say, 10% of the population for knowledge or ability in most areas. For people in the top percent or so that initial, easy set of knowledge or skills are so trivial and were learned so long ago that it's easy for them to assume everyone knows or can do those things, but in fact it's just a small fraction of the population—most people having devoted nearly zero time to any given thing, or having done so only very long ago and with little interest and since having spent no effort retaining whatever capability they did once have. Basically if it's not part of the set of things most people have to know/do to get by, day to day (so, most math past ~6th grade is excluded) and you know/can-do it at all, you're better at it than most people.