John Allen Paulos (born July 4, 1945) is a professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia who has gained fame as a writer and speaker on mathematics and the importance of mathematical literacy. His book Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988) was an influential bestseller and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995) extended the critique.
He has also written on other subjects, such as the mathematical and philosophical basis of humor in Mathematics and Humor and I Think, Therefore I Laugh, the vagaries of the stock market in A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, quantitative aspects of narrative in Once Upon a Number, and the emptiness of the arguments for God in Irreligion.
Paulos wrote a mathematics-tinged column for the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom, and "Who's Counting" — his long-running monthly column on ABCNews.com — deals with mathematical aspects of stories in the news as well.