Comment The world is not flat (Score 1) 1010
"Political Scientist" is a colossal oxymoron.
Whatever this guy and Thomas Friedmann (and alas! Terry Pratchett) say, the world is not flat. Algebraic equations of degree higher than linear (and even - gasp - other than polynomials entirely) are needed to describe how it works. Algebra is the bare minimum to comprehend how functions work. It is telling that TFA doesn't even mention differential equations - the real basecode of the universe. A grounding in algebra provides the most basic of tools to understand graphical representations of a dynamic multivariate world, even without calculus.
That a political scientist would emphasize "lies, damn lies, and statistics" as the pinnacle of mathematics is unsurprising.