Statistical methods for measuring competencies: analysis of mathematical prepration of freshmen

It is not true that mathematics has never been able to arouse people's interest. At least, this is our feeling as mathematicians when we meet the general public to explain what we are dealing with in our work, what is the usefulness of mathematics and how it becomes possible to catch its harmony and beauty. These considerations stimulated some of us to organize, for the first time in Italy, in Bologna, the review Mathematics and Theatre, which offered to a general audience the opportunity to attend agreeable performances and, at the same time, to hear something about the prime numbers, the theory of Galois, or simply about the relationship between science, mathematics and power at Napoleon's times. This volume, which has its origin in the activities performed in Bologna in 2004, within the framework of the European project Mathematics in Europe, is dedicated to all those who are curious about mathematics, but also more generally about theatre, cinema, literature, arts and science.