Found on his album That Was the Year That Was, the song is a satire of the then-contemporary educational concept of New Math.
[4] Lehrer, at the time a doctoral student of mathematics at Harvard University, used the song to satirize the then-new educational concept of New Math,[5] introduced in American schools in the late 1950s and early 1960s as an attempt to reform education of mathematics.
[6] According to the book The New Math: A Political History, the song "purported to be a lesson for parents confused by recent changes in their children's arithmetic textbook".
[6] The same book states that by the time of the song's release in 1965, the concept was at its peak in American education.
[6] Lehrer's song has been described as "well-informed and literate ... enjoyed by new math proponents and critics alike".