Nowadays, the pedagogy of adult numeracy generally eschews the deficit model of the learner as needing diagnosis and remediation, and attempts to take into account the learners' existing competencies, life experience, and interests. However, formalized assessment processes and measurable outcomes can never reflect the actual learning taking place in terms of cognitive, affective, and social development. In this article, the author explores mathematics, functional mathematics, numeracy, and adult numeracy. The author clarifies the domain of numeracy, defines its space in relation to other mathematics discourses, and discusses the implications of this position for adult numeracy practitioners.