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Two
types of maths ability?
The experiment also tests the idea that we all have
two different types of maths ability.
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The
first you are probably born with. It’s the
type of instant judgement you make when you see
three coins on a table. You instantly know there
are three - without counting.
This
instant judgement can be used for even more coins,
providing they’re laid out in a regular pattern
like the dots on dice.
The
second type of maths ability includes all the
maths you are taught - for example, addition,
subtraction, multiplication and counting.
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Can
animals do maths?
It seems that animals can also do maths. Consider Professor
Butterworths suggestion:
Three bears go into a cave
Two come out
Would you go in?
Many animals make this type judgement - based on maths.
So are some people born bad at maths?
This is one of the subjects professor Brian Butterworth
has been investigating. Just as some people are born
with dyslexia for words, it seems that others are born
with dyscalculia - a ‘blindness’ for numbers.
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Scientists
have also discovered that there is a specific
part of your brain responsible for doing maths.
It is just above your left ear. Damage to this
part of your brain causes a type of ‘number-blindness’.
To read more about what its like to be dyscalculic,
click
here.
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Click here for the results of this amazing experiment
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