Study: Why Language Has More to Do with Math than You Think

Research on child development shows that kids start by memorizing numbers as an ordered list. They can recite the numbers from 1 through 10, but if you ask them to give you three apples, they're just as likely to give you five or seven.

The age at which kids start connecting their ordered list to numbers of things depends a lot on how much reinforcement they have from adults. Some children learn to count by age two; others, usually from disadvantaged households, arrive at school not knowing what "two" means. The homesigners represent those disadvantaged kids taken to the extreme.

"Language input is important for everybody's representation of number, and how counting works," Spaepen told Wired. "This isn't something you just get for free because you're human. It depends on the quality and amount of input you get. If you're not getting it in your language, you're not going to just come up with it on your own."

[Beaumont Gifted Babies Program would strengthen maths training through games.]

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/09/study-why-language-has-more-to-do-with-math-than-you-think