The Unexpected Power of Baby Math

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have found new evidence that how we think about numbers as babies and young children persists even into adulthood. Infants and children think of numbers logarithmically, thinking of one number as a percentage of another. Thus the numbers 1 and 2 seem to be more distant than 101 and 102. In school, however, children and adults are taught to think of numbers linearly, as a number line stretching from zero to infinity. In new research published in the journal Cognition, the scientists showed participants a number line from 0 to 40 on an iPad. Their task was to place a number on the number line by dragging it as it popped up on the screen to its proper place. This movement was tracked by software. Although the adults ultimately put the number in the correct linear spot, they initially (for milliseconds) moved the number towards its logarithmic location before correcting themselves. The results provide some of the first direct evidence that our education in linear math doesn't erase our innate number sense as much as it causes us to override this preliminary thought process.

Read the complete article from Tel Aviv University here: The Unexpected Power of Baby Math