Women `better than men at instant maths'

That's the conclusion of the world's largest maths experiment involving 20,000 people


Women are quicker than men at carrying out a primitive, "instant judgment'' type of maths, according to the world's largest mathematics experiment.

In the past few years scientists have found that bees, rats, lions, birds and other creatures can keep track of numbers and work out basic arithmetic.

Now this fundamental skill has been compared among men and women by @Bristol, South-West England's leading science centre, offering an insight into why girls tend to do better than boys at arithmetic at primary school, and why boys are more at risk of dyscalculia, a basic problem with mathematics akin to dyslexia.

The experiment on 20,000 people was developed by Prof Brian Butterworth and his team at University College London, in collaboration with Dr Penny Fidler, @Bristol's neuroscientist.

The results reveal that the brain has two distinct mechanisms for doing maths, solving a question that has puzzled scientists since 1949, said Prof Butterworth.

The first mechanism is the type of instant judgment made when viewing three coins on a table. The viewer instantly knows there are three without counting, an ability most of us were born with.

The second type is the maths people are taught, including counting, addition, subtraction and multiplication.

Thanks to the very large number of people taking part in the experiment, Prof Butterworth was able to look at overall trends, revealing that women are quicker than men at instant maths.

©The Telegraph Group Limited London 2003