MUSINGS AND AMUSINGS

In Money, Money, Money Ain’t it Funny I wrote a little about our lack of mathematical skill quoting an entertaining example from The Simpsons:

A psychologist is giving a ‘team talk’. He makes the statement, ‘You are all very good players’. The team members mimic the psychologist, ‘We are all very good players’. Then the psychologist says, ‘You will beat Shelbyville!’. And the team, again in unison, reply, ‘We will beat Shelbyville!’ By this time the psychologist is raising his voice, and he shouts, ‘You will give 120 per cent!’ But the team, still in unison, reply, ‘But hold on, that’s impossible. No one can give more than 100 per cent. By definition that is the most anyone can give.’

A host of new studies suggest that the gut instinct has a surprising role in maths. Imagine you are in the supermarket; you routinely survey the checkout lines and pick the shortest. We use our approximate number system an ancient and intuitive sense we are born with and that we share with many other animals. Rats, pigeons, monkeys, babies – all can tell more from fewer.

When it comes to genuine computation we have to use a very different number systems one that is symbolic specific and highly abstract. This is a recently acquired skill which takes years of education to master.

For an example of flawed computation skills, take Russell Crowe’s recent comments on the US Bailout.

The New-Zealand born actor announced, during a US TV talk show appearance on Jay Leno, a mathematically-flawed plan to cure America’s financial crisis.

Crowe believes the US should give each American US$1.00 million ($1.50 million).

His reasoning is the US has a population of about 300 million, so the US$300 billion outlay is a fraction of the US$700 billion bailout package rejected by Washington DC.

“If they want to stimulate the economy and get people spending so they can look after their mortgage...give everyone US$1 million.:

His plan would actually cost $300 trillion.

The researchers say that they don’t yet have any idea of how the two systems interact. FMRI studies show that the approximate number sense (fewer or lesser) has been traced to a specific neutral structure called the intra parietal sulcus. Symbolic math however activates many of the prefrontal regions of the brain, the “new” brain. Somewhere the scientists suggest that these two areas must be hooked up to a party line.