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Better Math Skills Predict Bigger Bank Accounts
Having a head for numbers is an ability that people can bank on—quite literally. Being good with numbers gives people an edge in all kinds of jobs, from investment banking to professional poker. But the
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Girls are still afraid of math, even when their moms are scientists
Quartz: Understanding why girls do worse than boys (pdf) in math, and why they have more anxiety about the subject, is complicated. Cultural norms that favor boys, teacher bias, and even parents’ own math anxiety
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What We Have and Haven’t Learned
In psychological science, as in other sciences, it is difficult to establish broadly consequential conclusions beyond reasonable dispute. It therefore sometimes seems that we make no progress at all; however, when I look back on
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The Minimum Description Length Principle
Both as scientists and in our everyday lives, we make probabilistic inferences. Mathematicians may deduce their conclusions from their stated premises, but the rest of us induce our conclusions from data. As scientists, we do
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Basic Ratio Capacity May Serve as Building Block for Math Knowledge
Understanding fractions is a critical mathematical ability, and yet it’s one that continues to confound a lot of people well into adulthood. New research finds evidence for an innate ratio processing ability that may play
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Parents: Your math anxiety is only making homework harder for your kids
Quartz: While doing a math problem with my six-year-old recently during a classroom session for parents, I barked at her, “Just put the number in any circle.” She looked at me as if I was