Mathematical abilities will be useful for children in study and adult life – this is understood by most parents. Will you be able to tell us what benefits mathematics brings to you personally?
Will you be able to explain to the child why they need to do math? After all, learning concepts, laws of mathematics and logic, solving mathematical and logical problems requires mental effort. And what for at all it is necessary?
We have studied a number of scientific studies, and have identified real evidence of the benefits of mathematics.
Even if you are convinced that the life of your child will not be connected with mathematics, we recommend you to read our article anyway, so that at least with ease to answer the questions of a little “pochemuchka”.
- Mathematics develops thinking
Studying math and solving problems, the child learns:
to summarize and highlight the important;
analyze and systematize;
to find patterns and establish causal relationships;
to reason and draw conclusions;
to think logically, strategically and abstractly.
Just as regular sports exercises “pump” the body, make it healthy, strong and enduring, so regular math lessons “pump” the brain – develop intelligence and cognitive abilities, expand the horizons.
Read also: In the article “5 reasons to learn to think like a mathematician” we have detailed the power of mathematical thinking and why to develop it.
- Mathematics exercises train memory
Scientists at Stanford University in the U.S. have studied the process of solving mathematical problems and found that adults use for this purpose thinking and brought to automatism skill to “get” from the memory of the answers already available there.
Children under the age of 7 often use toes and toes, as well as various substitutes (real objects, counting sticks). In the “transition period”, between the ages of 7 and 9, schoolchildren develop an “adult” skill of “thinking”, comprehending and remembering information.
An interesting study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience in 2014. First of all, it was devoted to studying the role of hippocampus (area in the brain) in the development of cognitive activity of children. But its indirect conclusions are as follows:
if you want your child at school to have no problems with workbooks for 4th grade, train your memory at an early age;
solving mathematical problems develops memory.
- Mathematics hardens character
For correct solution of mathematical and logical problems one needs attentiveness, perseverance, responsibility, accuracy and carefulness.
Mathematics trains character muscles
The more regularly a child trains these “character muscles”, the stronger they become, the more often they help the child to solve not only educational tasks but also life problems.
- Music for Mathematics, Mathematics for Music
A comprehensive study by Barbara H. Helmrich from Notre Dame College in Baltimore found that children who played musical instruments in high school were significantly better at math in high school.
Scientists have found that the same part of the brain is responsible for solving algebraic problems and processing musical information.
“The largest average difference in algebra results between any two groups of subjects was found between African-American “instrumental” groups and groups of “non-musical” schoolchildren.
Ironically, it’s as if scientists weren’t interested in feedback.
After all, if the same part of the brain is responsible for the development of mathematical and musical abilities, it is possible that math lessons improve musical abilities.
I remember Sherlock Holmes, who was both an excellent detective and a talented violinist. Many will say that the famous English detective was just a fiction, but he had his real prototype, his mentor and friend Arthur Conan Doyle. A passionate violinist was also the greatest physicist Albert Einstein.
- Mathematics helps to succeed in the humanities…
It is early math skills that are the right precondition for a child to not only understand mathematics well in the future, but also to succeed in other school disciplines. Reading skills and the ability to manage one’s attention go next in importance for the contribution to learning achievement.
Such conclusions were reached by education and social policy scientists at Northwestern University in Evanston. In the study, they assessed the relationship between key elements of school readiness (basic skills for school admission – “academic” readiness, attention, social-emotional skills) and further academic success.
Mathematics is an interdisciplinary science and is closely linked to physics, geography, geology and chemistry. Sociology and economics are inseparable from mathematics, and many of the conclusions of even the humanities, such as linguistics, journalism, are based on mathematical models and concepts, mathematical and logical laws.
- 6. Develops skills for solving everyday problems
Barbara Oakley, PhD, brain stem cell researcher and author of Think Like a Mathematician, underlines:
“Mathematics frees us from ‘magical thinking’ – we try to get to the heart of things and don’t rely on avosa and higher powers”.
The more complicated a mathematical problem becomes, the more skills are required to solve it. The child learns to reason, to build sequences, to think over algorithms, to juggle several concepts at once, and these skills become a habit.
Thanks to math, we get rid of bad habits:
we don’t speculate, we only operate with exact terms;
not just mechanically remembering information and rules, but evaluating, analyzing, thinking to understand and learn new material, new life lesson.
- Mathematics is the basis for a successful career.
If 10-15 years ago the study of foreign languages was considered promising, nowadays no one is surprised by the free command of several languages. Now the professional demand largely depends on the understanding of technology, ability to think, abstract and ability to solve non-standard problems. It is extremely difficult to do without knowledge of mathematics for those who want to work in IT.
Abstract, critical and strategic thinking, analytical skills, ability to build algorithms – “masthave” for a good developer.
Effective mathematics gives confidence, because success in mathematics requires perseverance in trying to solve the most difficult, sometimes at first glance, “insoluble” problems and problems.
Test your strength: Mathematical puzzles to help you: 9 selected known problems for intelligence. How many can you solve?
- The solution of the problems produces psychological firmness
Solving mathematical problems helps to improve the emotional background – it is an activity that can relieve anxiety, help control emotions and prevent stress.
Such conclusions were reached by scientists from Duke University in the United States, who were able to prove it in a study published in the journal “Clinical Psychology” in 2016.
- The pleasure of “X.”
For someone who is serious about mathematics, mathematical formulas, equations and other logical and mathematical problems embody beauty, harmony and bring the same aesthetic pleasure as music, art and good jokes, says a group of researchers from several universities in the UK.
online gre course math .
Functional magnetic resonance imaging has recorded the brain activity of the subjects while demonstrating mathematical equations, formulas and problems. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in 2014 online gre course math .
How to learn to experience the joy and pleasure of mathematics tells the famous American mathematician, a graduate of Harvard University, Stephen Strogats. A teacher of applied mathematics, winner of awards in mathematics and teaching in the pages of his book “The pleasure of X” with enthusiasm, simply and clearly explains the most important mathematical ideas.