Rhesus monkeys as well as human adults and older children living in a remote Amazon village have been given comparison and addition tasks using arrays of dots, and they show the same abilities we find in 5-year-old Boston children.

A lot of children find symbolic arithmetic quite difficult and tedious, yet the children loved our tasks. They were games, the children were very happy to play them, and they were also they were good at them.

What our study shows is that children have a fundamental understanding of addition and of numbers and we hope to harness that ability to enhance mathematic instruction.

When children start learning math in school, they already have a basic understanding of the concepts. This understanding should guide teachers to work on enhancing these skills.

Our studies show these abilities are universal, and they develop in the absence of instruction. You don't need to take a class in geometry, and you don't need to learn from a teacher what a right triangle is in order to show this sensitivity.

I think it's really fascinating that geometry is so difficult. My guess is it's difficult because it focuses on proofs.