Interesting news from CNN

[sparhawk]

Hi All:

Here is a very interesting news bit from CNN:

Study: Some languages require more brain power (http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/06/30/brain.language.reut/index.html)

Luis

[mathman]

Interesting article, it reminds of something I read in a maths book (cant remember which one) which pointed out a feature of the Chinese language which helps in the learning of maths.
Apparently, the literal translation of twenty in Chinese is 'two-tens', twenty one is 'two-tens and one' etc etc.
This arrangement strips away a layer of unnecessary abstraction in learning the relationships between numbers and may go a long way to explaining why the Chinese do so much better at maths than us westerners (on average, I hasten to add!)
Ricky x