From NPR’s “Math Guy”—a celebration of our innate math sense that provides even the most number-phobic among us with confidence in our own mathematical abilities

There are two kinds of math: the hard kind and the easy kind. The easy kind, practiced by ants, shrimp, Welsh corgis—and us—is innate.

What innate mathematical abilities do we humans have? Leaving aside built-in math, such as the visual system, ordinary people do just fine when faced with mathematical tasks in the course of the day. Yet when they are confronted with the same tasks presented as “math,” their accuracy often drops dramatically.

But if we have innate mathematical ability, why do we have to teach math and why do most of us find it so hard to learn? Are there tricks or strategies that the ordinary person can do to improve mathematical ability? Can we improve our math skills by learning from dogs, cats, and other creatures that “do math”? (And can animals really do math?) The answer to each of these questions is a qualified yes. After describing some amazing examples of animals with often sophisticated mathematical abilities, renowned Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin suggests that if we want to do better in the formal kind of math, we should understand how it arises from natural mathematics.

Read an excerpt from The Math Instinct