Humans have 145;in-built ability to do maths146;: Study

8220;We8217;re born with the ability to see the world numerically just as we8217;re born to see the world in colour,8221; lead researcher Prof Brian Butterworth of University College London said.

Prof Butterworth and colleagues came to the conclusion after assessing 45 indigenous Australian children aged between four and seven years.

They compared those who lived in remote areas and only spoke Warlpiri or Anindilyakawa 8212; two Aboriginal languages with very few number words 8212; with those who lived in the city of Melbourne and spoke English.

The kids were asked to 8220;copy8221; the number of objects the researchers placed on a mat. They then had to repeat the exercise when objects were added under a cover so they could not see how many objects were there but had to work it out.

In the most complex task, the children had to match the right number of counters to the number of times the researchers banged two sticks together.

The researchers found in their study that there was no difference in numerical ability between the children who spoke languages without number words and the English-speaking kids, the 8216;BBC News8217; portal reported.

The study has been published in the 8216;Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences8217; journal.