Are math skills natural, or rather acquired?

PrincetonFather
Fri, 30 Dec 2005 15:53:27 +0000

I think these skills are acquired. I took calculus at the state school when I was 14 with other 8th and 9th graders and none of us had problems with it. None of the students in this large sample was exposed to more math or math at an accerlated pace relative to other students; we just started high school math in middle school while holding our math education in elementry school consistent with other students. When I was a teacher assistant at the time for seniors I realized most of the seniors couldn’t understand concepts such as integrals and convergence/divergence. From this I beleive math skills at purly natural. As if it matters.