From time to time, on this subreddit, the question of boys doing better than girls on STEM subjects, particularly mathematics, arises. While girls can do as well as boys (if their approach is right), the tendency is definitely for them to take the wrong one of the two possible paths open to them.

I published a short essay entitled "Why You Can't Do Mathematics and What to Do About It" on Amazon Kindle and this is selling well, despite me being an unknown author with no special marketing policy.

I assume that the reason this is selling well is that maths blindness is a problem common to many and the phenomenon that some people can do maths while others simply can't (a discrete division into two groups) is also very evident.

The explanation to this phenomenon is actually very simple: you can "learn" mathematical information in two totally different ways. Either you take on faith what you are told and try to memorise it or you analyse it and store the understanding in long-term memory so that it can be used as a tool.

The reason there is a gender difference in the learning of mathematics is simple: females are more likely to choose the former approach, which only works in the short-term, than males.

Learning mathematics by rote appears to work in the short term because short-term memory (of limited capacity and duration , but very effective for a short time) is used. Understanding the mechanics involved utilises long-term memory and contributes to a growing body of knowledge.

n(a+l)/2 = s is not simply a formula that is true because someone smart said so, it is true for a reason. Typically (but no always), boys will demand to know what that reason is while girls will seek to memorise what they are told. In the long-term, the learning by rote of mathematics, more than any other subject, results in no result.

Michael Steane