<p>Go tell this to your kid who is throwing tantrums at learning maths. According to a new research, even monkeys have the ability to use numbers and symbols to add up.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The scientists from Harvard University taught three rhesus monkeys the values of 26 distinct symbols - the 10 Arabic numerals and 16 letters.<br /><br />Each symbol was associated with zero to 25 drops of a reward of water, juice or orange soda.<br /><br />Given the choice of two different symbols, the monkeys chose the symbol that represented the larger reward with up to 90 percent accuracy.<br /><br />"The monkeys demonstrated the ability to not only differentiate between the symbols but also to add the values of two symbols at a time," said Margaret Livingstone, a neuroscientist at Harvard University's medical school.<br /><br />The results suggest that the monkeys learned to distinguish the symbols and assign them specific values.<br /><br />Monkeys estimated quantity based on relative value rather than absolute value.<br /><br />This could give new insight into the evolutionary origins of our ability to count, the researchers added.<br /><br />The team is now planning to see if the animals can multiply numbers too.</p>
<p>Go tell this to your kid who is throwing tantrums at learning maths. According to a new research, even monkeys have the ability to use numbers and symbols to add up.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The scientists from Harvard University taught three rhesus monkeys the values of 26 distinct symbols - the 10 Arabic numerals and 16 letters.<br /><br />Each symbol was associated with zero to 25 drops of a reward of water, juice or orange soda.<br /><br />Given the choice of two different symbols, the monkeys chose the symbol that represented the larger reward with up to 90 percent accuracy.<br /><br />"The monkeys demonstrated the ability to not only differentiate between the symbols but also to add the values of two symbols at a time," said Margaret Livingstone, a neuroscientist at Harvard University's medical school.<br /><br />The results suggest that the monkeys learned to distinguish the symbols and assign them specific values.<br /><br />Monkeys estimated quantity based on relative value rather than absolute value.<br /><br />This could give new insight into the evolutionary origins of our ability to count, the researchers added.<br /><br />The team is now planning to see if the animals can multiply numbers too.</p>