# Cognitive Functions and Math



## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

I'd like to ask @NIHM to chime in. She's an ENFP who's a whiz at mathematical modeling and statistics.


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## NIHM (Mar 24, 2014)

TKDfan888 said:


> I wonder which cognitive functions predispose someone to be good at math. I think that a lot of math is more Ti than Te because it relies on precision and accuracy.
> 
> I am either an INFP or an xNFJ. Math is my least favorite subject and it is the subject that I have performed the worst on. It is just so detailed and precise, and I can find it hard to understand how people think it is so easy. I am great at all other subjects. I tend to make mistakes in some way or another at times.
> 
> Do you think that math is more of a Ti or Te subject?


I'm an ENFP, I'm almost considered a savant in the mathematical field. I love both pure and applied mathematics. I can see patterns form pretty quickly and it just made sense to me. Math is the universal language of life and everything it encompasses. Understanding it and how it works can unlock a plethora of what-if scenarios to gather empirical evidence into a true form. I'm not only talented in the subject I love it. When people said the warp theory bubble couldn't work mathematics found that key. Where I really shine is applying mathematics to biology. The real-life applications of Mathematics are boundless in the amaranthine essences of the cosmos. We are enveloped by numbers, equations, patterns, and algorithms, with huge data sets that can only be understood through statistical models and analysis. Te works with empirical data sets. Statisticians must work with moments. To understand moments, you have to know calculus.

Probability theory in a nutshell is everything an ENFP could hope for, the understanding of Ne and all the what if's branching out in front of you and using Te to gather it.

I still don't think math can be just one function, I've met an ENFJ that was great at math and used their understanding of it to teach children. Still, a person's functions can help them in specific skill sets but it takes the brain being interested in it for the magic to happen.


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## Drecon (Jun 20, 2016)

Dario Nardi claimed that brain scans show that people use radically different brain areas when doing math (he stated it as if there was prior research, but didn't cite any, so I don't know if these findings are his own or if this is more widely known)
It would indicate that people don't all use the same cognitive functions when doing math. Interesting, but it would make the OP's question next to impossible to answer.


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