Study finds men are more prone to feigning familiarity with mathematical terms – can you discern the authentic ones from the fabricated ones?

It has long been known that men are more confident in their own abilities than women, which experts say helps explain the gender pay gap.

But now there is evidence that even schoolchildren are better at blowing their own trumpet.

In a new study, researchers at University College London showed teenagers 16 mathematical terms, including three that were false.

Boys were significantly more likely than girls to report that they had heard these nonsense terms frequently and understood them well.

So, can you tell what the three terms are made up of?

The researchers looked at more than 40,000 teenagers in nine English-speaking countries, including England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

They were given a list of 16 mathematical terms, including real terms such as cosine, quadratic function, and rational number, and asked which ones they knew.

But the list included three bogus mathematical terms: “declarative fraction,” “proper number,” and “subjunctive scaling.”

The results revealed that male participants were much more likely to claim to know the false words.

Unfortunately, for less brazen girls, the study suggests that male overconfidence can actually help boys in life.

That’s because those who exaggerated their math skills were also more likely to persist with tasks and believe they could solve difficult things, from how to get somewhere to a car’s gas mileage.

That might make them more interested in diving into difficult tasks, helping them advance in a later career.

Professor John Jerrim, who led the study from University College London, said: “The ability to aggrandize yourself, as seen in these children who claimed to know invented mathematical terms, may help them get a job or a pay rise in the future. “. life.

“If you think you know a lot of things and you’re great, that overconfidence can be useful and could help explain the gender pay gap.”

Boys were significantly more likely than girls to report that they had heard these nonsense terms frequently and understood them well.

The study found that teenagers in the United States and Canada were the most likely to claim too much, followed by those in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand.

You might expect no one to like know-it-alls, but in fact teens who over-affirmed their math knowledge also reported being more popular overall.

The study divided 15-year-olds into four groups, including those who complained the most and those who complained the least.

This was based on whether they said they had never heard of the three false math terms, whether they had heard the terms once or twice, sometimes, or often, or whether they said they knew the math terms well and understood them.

Among the highest claimants, 40 percent said they understood proper numbers, 15 percent said they understood declarative fractions, and 10 percent said the same about the subjunctive scale, with no one saying this among the lowest claimants.

Children were more likely to claim too much even when their actual math skills were taken into account.

The study found that older claimants were more likely to believe in their own academic prowess.

They were more likely to express confidence in their ability to perform eight tasks, including calculating the gas consumption rate of a car, solving equations, using a train schedule to calculate travel time, or calculating a price after a discount.

Excessive demanders, who were more likely to come from a privileged background based on information about their parents’ work, education, and household possessions, also believed themselves to be better problem solvers.

They rated their perseverance highest when asked to rate their agreement with statements about giving up easily, trying hard, and seeing tasks through to the end.

The results come from a school questionnaire applied in all the countries studied and are published in the journal Assessment in Education: Principles, Policies and Practices.