CHICAGO: Children who had never been taught addition or subtraction were able to solve approximate math problems involving large numbers, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that reveals a new understanding of children's innate math ability.

They said children's early struggles with math may be linked to the need to produce a precise number. Their finding could lead to better ways to teach math to young children. Camilla Gilmore of the University of Nottingham, Elizabeth Spelke of Harvard University and colleagues conducted a series of experiments with 5- and 6-year-old children from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

She expected to find just the opposite. "Clearly, the number words have to be learnt and the Arabic notation has to be learned. These things aren't built into us, but I do think there is a basic nonsymbolic sense of number that is built into us," she said.