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Chocolate Improves Your Math

By jrosenhouse on April 3, 2009.

Regular blogging will not resume until the end of the semester, but I couldn't resist emerging from my hidey hole to call attention to this article, from The Times of India:

Bad at maths? Gorge on chocolates before you attempt your next
examination.

A new study has revealed that eating chocolate could improve the brain's ability to do maths as well as boost your energy level.

Researchers have carried out the study and found that flavanols, compounds found in chocolate and part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols, actually work by increasing the flow of blood into the brain.

According to the study's lead author David Kennedy of Northumbria University, the findings suggest that students who binge on chocolate when revising for examination might gain a real benefit from doing so and chocolate could be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks also.

Anyone else reminded of that scene from Sleeper? The one about how in the future we dsicover that fried foods and chocolate are among the healthiest things you can eat?

Tags
Mathematics

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I will suggest this to the committee for learning and teaching who are spending millions trying to improve mathematics education via computers, multimedia, replacing blackboards by smart devices, computerized tests, tele-education, and what have you. Instead, the solution is simple and virtually free: CHOCOLATE! Who could imagine?

So, next time my colleagues and I complain about the cost (and effectiveness) of multimedia brainwashing, I will suggest the cheap alternative: CHOCOLATE!

Let me go grab a bar right now. I'm feeling it might help me prove a theorem.