If you have trouble with math and numbers, you can blame your right parietal lobe.

People with dyscalculia have difficulty processing numbers. Now researchers can identify the cause of dyscalculia, which is said to affect 5% of the population.

Scientists have traced the roots of dyscalculia (difficulty with math) to malformations in the right parietal lobe of the brain.

Researchers using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), stimulated the brain just as subjects without dyscalculia were about to complete a maths task, comparing two digits. They had to decide which digit was numerically larger, 2 or 4, but the 2 was written in a larger font than the 4.

Researchers found that subjects with normal math ability displayed behaviour similar to those with dyscalculia when they TMS was used to disrupt neuronal activity in the right intraparietal sulcus.

University College, London - The Root of Dyscalculia Found