Anyone in the field is already aware of the important role math plays in the sciences, national security, economics and even the creative arts — areas in which mathematical modeling can help to produce a desired outcome affecting a range of people.
Perhaps few, however, suspect the power it can have on the individual human mind.
Vicki Alex has made that discovery firsthand, though.
A story in London’s “Daily Mail” newspaper recounts how Vicki, diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in September, was placed into a coma by doctors in order to fight life-threatening infection.
Doctors weren’t sure she would regain consciousness. After three days, they suggested that her parents talk to her in order to “trigger a reaction, ” according to Mail Online.
Once her dad began asking simple arithmetic — her favorite subject — she began to respond.
The following day Vicki began breathing on her own.