We've got a lady here at work who's pursuing advanced math, just completed Topology, in fact. I got a real kick out of our Purchasing Manager walking into her office (she's in Purchasing, too) while I was ordering a spare part for the field. I queried him about how much more a certain type of tubing was and he said "about a dollar a foot". Not knowing what the base cost was for cheaper tubing, I asked what the percentage difference was. He looked at Miss Math and asked "what's the percentage difference between $3 and $4?"
Blank stare. Locked-up. Deer-in-headlights imitation.
Ever incredulous about these kinds of things, I added, "c'mon... whaddya' get when you subtract 3/3 from 4/3?"
Extended moment of silence and more deer imitation. I tried to help out, "1/3? 33%?"
She has difficulty balancing her checkbook and always leaves it to her boyfriend.
It's almost as if she's processing mathematical relationships in the linguistic center of the brain like it's language to her. Actual application seems to be difficult. We see a lot of that, actually. It is true, however, that she doesn't seem inclined to have children.