In the study, Pollak and his colleagues asked 61 girls, ages 7 to 12, to give a speech or do math problems in front of an audience, a surefire way to make a kid stressed.

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Psychology professor Seth Roberts eats a half stick of butter every day because, he says, it speeds up his ability to do simple math problems by 5%.

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Likewise, if you strive to complete a number of math problems in a designated amount of time, you'll do a better job than if you try for a lower number or you just tell yourself to work hard.

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We'd do one more, Roger, and then I'll let Austan get back to doing my math problems.

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Attempt math problems eight or more times, and then if you absolutely have no idea how to do it, check the solutions.

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