Scientists found out that learning maths and dealing with multi-digit numbers is easier for children who speak a language with clear number words. However, the problem is that not all languages have clear number words. What do unclear number words look like? Have a look at some of the words for 97. In Basque (a language mostly spoken in a region in the north of Spain), they say "laurogeita hamazazpi," which means "eighty-ten-seven" (80 + 17). In French, they say "quatre-vingt-dix-sept," which means "four-twenty-ten-seven" (4 × 20 + 10 + 7). The way these number words are constructed is really complicated. In Hindi (one of the most popular languages in India), there are a few numbers for which people use subtraction rather than addition to build the number word. For example, for the number 29 they say "unatis," which means "one before thirty" (30-1).

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