Performance in mathematics and digit ratio: evidence from 500 university students

Abstract

We analyze the association between performance in a mathematics course among university students at the Faculty of Business and Economics and exposure to prenatal sex hormones using the second-to-fourth digit ratio. In a sample of 516 freshmen (304 women), we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between digit ratio and mathematics grades. Males and females show the same pattern in that subjects with both high and low digit ratios earn lower grades in mathematics, while subjects with the highest grades in mathematics have intermediate digit ratios. We also find that there is no statistically significant relationship between the digit ratio and the average grades earned by students in other courses except mathematics taken in the first semester at the Faculty of Business and Economics.