Smokers good at maths are more likely to want to quit

The reason: They had a better memory for numbers related to smoking risk, which led to perceiving a greater risk from smoking and then a greater intention to quit.

Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, lead author of the study and research assistant professor in psychology at The Ohio State University, said: 'People who had better math skills remembered more of the scary numbers about smoking risks that we gave them, and that made a difference.'

This study is one of the few to link the ability for numeracy with smoking, Shoots-Reinhard said.

The study was published online recently in the journal Health Psychology.

The research involved 696 adult smokers in the United States who participated online. At the beginning of the session, participants were given a short, standardized test measuring numeracy.