We are all predisposed to mathematics.
The fact is that we are all prone to find patterns. No matter what, in everything going on around us. It's evolutionary insurance. So we can pass on our DNA before something predictable kills us.
A few million years ago, we didn't have as many goals in life as we do now. The main one was to survive. Not to die from a snake bite near the third or fourth bush rustling near us. Or crash trying to jump a deeper ravine. We notice patterns unnoticed.
If the first time we see a bush moving and a dangerous animal crawling out of it, the second time we will be afraid to approach it in a similar situation, and the third time we are more likely to avoid it. The brain contains these events as a kind of function, something like this:
(probability of dying) = (probability of dying from the bite)×(bush moves)×(1/distance to bush).
Yeah, I guess we need to take a step back and remember what a function is. By the way, it's not the easiest concept, many people have a strained relationship with functions after school. So, I'm not ready to vouch for my ability to explain what it is right now. In general, a function is a correspondence of one thing to something else, or the dependence of one thing on something else, one variable on another. You can think of all sorts of functions. The presence of snow in the yard depending on the time of year. "Time of year" and "presence of snow" would be variables. There is no snow in the yard in spring, summer, or fall; in winter, there is. At some point, people realized that you can correlate different phenomena and processes, and sometimes interesting patterns (functions) emerge from this. Which can then be used to predict the future. Who wouldn't want to be able to predict the future?
In the first years of life, the brain remembers absolute values (facts about the world): colors, shapes, smells, tastes. As the amount of data is accumulated, the brain has to establish connections between them - functions, otherwise it is unclear how to interact with the facts. This happens throughout life (neuroplasticity to help us). Is the animal dangerous? Bigger than me, yes. Smaller than me, but with teeth, yes. Smaller, no teeth, not a natural coloring - nope. these are all variables between which our brain establishes relationships, forms functions.
Over time, the function can become more complex. If there's edible fruit on the bush, it's moving, and we haven't eaten anything for three days, the probabilities of starving to death without going near the bush and dying from a snake by going near it leave us confused. And we have to choose. And the function in our heads converts to something like this: (Probability of dying) = |(probability of dying from a bite)×(the bush is moving)×(1/distance to the bush)-(number of days without food)×(probability of dying from hunger)|
So there you go. The brain, even before we are born, is a mathematical machine that we should learn to drive. And our information processing and decision-making processes only prove that.
Post mistakes in the formulas in the comments, they're probably there😅