Originally Posted by Zer0

I've always preferred listening to instrumental music while studying, I find that vocals can be a bit distracting while you are trying to think or solve problems. Usually a bit of post-rock, ambient or ambient electronica suits nicely, it does well to cut off your attention from the outside world yet doesn't distract you too much from what you are doing.

From what I've been told as well listening to classical music is good when trying to solve mathematics problems, it apparently stimulates the same brain patterns used when solving maths problems.