Thinking about Mathematics

Thinking about Mathematics PDF

Author: Stewart Shapiro

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2000-07-13

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 0192893068

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Thinking about Mathematics covers the range of philosophical issues and positions concerning mathematics. The text describes the questions about mathematics that motivated philosophers throughout history and covers historical figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Mill. It also presents the major positions and arguments concerning mathematics throughout the twentieth century, bringing the reader up to the present positions and battle lines.

How Not to Be Wrong

How Not to Be Wrong PDF

Author: Jordan Ellenberg

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-05-26

Total Pages: 482

ISBN-13: 0143127535

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“Witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read . . ." —Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American The Freakonomics of math—a math-world superstar unveils the hidden beauty and logic of the world and puts its power in our hands The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it. Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer? How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God. Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.

Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12

Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12 PDF

Author: Peter Liljedahl

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2020-09-28

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1544374844

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A thinking student is an engaged student Teachers often find it difficult to implement lessons that help students go beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. In fact, institutional norms and habits that permeate all classrooms can actually be enabling "non-thinking" student behavior. Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K–12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur. This guide Provides the what, why, and how of each practice and answers teachers’ most frequently asked questions Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking through teacher and student interviews and student work samples Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started Organizes the 14 practices into four toolkits that can be implemented in order and built on throughout the year When combined, these unique research-based practices create the optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned deep mathematical thinking and learning, and have the power to transform mathematics classrooms like never before.

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking PDF

Author: Keith J. Devlin

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780615653631

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"Mathematical thinking is not the same as 'doing math'--unless you are a professional mathematician. For most people, 'doing math' means the application of procedures and symbolic manipulations. Mathematical thinking, in contrast, is what the name reflects, a way of thinking about things in the world that humans have developed over three thousand years. It does not have to be about mathematics at all, which means that many people can benefit from learning this powerful way of thinking, not just mathematicians and scientists."--Back cover.

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic PDF

Author: Stewart Shapiro

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2005-02-10

Total Pages: 856

ISBN-13: 0190287535

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Mathematics and logic have been central topics of concern since the dawn of philosophy. Since logic is the study of correct reasoning, it is a fundamental branch of epistemology and a priority in any philosophical system. Philosophers have focused on mathematics as a case study for general philosophical issues and for its role in overall knowledge- gathering. Today, philosophy of mathematics and logic remain central disciplines in contemporary philosophy, as evidenced by the regular appearance of articles on these topics in the best mainstream philosophical journals; in fact, the last decade has seen an explosion of scholarly work in these areas. This volume covers these disciplines in a comprehensive and accessible manner, giving the reader an overview of the major problems, positions, and battle lines. The 26 contributed chapters are by established experts in the field, and their articles contain both exposition and criticism as well as substantial development of their own positions. The essays, which are substantially self-contained, serve both to introduce the reader to the subject and to engage in it at its frontiers. Certain major positions are represented by two chapters--one supportive and one critical. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Math and Logic is a ground-breaking reference like no other in its field. It is a central resource to those wishing to learn about the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of logic, or some aspect thereof, and to those who actively engage in the discipline, from advanced undergraduates to professional philosophers, mathematicians, and historians.

How to Think Like a Mathematician

How to Think Like a Mathematician PDF

Author: Kevin Houston

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-02-12

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1139477056

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Looking for a head start in your undergraduate degree in mathematics? Maybe you've already started your degree and feel bewildered by the subject you previously loved? Don't panic! This friendly companion will ease your transition to real mathematical thinking. Working through the book you will develop an arsenal of techniques to help you unlock the meaning of definitions, theorems and proofs, solve problems, and write mathematics effectively. All the major methods of proof - direct method, cases, induction, contradiction and contrapositive - are featured. Concrete examples are used throughout, and you'll get plenty of practice on topics common to many courses such as divisors, Euclidean algorithms, modular arithmetic, equivalence relations, and injectivity and surjectivity of functions. The material has been tested by real students over many years so all the essentials are covered. With over 300 exercises to help you test your progress, you'll soon learn how to think like a mathematician.

Rigorous Mathematical Thinking

Rigorous Mathematical Thinking PDF

Author: James T. Kinard

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-06-02

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1139472399

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This book demonstrates how rigorous mathematical thinking can be fostered through the development of students' cognitive tools and operations. This approach seems to be particularly effective with socially disadvantaged and culturally different students. The authors argue that children's cognitive functions cannot be viewed as following a natural maturational path: they should be actively constructed during the educational process. The Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) model is based on two major theoretical approaches – Vygotsky's theory of psychological tools and Feuerstein's concept of mediated learning experience. The book starts with general cognitive tools that are essential for all types of problem solving and then moves to mathematically specific cognitive tools and methods for utilizing these tools for mathematical conceptual formation. The application of the RMT model in various urban classrooms demonstrates how mathematics education standards can be reached even by the students with a history of educational failure who were considered hopeless underachievers.

Developing Mathematical Thinking

Developing Mathematical Thinking PDF

Author: Jonathan D. Katz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-07-07

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 147581058X

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In this country we have done a poor job of helping students come to see the wonder, beauty and power of mathematics. Standards can be brought into the picture, but unless we think about what it means to truly engage students in mathematics we will continue to be unsuccessful. The goal of this book is to begin to change the way students experience mathematics in the middle and high school classrooms. In this book you will find a theoretical basis for this approach to teaching mathematics, multiple guides and questions for teachers to think about in relation to their everyday teaching, and over 30 examples of problems, lessons, tasks, and projects that been used effectively with urban students.

Thinking Practices in Mathematics and Science Learning

Thinking Practices in Mathematics and Science Learning PDF

Author: James G. Greeno

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-04-03

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 1136485260

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The term used in the title of this volume--thinking practices--evokes questions that the authors of the chapters within it begin to answer: What are thinking practices? What would schools and other learning settings look like if they were organized for the learning of thinking practices? Are thinking practices general, or do they differ by disciplines? If there are differences, what implications do those differences have for how we organize teaching and learning? How do perspectives on learning, cognition, and culture affect the kinds of learning experiences children and adults have? This volume describes advances that have been made toward answering these questions. These advances involve several agendas, including increasing interdisciplinary communication and collaboration; reconciling research on cognition with research on teaching, learning, and school culture; and strengthening the connections between research and school practice. The term thinking practices is symbolic of a combination of theoretical perspectives that have contributed to the volume editors' understanding of how people learn, how they organize their thinking inside and across disciplines, and how school learning might be better organized. By touring through some of the perspectives on thinking and learning that have evolved into school learning designs, Greeno and Goldman begin to establish a frame for what they are calling thinking practices. This volume is a significant contribution to a topic that they believe will continue to emerge as a coherent body of scientific and educational research and practice.

The Heart of Mathematics

The Heart of Mathematics PDF

Author: Edward B. Burger

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2004-08-18

Total Pages: 798

ISBN-13: 9781931914413

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Hallmark features include: * A focus on the important ideas of mathematics that students will retain long after their formal studies are complete. * An engaging and humorous style, written to be read and enjoyed. * Ten Life Lessons that readers will apply beyond their study of mathematics. * Use of a variety of visualization techniques that direct students to model their thinking and to actively explore the world around them. New to this Edition: * A new chapter, Deciding Wisely: Applications of Rigorous Thought, provides a thought-provoking capstone. * Expanded and improved statistics and probability content in Chapter 7, Taming Uncertainty. * Enhanced Mindscapes at the end of each section which ask the reader to review, apply and think deeply about the ideas presented in the chapter. * Radically superior ancillary package.