Mathematics under the Microscope

Mathematics under the Microscope PDF Author: Alexandre Borovik
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 0821847619
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
Discusses, from a working mathematician's point of view, the mystery of mathematical intuition: Why are certain mathematical concepts more intuitive than others? And to what extent does the 'small scale' structure of mathematical concepts and algorithms reflect the workings of the human brain?

Mathematics under the Microscope

Mathematics under the Microscope PDF Author: Alexandre Borovik
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 0821847619
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
Discusses, from a working mathematician's point of view, the mystery of mathematical intuition: Why are certain mathematical concepts more intuitive than others? And to what extent does the 'small scale' structure of mathematical concepts and algorithms reflect the workings of the human brain?

The Number Sense : How the Mind Creates Mathematics

The Number Sense : How the Mind Creates Mathematics PDF Author: Stanislas Dehaene Research Affiliate Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199723095
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Get Book Here

Book Description
Our understanding of how the human brain performs mathematical calculations is far from complete. But in recent years there have been many exciting scientific discoveries, some aided by new imaging techniques--which allow us for the first time to watch the living mind at work--and others by ingenious experiments conducted by researchers all over the world. There are still perplexing mysteries--how, for instance, do idiot savants perform almost miraculous mathematical feats?--but the picture is growing steadily clearer. In The Number Sense, Stanislas Dehaene offers general readers a first look at these recent stunning discoveries, in an enlightening exploration of the mathematical mind. Dehaene, a mathematician turned cognitive neuropsychologist, begins with the eye-opening discovery that animals--including rats, pigeons, raccoons, and chimpanzees--can perform simple mathematical calculations, and he describes ingenious experiments that show that human infants also have a rudimentary number sense (American scientist Karen Wynn, for instance, using just a few Mickey Mouse toys and a small puppet theater, proved that five-month-old infants already have the ability to add and subtract). Further, Dehaene suggests that this rudimentary number sense is as basic to the way the brain understands the world as our perception of color or of objects in space, and, like these other abilities, our number sense is wired into the brain. But how then did the brain leap from this basic number ability to trigonometry, calculus, and beyond? Dehaene shows that it was the invention of symbolic systems of numerals that started us on the climb to higher mathematics, and in a marvelous chapter he traces the history of numbers, from early times when people indicated a number by pointing to a part of their body (even today, in many societies in New Guinea, the word for six is "wrist"), to early abstract numbers such as Roman numerals (chosen for the ease with which they could be carved into wooden sticks), to modern numbers. On our way, we also discover many fascinating facts: for example, because Chinese names for numbers are so short, Chinese people can remember up to nine or ten digits at a time--English-speaking people can only remember seven. Dehaene also explores the unique abilities of idiot savants and mathematical geniuses, asking what might explain their special mathematical talent. And we meet people whose minute brain lesions render their mathematical ability useless--one man, in fact, who is certain that two and two is three. Using modern imaging techniques (PET scans and MRI), Dehaene reveals exactly where in the brain numerical calculation takes place. But perhaps most important, The Number Sense reaches many provocative conclusions that will intrigue anyone interested in mathematics or the mind. Dehaene argues, for instance, that many of the difficulties that children face when learning math, and which may turn into a full-blown adult "innumeracy," stem from the architecture of our primate brain, which has not evolved for the purpose of doing mathematics. He also shows why the human brain does not work like a computer, and that the physical world is not based on mathematics--rather, mathematics evolved to explain the physical world the way that the eye evolved to provide sight. A truly fascinating look at the crossroads where numbers and neurons intersect, The Number Sense offers an intriguing tour of how the structure of the brain shapes our mathematical abilities, and how our mathematics opens up a window on the human mind.

The Number Sense

The Number Sense PDF Author: Stanislas Dehaene
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199910391
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book Here

Book Description
Our understanding of how the human brain performs mathematical calculations is far from complete, but in recent years there have been many exciting breakthroughs by scientists all over the world. Now, in The Number Sense, Stanislas Dehaene offers a fascinating look at this recent research, in an enlightening exploration of the mathematical mind. Dehaene begins with the eye-opening discovery that animals--including rats, pigeons, raccoons, and chimpanzees--can perform simple mathematical calculations, and that human infants also have a rudimentary number sense. Dehaene suggests that this rudimentary number sense is as basic to the way the brain understands the world as our perception of color or of objects in space, and, like these other abilities, our number sense is wired into the brain. These are but a few of the wealth of fascinating observations contained here. We also discover, for example, that because Chinese names for numbers are so short, Chinese people can remember up to nine or ten digits at a time--English-speaking people can only remember seven. The book also explores the unique abilities of idiot savants and mathematical geniuses, and we meet people whose minute brain lesions render their mathematical ability useless. This new and completely updated edition includes all of the most recent scientific data on how numbers are encoded by single neurons, and which brain areas activate when we perform calculations. Perhaps most important, The Number Sense reaches many provocative conclusions that will intrigue anyone interested in learning, mathematics, or the mind. "A delight." --Ian Stewart, New Scientist "Read The Number Sense for its rich insights into matters as varying as the cuneiform depiction of numbers, why Jean Piaget's theory of stages in infant learning is wrong, and to discover the brain regions involved in the number sense." --The New York Times Book Review "Dehaene weaves the latest technical research into a remarkably lucid and engrossing investigation. Even readers normally indifferent to mathematics will find themselves marveling at the wonder of minds making numbers." --Booklist

European Women in Mathematics

European Women in Mathematics PDF Author: Emilia Mezzetti
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789812704276
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume can be divided into two parts: a purely mathematical part with contributions on finance mathematics, interactions between geometry and physics and different areas of mathematics; another part on the popularization of mathematics and the situation of women in mathematics.

European Women In Mathematics, Proceedings Of The Tenth General Meeting

European Women In Mathematics, Proceedings Of The Tenth General Meeting PDF Author: Emilia Mezzetti
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814487287
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume can be divided into two parts: a purely mathematical part with contributions on finance mathematics, interactions between geometry and physics and different areas of mathematics; another part on the popularization of mathematics and the situation of women in mathematics.

Rods, Sets and Arrows

Rods, Sets and Arrows PDF Author: Dirk De Bock
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030205991
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 302

Get Book Here

Book Description
For anyone interested in the history and effects of the introduction of so-called “Modern Mathematics” (or “Mathématique Moderne,” or “New Mathematics,” etc.) this book, by Dirk De Bock and Geert Vanpaemel, is essential reading. The two authors are experienced and highly qualified Belgian scholars and the book looks carefully at events relating to school mathematics for the period from the end of World War II to 2010. Initially the book focuses on events which helped to define the modern mathematics revolution in Belgium before and during the 1960s. The book does much more than that, however, for it traces the influence of these events on national and international debates during the early phases of the reform. By providing readers with translations into English of relevant sections of key Continental documents outlining the major ideas of leading Continental scholars who contributed to the “Mathématique Moderne” movement, this book makes available to a wide readership, the theoretical, social, and political backdrops of Continental new mathematics reforms. In particular, the book focuses on the contributions made by Belgians such as Paul Libois, Willy Servais, Frédérique Lenger, and Georges Papy. The influence of modern mathematics fell away rapidly in the 1970s, however, and the authors trace the rise and fall, from that time into the 21st century, of a number of other approaches to school mathematics—in Belgium, in other Western European nations, and in North America. In summary, this is an outstanding, landmark publication displaying the fruits of deep scholarship and careful research based on extensive analyses of primary sources.

Revisiting Mathematics Education

Revisiting Mathematics Education PDF Author: Hans Freudenthal
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0306472023
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a product of love and respect. If that sounds rather odd I initially apologise, but let me explain why I use those words. The original manuscript was of course Freudenthal’s, but his colleagues have carried the project through to its conclusion with love for the man, and his ideas, and with a respect developed over years of communal effort. Their invitation to me to write this Preface e- bles me to pay my respects to the great man, although I am probably incurring his wrath for writing a Preface for his book without his permission! I just hope he understands the feelings of all colleagues engaged in this particular project. Hans Freudenthal died on October 13th, 1990 when this book project was well in hand. In fact he wrote to me in April 1988, saying “I am thinking about a new book. I have got the sub-title (China Lectures) though I still lack a title”. I was astonished. He had retired in 1975, but of course he kept working. Then in 1985 we had been helping him celebrate his 80th birthday, and although I said in an Editorial Statement in Educational Studies in Mathematics (ESM) at the time “we look forward to him enjoying many more years of non-retirement” I did not expect to see another lengthy manuscript.

Fundamenta Scientiae

Fundamenta Scientiae PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Get Book Here

Book Description
The international journal for critical analysis of science and the responsibility of scientists.

Math Educ

Math Educ PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 624

Get Book Here

Book Description
Contains abstracts in the field of mathematics education extracted from documents worldwide.

Library of Congress Catalogs

Library of Congress Catalogs PDF Author: Library of Congress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 632

Get Book Here

Book Description