Questions tagged [history]
For questions concerning the history of mathematical education and the use of historical topics in teaching mathematics.
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Fighting math phobia with history
After years of experience in some area of expertise, you can easily forget how difficult it can be for the uninitiated to grasp some fundamental concepts, and, indeed, people often edit out of their ...
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The origins of $\operatorname{cis}(\theta)$
There is a abbreviation used in high school mathematics that is almost never seen outside of it: $\operatorname{cis}(\theta) = \cos(\theta) + i \sin(\theta)$, where cis stands for cosine + i sine.
As ...
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Where can I find primary sources from the New Math movement in the 60s?
I'm interested in learning about the New Math movement from a historical perspective. I've located some secondary sources about the topic, mainly parodies, highly critical restrospective articles, or ...
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What on earth was Old Math?
I'd like to able to follow discussions/arguments about maths education, but many of them revolve around the transition to new math.
I was taught in the UK in the early 90s, and none of the examples ...
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Does anyone use the cubic formula these days?
I am writing a story for young people about the history of the development of the cubic formula and complex numbers, partly because it has so much drama and partly because it's amusing that complex ...
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The royal road to calculus
In the early 1900s Felix Klein lay out his vision for secondary mathematics curriculum. He wanted schools to teach calculus, so that universities would not be burdened by it. And at the core of the ...
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What did math educators think about the transition to widespread classroom use of calculators?
When we have discussions about which technology to include in our classrooms today, we are often somewhat conflicted with many standard arguments and worries being presented on both sides. To help ...
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When (and why) did geometric means of more than two numbers exit the secondary curriculum?
In contemporary US secondary mathematics textbooks, geometric means occasionally make a brief appearance. For example:
In Geometry, students learn that when an altitude is dropped to the hypotenuse ...
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Earliest real-world uses of Calculus and Linear Algebra
I want to illustrate in class that real-world applications of mathematics might take time to come to fruit. In this context, I want to find what the earliest real-world applications of Calculus and ...
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Solving open problems through a misunderstanding
We all know the (apparently verified1) anecdote recounting
George Dantzig
arriving late to a lecture (by Jerzy Neyman), and later solving two open
problems written on the board, mistaking them for ...
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Who is E. Kim Nebeuts?
I just learned the name E. Kim Nebeuts from the quote at the beginning of Joseph O'Rourke's answer to this question. Curious, I google searched. All I saw on the first 2 pages of results was things ...
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Learning math historically
What is meant by learning math historically (NOT learning math history only, but learning math with a historical development perspective)? I've seen some sources that to learn a math topic X, you need ...
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Undergraduate Vector Calculus Notation Mess
Question 1: What are your arguments in favor of the big array of different notations used in the context of undergraduate vector calculus: line integrals, surface integrals (of scalars and fields), ...
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Historical Development vs Official Development
In some cases the historical development of a mathematical subject/tool is not straightforward. Mathematicians define a particular notion and work in an accepted direction. After a while they come ...
user230
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How does the average level of expected mathematical sophistication at high school level increase?
I remember reading an old calculus book (years 1920-1930) and in the preface it was portrayed as revolutionary because it was for high school students. Nowadays, that is not revolutionary, because ...
