All Questions
Tagged with mathematical-pedagogy notation
13
questions
4
votes
2
answers
311
views
Correct notation of a Sample space
From the very beginning I have used the notation $ S = \{ H , T \} $ as the Sample space for tossing a coin once and $ S = \{ HH , HT , TH , TT \} $ in the case of tossing a coin twice.I have several ...
- 1,154
9
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Is there a resource for learning to read mathematical notation/equations/formulae?
Ideally, I am looking for an online resource. But a book or any other would help already.
Background: I am a senior teaching assistant in the field of business and statistics. Most of my students have ...
4
votes
0
answers
121
views
Activities that encourage students to create or evaluate mathematical notations
I'm looking for references about activities that encourage elementary school students to create or evaluate mathematical notations. do you know any?
- 2,330
15
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why do we use functional composition in the order we do?
Function composition means, roughly, taking the output of a function and applying it to the input of another function. If we define an object C to represent this operation, we could say $C(f,g) = f∘g$ ...
- 383
9
votes
2
answers
631
views
Fear of notation and hazily-appeared writing in Mathematics
I am looking for literature related to fear of notation in mathematics.
It is even heard that the font size and font type make a reader reluctant to study mathematical literature, often lecture notes,...
2
votes
2
answers
258
views
How should one approach the concept of "plus or minus", such as in the numerator of the quadratic formula?
The numerator is structured like:
$$(-b)\pm\sqrt{b^2- 4ac}.$$
Is it confusing or acceptable to distinguish between the following two things?
An idiom; and
What is or seems to be a compositionally ...
- 352
7
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Teaching asymptotic notations at the beginning of calculus [duplicate]
I'm thinking about teaching calculus by firstly introducing the asymptotic notations (big-Oh, little-oh, and $\sim$), secondly explaining their "arithmetic" (things like how to sum little-oh's and ...
- 569
3
votes
1
answer
175
views
Naming arbitrary constants: subscripts, primes, or just more letters?
When choosing names for arbitrary constants either during a lesson or while working with a single student, should one use$\{n_1,n_2,n_3,\dotsc\}$ or $\{n, n', n'', \dotsc\}$ or $\{a,b,c,\dotsc\}$? Is ...
- 4,845
81
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Issues with "equals", where does this come from and how do I combat it?
An issue I see with students a lot is abuse of the equals sign. For example, one problem asked "what is the degree of the polynomial: $\text{polynomial}$?", and I got answers like "$\text{polynomial}=...
user5108
10
votes
1
answer
700
views
Language to Distinguish Between Variables and Arbitrary Constants
Today in second semester calculus, I found myself stumbling a bit to provide a natural-sounding explanation for all the letters involved in the expression
$$
\lim_{t \rightarrow \infty} \int_1^t \frac{...
- 596
4
votes
1
answer
234
views
On using different notations for the same objects
Historically, in set theory we use two different notations to refer set theoretically same objects $\aleph_{\alpha}$ and $\omega_{\alpha}$. The folklore justification of this dual notation is that we ...
user230
32
votes
6
answers
2k
views
What is the rationale for the absent (+) in mixed fractions?
Why are students taught to represent one and a half as $1 \frac{1}{2}$ rather than $1 + \frac{1}{2}$? This mode of expression seems standard at least throughout North America. I believe that it is bad ...
- 5,030
20
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Notation Conflict between Teachers and Textbooks
In mathematics notation plays an important role in clarifying the subject. A bad notation could be confusing. Recently I use a logic textbook which has a very nice approach and content but an ...
user230