Related papers: The decolonisation of mathematics
Many mathematicians find mathematics aesthetically beautiful and even comparable to art forms such as music or painting. On the other hand, every year a great number of school students leave mathematics with total disillusionment and…
Despite significant improvements over the last few generations, the discipline of mathematics still counts a disproportionately small number of women among its practitioners. These women are underrepresented as conference speakers, even…
This essay considers ways that recent uses of computers in mathematics challenge contemporary views on the nature of mathematical understanding. It also puts these challenges in a historical perspective and offers speculation as to a…
This article sets out our perspective on how to begin the journey of decolonising computational fields, such as data and cognitive sciences. We see this struggle as requiring two basic steps: a) realisation that the present-day system has…
Contemporary anarchism centers around three tenets: (1) a constant challenge of and resistance to all forms of domination, (2) so-called "prefigurative politics", in which all decisions are made in a manner that is consistent with a set of…
This paper describes a novel perspective on the foundations of mathematics: how mathematics may be seen to be largely about 'information compression via the matching and unification of patterns' (ICMUP). ICMUP is itself a novel approach to…
The aim of this paper is to study the historical evolution of mathematical thinking and its spatial spreading. To do so, we have collected and integrated data from different online academic datasets. In its final stage, the database…
We consider a definition of mathematics as the art of thinking in terms of formalized systems, and the science of relations, structures and algorithms. We also touch upon the relation of mathematics to other sciences, in particular through…
In this paper we discuss how teaching of mathematics for middle school and high school students can be improved dramatically when motivation of concepts and ideas is done through the classical problems and the history of mathematics. This…
This article analyzes the emerging ethical turn in mathematics education, arguing that it is a nuanced extension of the sociopolitical turn. While sociopolitical studies of mathematics have highlighted systemic issues and group concerns…
We report on a pedagogical experiment to make mathematics easy by changing its philosophy. The Western philosophy of math originated in religious beliefs about mathesis, cursed by the church. Later, mathematics was "reinterpreted", in a…
We provide a theoretical framework for analysing and comparing different forms of organizing introductions to mathematical analysis at the secondary level, then illustrate it by two characteristic examples from certain periods of change in…
Leibniz scholarship is currently an area of lively debate. We respond to some recent criticisms by Archibald et al.
This paper frames calculus as a global, centuries-long development rather than a subject that began only with Newton and Leibniz. Drawing on ideas from Greek, Indian, Islamic, and later European mathematics, it highlights how concepts like…
We review the role of mathematics from a historical and a conceptual perspective in the light of modern data science.
How students use mathematics in their physics classes has been studied extensively in the physics education literature. In addition to specific mathematical methods in specific physics contexts, possible effects of more general "cultural"…
Mathematics curriculums at most universities tend to perpetuate a belief that higher mathematics is historically and culturally European. First Nations and minority students may not see their identities and cultures reflected in the…
This article presents a source list to support departments in creating more equitable, diverse, and inclusive mathematics classrooms. Included are relevant general-interest books, as well as articles and books presenting research results…
When a bilingual student learns to solve word problems in math, we expect the student to be able to solve these problem in both languages the student is fluent in,even if the math lessons were only taught in one language. However, current…
While the consequences of mathematically-based software, algorithms and strategies have become ever wider and better appreciated, ethical reflection on mathematics has remained primitive. We review the somewhat disconnected suggestions of…