Related papers: Popularizing mathematics: from eight to infinity
We discuss various universality aspects of numerical computations using standard algorithms. These aspects include empirical observations and rigorous results. We also make various speculations about computation in a broader sense.
Putting data into the public domain is not the same thing as making those data accessible for intelligent analysis. A distinguished group of editors and experts who were already engaged in one way or another with the issues inherent in…
Mathematics and its relation to the physical universe have been the topic of speculation since the days of Pythagoras. Several different views of the nature of mathematics have been considered: Realism - mathematics exists and is…
Our introductory classes in statistics and data science use too much mathematics. The key causal effect which our students want our classes to have is to improve their future performance and opportunities. The more professional their…
This is an essay that considering the knowledge structure and language of a different nature, attempts to build on an explanation of the object of study and characteristics of the mathematical science. We end up with a learning cycle of…
A popular scientific contribution should not contradict any established facts and ought to be understandable. I complied with both these requirements and am offering a sufficiently full introduction to probability theory. Furthermore, I…
"Math is not a spectator sport." "Lecturing is educational malpractice." Slogans like these rally some mathematicians to teach classes that feature "active learning", where lecturing is eschewed for student participation. Yet as much as I…
This note presents reflections drawn from my recent experiences in teaching a course on mathematics and sustainability, with a particular emphasis on raising awareness of the topic and its broader implications. The lectures were structured…
Many have wondered how mathematics, which appears to be the result of both human creativity and human discovery, can possibly exhibit the degree of success and seemingly-universal applicability to quantifying the physical world as…
This overview article highlights the critical role of mathematics in artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that mathematics provides tools to better understand and enhance AI systems. Conversely, AI raises new problems and drives the…
This chapter presents a brief review of complexity research in mathematics education. We argue how research on complexity, as it pertains to mathematics education, can be viewed as an epistemological discourse, an historical discourse, a…
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…
Robust preparation of future secondary mathematics teachers requires attention to the acquisition of mathematical knowledge for teaching. Many future teachers learn mathematics content primarily through mathematics major courses that are…
A proof is one of the most important concepts of mathematics. However, there is a striking difference between how a proof is defined in theory and how it is used in practice. This puts the unique status of mathematics as exact science into…
Politics today is largely about the art of messaging to influence the public, but the mathematical theory of messaging -- information and communication theory -- can turn this art into a precise analysis, both qualitative and quantitative,…
Social computing encompasses the mechanisms through which people interact with computational systems: crowdsourcing systems, ranking and recommendation systems, online prediction markets, citizen science projects, and collaboratively edited…
Research universities in the United States have larger mathematics faculties outside their mathematics departments than inside. Members of this "extensive" faculty conduct most mathematics research, their interests are the most heavily…
The topic of diversity is an interesting subject, both as a purely mathematical concept and also for its applications to important real-life situations. Unfortunately, although the meaning of diversity seems intuitively clear, no precise…
The problem of advancing coordinatization of mathematics is considered. The need to develop a theory for measuring value and complexity of mathematical implications and proofs is discussed including motivations, benefits and implementation…
This essay, originally published in the Sept 1990 Notices of the AMS, discusses problems of our mathematical education system that often stem from widespread misconceptions by well-meaning people of the process of learning mathematics. The…