Related papers: Difficulties with Learning and Teaching Calculus
There are versions of "calculus" in many settings, with various mixtures of algebra and analysis. In these informal notes we consider a few examples that suggest a lot of interesting questions.
This panel draws on research of the teaching of mathematical proof, conducted in five countries at different levels of schooling. With a shared view of proof as essential to the teaching and learning of mathematics, the authors present…
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 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…
This work connects two mathematical fields - computational complexity and interval linear algebra. It introduces the basic topics of interval linear algebra - regularity and singularity, full column rank, solving a linear system, deciding…
Doing mathematics implies three levels of manipulation: manipulating the abstract, manipulating symbols and manipulating logic. Teaching mathematics therefore involves the teacher proposing situations in which pupils can explore a small…
The area of fractional calculus (FC) has been fast developing and is presently being applied in all scientific fields. Therefore, it is of key relevance to assess the present state of development and to foresee, if possible, the future…
Mathematics is an essential element of physics problem solving, but experts often fail to appreciate exactly how they use it. Math may be the language of science, but math-in-physics is a distinct dialect of that language. Physicists tend…
We describe the difficulties advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with quantum measurement. To reduce these difficulties, we have developed research-based learning tools such as the Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT)…
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…
Quantum mechanics is challenging even for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Dirac notation is a convenient notation used extensively in quantum mechanics. We have been investigating the difficulties that the advanced…
Coping with ambiguity has recently received a lot of attention in natural language processing. Most work focuses on the semantic representation of ambiguous expressions. In this paper we complement this work in two ways. First, we provide…
Due to the remarkable language understanding and generation abilities of large language models (LLMs), their use in educational applications has been explored. However, little work has been done on investigating the pedagogical ability of…
In this paper we give an overview of the quantum computational complexity class QMA and a description of known QMA-complete problems to date. Such problems are believed to be difficult to solve, even with a quantum computer, but have the…
What would you teach if you had only one course to help students grasp the essence of computation and perhaps inspire a few of them to make computing a subject of further study? Assume they have the standard college prep background. This…
Symbolic calculators like Mathematica are becoming more commonplace among upper level physics students. The presence of such a powerful calculator can couple strongly to the type of mathematical reasoning students employ. It does not merely…
The constantly growing body of scholarly knowledge of science, technology, and humanities is an asset of the mankind. While new discoveries expand the existing knowledge, they may simultaneously render some of it obsolete. It is crucial for…
The introductory programming sequence has been the focus of much research in computing education. The recent advent of several viable and freely-available AI-driven code generation tools present several immediate opportunities and…
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…
Recent developments in computer programming and in mathematics suggest that there is a strong case for a new way of introducing programming to enhance the learning of school mathematics. The article describes a collaboration of mathematics…