Visualization Explanation And Reasoning Styles In Mathematics
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Visualization, Explanation and Reasoning Styles in Mathematics
Author: Paolo Mancosu
language: en
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Release Date: 2005-04-20
This book contains groundbreaking contributions to the philosophical analysis of mathematical practice. Several philosophers of mathematics have recently called for an approach to philosophy of mathematics that pays more attention to mathematical practice. Questions concerning concept-formation, understanding, heuristics, changes in style of reasoning, the role of analogies and diagrams etc. have become the subject of intense interest. The historians and philosophers in this book agree that there is more to understanding mathematics than a study of its logical structure. How are mathematical objects and concepts generated? How does the process tie up with justification? What role do visual images and diagrams play in mathematical activity? What are the different epistemic virtues (explanatoriness, understanding, visualizability, etc.) which are pursued and cherished by mathematicians in their work? The reader will find here systematic philosophical analyses as well as a wealth of philosophically informed case studies ranging from Babylonian, Greek, and Chinese mathematics to nineteenth century real and complex analysis.
Visualisation and Epistemological Access to Mathematics Education in Southern Africa
This book demonstrates that using visualisation processes in mathematics education can help to enhance teaching and learning and bridge the inequality gap that exists between well-resourced and under-resourced schools in Southern Africa. Drawing on classroom research conducted in the Southern African region, it examines how epistemological access in a context of gross inequality can be constructively addressed by providing research-based solutions and recommendations. The book outlines the visualisation process as an integral but often overlooked process of mathematics teaching and learning. It goes beyond the traditional understanding of visualisation processes such as picture forming and using tools and considers visualisation processes that are semiotic in nature and includes actions such as gestures in combination with language. It adds value to the visualisation in mathematics education research discourse and deliberation in Africa. With a unique focus on Southern Africa and open avenues for further research and collaboration in the region, it will be a highly relevant reading for researchers, academics and post-graduate students of mathematics education, comparative education and social justice education.
Visual Thinking in Mathematics
Visual thinking - visual imagination or perception of diagrams and symbol arrays, and mental operations on them - is omnipresent in mathematics. Is this visual thinking merely a psychological aid, facilitating grasp of what is gathered by other means? Or does it also have epistemological functions, as a means of discovery, understanding, and even proof? By examining the many kinds of visual representation in mathematics and the diverse ways in which they are used, Marcus Giaquinto argues that visual thinking in mathematics is rarely just a superfluous aid; it usually has epistemological value, often as a means of discovery. Drawing from philosophical work on the nature of concepts and from empirical studies of visual perception, mental imagery, and numerical cognition, Giaquinto explores a major source of our grasp of mathematics, using examples from basic geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and real analysis. He shows how we can discern abstract general truths by means of specific images, how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible, and how visual means can help us grasp abstract structures. Visual Thinking in Mathematics reopens the investigation of earlier thinkers from Plato to Kant into the nature and epistemology of an individual's basic mathematical beliefs and abilities, in the new light shed by the maturing cognitive sciences. Clear and concise throughout, it will appeal to scholars and students of philosophy, mathematics, and psychology, as well as anyone with an interest in mathematical thinking.