Book Details

Internet Resource: Please Login to download book

this book begins by examining different languages and how they express mathematical ideas. The picture of mathematics that emerges is of a subject that is much more contingent, relative, and subject to human experience than is usually accepted. Barton’s thesis takes the idea of mathematics as a human creation, and, using the evidence from language, comes to more radical conclusions than usual. The first part of The Language of Mathematics: Telling Mathematical Tales explores these differences and thus illustrates the possibility of different mathematical worlds. Part II discusses what this means for mathematics and argues for alternative answers to conventional questions about mathematics: The final section explores implications for mathematics education, discussing the consequences for the ways in which we learn and teach mathematics.