Teaching mathematics as a way of thinking – not calculating
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12697/eha.2021.9.1.02bAbstract
Important aspects of mathematical thinking are exploring, questioning, working systematically, visualizing, conjecturing, explaining, generalizing, justifying, and proving (but excluding the execution of formal procedures either done by machines or viewed as a “lower-level”, mechanical activity). Mathematical thinking is what this essay is about. But before I start, it should be noted that I write from the perspective of a career that spanned both academic research in pure mathematics and the world of applied mathematics, where I worked on a wide range of real-life problems for private industry and government.
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