"The usual courses in mathematics are... deceptive in a basic respect. They give an organized logical presentation which leaves the impression that mathematicians go from theorem to theorem almost naturally, that mathematicians can master almost any difficulty, and that subjects are completely thrashed out and settled. The succession of theorems overwhelms the student... The history, by contrast, teaches us the development of a subject is made bit by bit with results coming from various directions. We learn, too, that often decades and even hundreds of years of effort were required before significant steps could be made. In place of the impression that subjects are completely thrashed out one finds that what is attained is often but a start, that many gaps have to be filled, or that the really important extensions remain to be created."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (1972).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mathematics_education
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Mathematics education
52 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Mathematics education →
Related Quotes
"Because of white racism's ability to bludgeon us into believing that we are inferior beings and therefore incapable o…"
"Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and r…"
"By the beginning of the seventeenth century we may say that the fundamental principles of arithmetic, algebra, theory…"
"Those intending to continue in mathematics or science or technology... believe that a survey of the main directions a…"
"All the modern higher mathematics is based on a calculus of operations, on laws of thought. All mathematics, from the…"
"The student can actually carry out the mathematical tasks in an authentically historical setting. He can do long divi…"
"Students enjoy... and gain in their understanding of today's mathematics through analyzing older and alternative appr…"
"1. The human mind is so constructed that it must see every perception in a time-relation—in an order—and every percep…"
"The Eudemian Summary says that "Pythagoras changed the study of geometry into the form of a liberal education, for he…"
"Euclid's manner of exposition, progressing relentlessly from the data to the unknown and from the hypothesis to the c…"