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I really love how mathematics takes much more sense when explained this way, with historical background. It gives the sense of a story, of people struggling wit

by omegant 12y ago

I really love how mathematics takes much more sense when explained this way, with historical background. It gives the sense of a story, of people struggling with concepts and generations needed to solve them, not only the area but also how they didn't have calculus, all this parts they make easier for me to understand concepts and remember concepts. When you put 2000 years of mathematic development in front of a person and explain it like it was obvious, something brakes inside you. I understand that from a certain point you have to study mathematics the hard way. But for kids and people starting with mathematics, it´s better a "history-story" approach.

nhaehnle 12y ago
I don't know whether the actual history of mathematics is useful for understanding mathematics. However, I do believe that a plausible story of how somebody came up with concepts is very important. It can be tempting to structure a mathematics lecture in a very sober/bland style of definitions followed by theorems with proof. However, definitions usually arose because somebody was trying to solve a particular problem, and this should be part of mathematics teaching. It is usually said that "mathematics is not a spectator sport". To fully learn it, you have to put yourself into the shoes of somebody who invents certain definitions and seeks out certain theorems because they have some ulterior question that motivates them. I would go beyond what you wrote by saying that this applies to advanced mathematics as well. The truly great papers tend to lucidly lay out the thought processes that explain why definitions and proof steps are chosen to be of a certain form.
- omegant 12y ago
  For me it is. For example, I read "Fermat´s last theorem". The great thing is that the author tells in a vivid way, how different mathematicians attacked different parts of the theorem, starting with Fermat, up to the present . He also explains how the tools developed along the time found real world applications. I can not say that I understand the concepts explained at the book, but now I feel that I could even start learning Number theory (well maybe this is a stretch, but you get the idea) On a side note please for give my parent comment. I was writing from the Iphone seated at a plane, so I had to hurry and didn't have time for corrections.

by omegant 12y ago

nhaehnle 12y ago

I don't know whether the actual history of mathematics is useful for understanding mathematics. However, I do believe that a plausible story of how somebody came up with concepts is very important. It can be tempting to structure a mathematics lecture in a very sober/bland style of definitions followed by theorems with proof. However, definitions usually arose because somebody was trying to solve a particular problem, and this should be part of mathematics teaching. It is usually said that "mathematics is not a spectator sport". To fully learn it, you have to put yourself into the shoes of somebody who invents certain definitions and seeks out certain theorems because they have some ulterior question that motivates them. I would go beyond what you wrote by saying that this applies to advanced mathematics as well. The truly great papers tend to lucidly lay out the thought processes that explain why definitions and proof steps are chosen to be of a certain form.

omegant 12y ago
For me it is. For example, I read "Fermat´s last theorem". The great thing is that the author tells in a vivid way, how different mathematicians attacked different parts of the theorem, starting with Fermat, up to the present . He also explains how the tools developed along the time found real world applications. I can not say that I understand the concepts explained at the book, but now I feel that I could even start learning Number theory (well maybe this is a stretch, but you get the idea) On a side note please for give my parent comment. I was writing from the Iphone seated at a plane, so I had to hurry and didn't have time for corrections.