Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom
Theorems stating that something is impossible are notoriously difficult to understand for many students and amateur mathematicians. In this talk I shall discuss how the role of such impossibility statements has changed during the history of mathematics. I shall argue that impossibility statements ha...
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Online |
| Idioma: | spa |
| Publicado: |
Universidad de Costa Rica
2014
|
| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem/article/view/14723 |
| id |
CIFEM14723 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
ojs |
| spelling |
CIFEM147232015-01-27T15:33:20Z Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom Lützen, Jesper Philosophy Mathematics Education History of Mathematics Theorems stating that something is impossible are notoriously difficult to understand for many students and amateur mathematicians. In this talk I shall discuss how the role of such impossibility statements has changed during the history of mathematics. I shall argue that impossibility statements have changed status from a kind of meta-statement to true mathematical theorems. I shall also argue that this story is worth telling in the classroom because it will clarify the nature of impossibility theorems and thus of mathematics. In particular it will show to the students how mathematics is able to investigate the limits of its own activity with its own methods. Universidad de Costa Rica 2014-06-02 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Article application/pdf https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem/article/view/14723 Cuadernos de Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática; Trabajos de la XIII CIAEM; 165-174 Cuadernos de Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática; Trabajos de la XIII CIAEM; 165-174 2215-5627 1659-2573 spa https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem/article/view/14723/13968 Derechos de autor 2014 Cuadernos de Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática |
| institution |
Universidad de Costa Rica |
| collection |
Cuadernos de Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática |
| language |
spa |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Lützen, Jesper |
| spellingShingle |
Lützen, Jesper Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| author_facet |
Lützen, Jesper |
| author_sort |
Lützen, Jesper |
| description |
Theorems stating that something is impossible are notoriously difficult to understand for many students and amateur mathematicians. In this talk I shall discuss how the role of such impossibility statements has changed during the history of mathematics. I shall argue that impossibility statements have changed status from a kind of meta-statement to true mathematical theorems. I shall also argue that this story is worth telling in the classroom because it will clarify the nature of impossibility theorems and thus of mathematics. In particular it will show to the students how mathematics is able to investigate the limits of its own activity with its own methods. |
| title |
Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| title_short |
Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| title_full |
Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| title_fullStr |
Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Mathematical Impossibility in History and in the Classroom |
| title_sort |
mathematical impossibility in history and in the classroom |
| publisher |
Universidad de Costa Rica |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem/article/view/14723 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT lutzenjesper mathematicalimpossibilityinhistoryandintheclassroom |
| _version_ |
1809124873490923520 |