Using origami boxes to explore concepts of geometry and calculus

The purpose of this classroom note is to provide an example of how a simple origami box can be used to explore important concepts of geometry and calculus. This article describes how an origami box can be folded, then it goes on to describe how its volume and surface area can be calculated. Finally, it describes how the box could be folded to maximize the surface area and the volume.     

Using dynamic software in mathematics: the case of reflection symmetry

This study was carried out to examine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) using dynamic software on the achievement of students in mathematics in the topic of reflection symmetry. The study also aimed to ascertain the pre-service mathematics teachers’ opinions on the use of CAI in mathematics lessons. In the study, a mixed research method was used. The study group of this research consists of 30 pre-service mathematics teachers. The data collection tools used include a reflection knowledge test, a survey and observations. Based on the analysis of the data obtained from the study, the use of CAI had a positive effect on achievement in the topic of reflection symmetry of the pre-service mathematics teachers. The pre-service mathematics teachers were found to largely consider that a mathematics education which is carried out utilizing CAI will be more beneficial in terms of ‘visualization’, ‘saving of time’ and ‘increasing interest/attention in the lesson’. In addition, it was found that the vast majority of them considered using computers in their teaching on the condition that the learning environment in which they would be operating has the appropriate technological equipment.     

Engaging in problem posing activities in a dynamic geometry setting and the development of prospective teachers’ mathematical knowledge

In the present study we explore changes in perceptions of our class of prospective mathematics teachers (PTs) regarding their mathematical knowledge. The PTs engaged in problem posing activities in geometry, using the “What If Not?” (WIN) strategy, as part of their work on computerized inquiry-based activities. Data received from the PTs’ portfolios reveals that they believe that engaging in the inquiry-based activity enhanced both their mathematical and meta-mathematical knowledge. As to the mathematical knowledge, they deepened their knowledge regarding the geometrical concepts and shapes involved, and during the process of creating the problem and checking its validity and its solution, they deepened their understanding of the interconnections among the concepts and shapes involved. As to meta-mathematical knowledge, the PTs refer to aspects such as the meaning of the givens and their relations, validity of an argument, the importance and usefulness of the definitions of concepts and objects, and the importance of providing a formal proof.     

Body‐based activities in secondary geometry: An analysis of learning and viewpoint

Body‐based activities have the potential to support mathematics learning, but we know little about the impact they have in the classroom. This study compares high school geometry students learning through either body‐based or analogous non‐body‐based activities over the course of a two‐week unit on similarity. Pre‐ and post‐tests revealed that while students in both conditions showed gains in content area comprehension over the course of the study, the body‐based condition showed significantly greater gains. Further, there were differences in the language students used to describe the learning activities at the end of the unit that may have contributed to the differences in learning gains. The students in the body‐based condition included more mathematical and nonmathematical details in their recollections. Additionally, students in the body‐based condition were more likely to recall their experiences from a first‐person perspective, while students in the control condition were more likely to use a third‐person perspective.     

Problems on polytopes, their groups, and realizations

Summary The paper gives a collection of open problems on abstract polytopes that were either presented at the \emph{Polytopes Day in Calgary} or motivated by discussions at the preceding \emph{Workshop on Convex and Abstract Polytopes\/} at the Banff International Research Station in May~2005.     

Left and right centers in quasi-Poisson geometry of moduli spaces

We introduce left central and right central functions and left and right leaves in quasi-Poisson geometry, generalizing central (or Casimir) functions and symplectic leaves from Poisson geometry. They lead to a new type of (quasi-)Poisson reduction, which is both simpler and more general than known quasi-Hamiltonian reductions. We study these notions in detail for moduli spaces of flat connections on surfaces, where the quasi-Poisson structure is given by an intersection pairing on homology.     

Mathematical literacy in undergraduates: role of gender,emotional intelligence and emotional self-efficacy

This empirical study explores the roles that Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Emotional Self-Efficacy (ESE) play in undergraduates’ mathematical literacy, and the influence of EI and ESE on students’ attitudes towards and beliefs about mathematics. A convenience sample of 93 female and 82 male first-year undergraduates completed a test of mathematical literacy, followed by an online survey designed to measure the students’ EI, ESE and factors associated with mathematical literacy. Analysis of the data revealed significant gender differences. Males attained a higher mean test score than females and out-performed the females on most of the individual questions and the associated mathematical tasks. Overall, males expressed greater confidence in their mathematical skills, although both males’ and females’ confidence outweighed their actual mathematical proficiency. Correlation analyses revealed that males and females attaining higher mathematical literacy test scores were more confident and persistent, exhibited lower levels of mathematics anxiety and possessed higher mathematics qualifications. Correlation analyses also revealed that in male students, aspects of ESE were associated with beliefs concerning the learning of mathematics (i.e. that intelligence is malleable and that persistence can facilitate success), but not with confidence or actual performance. Both EI and ESE play a greater role with regard to test performance and attitudes/beliefs regarding mathematics amongst female undergraduates; higher EI and ESE scores were associated with higher test scores, while females exhibiting higher levels of ESE were also more confident and less anxious about mathematics, believed intelligence to be malleable, were more persistent and were learning goal oriented. Moderated regression analyses confirmed mathematics anxiety as a negative predictor of test performance in males and females, but also revealed that in females EI and ESE moderate the effects of anxiety on test performance, with the relationship between anxiety and test performance linked more to emotional management (EI) than to ESE.     

例谈数形结合在高数解题中的应用

通过微分中值的等式证明、求渐近线方程、定积分中的换元法、几何图形的描绘以及曲线积分的计算等例题,说明将代数运算或证明与几何直观相结合给解高等数学问题带来的好处．     

Partial geometries pg (s, t, 2) with an abelian Singer group and a characterization of the van Lint-Schrijver partial geometry

Let be a proper partial geometry pg(s,t,2), and let G be an abelian group of automorphisms of acting regularly on the points of . Then either t≡2±od s+1 or is a pg(5,5,2) isomorphic to the partial geometry of van Lint and Schrijver (Combinatorica 1 (1981), 63–73). This result is a new step towards the classification of partial geometries with an abelian Singer group and further provides an interesting characterization of the geometry of van Lint and Schrijver.The author is Postdoctoral Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen).     

Analysis on the minimal representation of O(p,q) I. Realization via conformal geometry

This is the first in a series of papers devoted to an analogue of the metaplectic representation, namely the minimal unitary representation of an indefinite orthogonal group; this representation corresponds to the minimal nilpotent coadjoint orbit in the philosophy of Kirillov–Kostant. We begin by applying methods from conformal geometry of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds to a general construction of an infinite-dimensional representation of the conformal group on the solution space of the Yamabe equation. By functoriality of the constructions, we obtain different models of the unitary representation, as well as giving new proofs of unitarity and irreducibility. The results in this paper play a basic role in the subsequent papers, where we give explicit branching formulae, and prove unitarization in the various models.     

The effect of activity-based instruction on conceptual development of seventh grade students in probability

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the effects of activity-based and traditional instructions on students’ conceptual development of certain probability concepts. The study was conducted using a pretest–posttest control group design with 80 seventh graders. A developed ‘Conceptual Development Test’ comprising 12 open-ended questions was administered on both groups of students before and after the intervention. The data were analysed using analysis of covariance, with the pretest as covariate. The results revealed that activity-based instruction (ABI) outperformed the traditional counterpart in the development of probability concepts. Furthermore, ABI was found to contribute students’ conceptual development of the concept of ‘Probability of an Event’ the most, whereas to the concept of ‘Sample Space’ the least. As a consequence, it can be deduced that the designed instructional process was effective in the instruction of probability concepts.     

Self-adjointness of Schrödinger-type operators with locally integrable potentials on manifolds of bounded geometry

We consider a Schrödinger-type differential expression , where ∇ is a C^∞-bounded Hermitian connection on a Hermitian vector bundle E of bounded geometry over a manifold of bounded geometry (M,g) with metric g and positive C^∞-bounded measure dμ, and V∈L_loc¹(EndE) is a linear self-adjoint bundle map. We define the maximal operator H_V,max associated to H_V as an operator in L²(E) given by H_V,maxu=H_Vu for all , where ∇∗∇u in is understood in distributional sense. We give a sufficient condition for the self-adjointness of H_V,max. The proof adopts Kato's technique to our setting, but it requires a more general version of Kato's inequality for Bochner Laplacian operator as well as a result on the positivity of u∈L²(M) satisfying the equation (Δ_M+b)u=ν, where Δ_M is the scalar Laplacian on M, b>0 is a constant and ν?0 is a positive distribution on M. For local estimates, we use a family of cut-off functions constructed with the help of regularized distance on manifolds of bounded geometry.     

On the formation of shock and soliton in a dense quantum dusty plasma with cylindrical geometry

Excitation of nonlinear waves in a quantum dusty plasma with various effects is analyzed when the geometry is cylindrical.This introduces the effect of finite boundary conditions on the solitary waves so generated. it is observed that the nonlinear equation deduced is cylindrical KP–Burger type leading to the generation of Shock Wave. Different situations which arises in various parameter regions are considered separately and the form of the nonlinear excitations are obtained explicitly.     

Para-CR Structures of Codimension 2 on Tangent Bundles in Riemann–Finsler Geometry

We determine a 2-codimensional para-CR structure on the slit tangent bundle T0 M of a Finsler manifold（M,F） by imposing a condition regarding the almost paracomplex structure P associated to F when restricted to the structural distribution of a framed para-f-structure.This condition is satisfied when（M,F） is of scalar flag curvature（particularly constant） or if the Riemannian manifold（M,g） is of constant curvature.     

Fibrations and stability for compact group actions on manifolds with local bounded Ricci covering geometry

In the study of the collapsed manifolds with bounded sectional curvature,the following two results provide basic tools:a(singular)fibration theorem by K.Fukaya[J.Differential Gcom.,1987.25(1):139156]and J.Cheeger,K.Fukaya,and M.Gromov[J.Airier.Math.Soc.,1992.5(2):327372],and the stability for isometric compact Lie group actions on manifolds by R.S.Palais[Bull.Amer.Math.Soc.,1961,67(4):362364]and K.Grove and H.Karcher[Math.Z..1973,132:1120].The main results in this paper(partially)generalize the two results to manifolds with local bounded Ricci covering geometry.     

Noncommuting Coordinates,Exotic Particles,and Anomalous Anyons in the Hall Effect

We review our previous “exotic” particle, together with the more recent anomalous anyon model (which has the arbitrary gyromagnetic factor g). The nonrelativistic limit of the anyon generalizes the exotic particle with g = 0 to any g. In a planar electromagnetic field, the Hall effect becomes mandatory for all g ≠ 2 when the field takes some critical value.__________Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 144, No. 1, pp. 26–34, July, 2005.     

The impact of metacognitive practice and teacher feedback on academic achievement in mathematics

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of metacognitive strategies and content‐specific feedback on student achievement in high school mathematics. Participants consisted of a convenience sample of students in honors geometry. An analysis of variance with repeated measures was employed to address the research questions. For both the posttest and retention test, students in the experimental group significantly outperformed the students in the comparison group. However, students scored lower in the retention test than the posttest. The findings of this study offer a modest contribution to the body of empirical research on the impact of metacognitive practice and content‐specific feedback on academic achievement at the high school level.     

An explanatory,transformation geometry proof of a classic treasure-hunt problem and its generalization

This paper discusses an interesting, classic problem that provides a nice classroom investigation for dynamic geometry, and which can easily be explained (proved) with transformation geometry. The deductive explanation (proof) provides insight into why it is true, leading to an immediate generalization, thus illustrating the discovery function of logical reasoning (proof).     

Analysis and geometry of Floer theory of Landau-Ginzburg model on ℂn

This article studies the Floer theory of Landau-Ginzburg (LG) model on ℂⁿ: We perturb the Kähler form within a xed Kähler class to guarantee the transversal intersection of Lefschetz thimbles. The C⁰ estimate for solutions of the LG Floer equation can be derived then by our analysis tools. The Fredholm property is guaranteed by all these results.