Proof construction and in-process validation – Validation activities of undergraduates in constructing mathematical proofs

Proof construction and proof validation are two situations of high importance in mathematical teaching and research. While both situations have usually been studied separately, the current study focuses on possible intersections. Based on research on acceptance criteria and validation strategies, 11 undergraduates’ proof construction processes are investigated in terms of the effective and non-effective validation activities that occur. By conducting a qualitative content analysis with subsequent type construction, we identified six different validation activities, namely reviewing, rating, correcting errors, reassuring, expressing doubts, and improving. Although some of these activities tend to be associated with successful or unsuccessful proving processes, their effectiveness depends primarily on their specific implementation. For example, reviewing is effective when accompanied by a knowledge-generating approach and based on structure- or meaning-oriented criteria to provide deeper understanding. Thus, the results suggest that difficulties in proof construction could be partly attributed to inadequate validation strategies or their poor implementation.     

Are beginning calculus and engineering students adequately prepared for higher education? An assessment of students’ basic mathematical knowledge

Are students transitioning from the secondary level to university studies in mathematics and engineering adequately prepared for education at the tertiary level? In this study, we discuss the prior mathematical knowledge and skills demonstrated by Norwegian engineering (N?=?1537) and calculus (N?=?626) university students by using data from a mathematics assessment administered by the Norwegian Mathematical Council. The assessment examines students’ conceptual understanding, computation skills and problem solving skills on the basis of the mathematics curriculum of lower secondary education. We found that calculus students significantly outperformed engineering students, but both student groups struggled to solve the test, with the calculus and engineering groups scoring an average of 60% and 46%, respectively. Beginning students who fail to master basic skills, such as solving arithmetic and algebra problems, will most likely face difficulties in their further courses. Although few female students enrol in calculus and engineering programmes compared with male ones and are thus underrepresented, male and female students at the same ability level achieved comparable test scores. Furthermore, students reported high levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and a positive relationship was observed between intrinsic motivation and achievement.     

Geometric conditions for Kuhn–Tucker sufficiency of global optimality in mathematical programming

We present geometric criteria for a feasible point that satisfies the Kuhn–Tucker conditions to be a global minimizer of mathematical programming problems with or without bounds on the variables. The criteria apply to multi-extremal programming problems which may have several local minimizers that are not global. We establish such criteria in terms of underestimators of the Lagrangian of the problem. The underestimators are required to satisfy certain geometric property such as the convexity (or a generalized convexity) property. We show that the biconjugate of the Lagrangian can be chosen as a convex underestimator whenever the biconjugate coincides with the Lagrangian at a point. We also show how suitable underestimators can be constructed for the Lagrangian in the case where the problem has bounds on the variables. Examples are given to illustrate our results.     

American pestalozzianism in Greek mathematical education 1830–1836

The American missionaries, who came to the newly established Greece around 1830, developed a prolific educational and publishing activity. Within this context, they translated and disseminated six schoolbooks of elementary arithmetic, imbued by the pedagogical ideas of Pestalozzi. This venture was far from random, but echoed the progressive current of pestalozzianism, which prevailed in North America in the 1820s, and which they wished to embed into the then existing Greek mathematical culture. However, due to its incompatibility with the Greek religious tradition, the project of the missionaries largely failed.     

Pearson's correlation between three variables; using students’ basic knowledge of geometry for an exercise in mathematical statistics

The well known recurrence formulae for means and standard deviations have been extended to encompass bivariate data. The effectiveness of this technique is enhanced with the aid of a microcomputer.     

Asymptotics of solutions for a basic case of fluid–structure interaction

We consider the Navier–Stokes equations in a half-plane with a drift term parallel to the boundary and a small source term of compact support. We provide detailed information on the behavior of the velocity and the vorticity at infinity in terms of an asymptotic expansion at large distances from the boundary. The expansion is universal in the sense that it only depends on the source term through some constants. The expansion also applies to the problem of an exterior flow past a small body moving at constant velocity parallel to the boundary, and can be used as an artificial boundary condition on the edges of truncated domains for numerical simulations.     

The Mittag-Leffler Theorem: The origin,evolution, and reception of a mathematical result, 1876–1884

The Swedish mathematician Gösta Mittag-Leffler (1846–1927) is well-known for founding Acta Mathematica, often touted as the first international journal of mathematics. A “post-doctoral” student in Paris and Berlin between 1873 and 1876, Mittag-Leffler built on Karl Weierstrass? work by proving the Mittag-Leffler Theorem, which states that a function of rational character (i.e. a meromorphic function) is specified by its poles, their multiplicities, and the coefficients in the principal part of its Laurent expansion.     

Temporal freedom in mathematical thought: A philosophical–empirical enquiry

This paper seeks to introduce and elaborate on the notion of ‘temporal freedom’ in the context of mathematical thinking.The intention is to merge a philosophical and empirical discussion on this topic, and findings will be presented from a qualitative study in which 29 high-school students were invited to explore the symmetry group of a square during clinical interviews. The data indicate how the interviewees – who were given the opportunity to freely explore an unseen mathematical system – repeatedly brought past and future together in a tangible present during their investigations. In doing so they were exceptionally successful in engaging with advanced abstract algebra, far beyond what might have been expected at the outset.By using empirical data to exemplify an otherwise highly philosophical discussion, I hope to draw explicit attention to the temporal aspect of the human mind in mathematical action which instructional methods frequently fail to recognise, value and utilise.     

Some notes to the issue of the mathematical potential recovery model in Borg–Levinson inverse problem

Ricerche di Matematica - In this paper we investigate the uniqueness of potential recovery in the inverse Borg–Levinson problem, and our study deals with a model of its recovery. The article...     

Defining a mathematical research school: the case of algebra at the University of Chicago, 1892–1945

Historians of science have long considered the concept of the “research school” as a potent analytical construct for understanding the development of the laboratory sciences. Unfortunately, their definitions fall short in the case of mathematics. Here, a definition of “mathematical research school” is proposed in the context of a case study of algebraic work associated with the University of Chicago's Department of Mathematics from the University's founding in 1892 through 1945.     

Kinetic-fluid derivation and mathematical analysis of a nonlocal cross-diffusion–fluid system

In this article we propose a nonlocal cross-diffusion–fluid system describing the dynamics of multiple interacting populations living in a Newtonian fluid. First, we derive our nonlocal cross-diffusion–fluid system from a nonlocal kinetic-fluid model by the micro-macro decomposition method. Second, we prove the existence of weak solutions for the proposed system by applying the nonlinear Galerkin method with a priori estimates and compactness arguments. On the basis of micro-macro decomposition, we propose and develop an asymptotic-preserving numerical scheme. Finally, we discuss the computational results for the proposed system.     

Some personal experiences in popularizing mathematical methods in the People's Republic of China†

This report is a summing‐up of some personal experiences so far accumulated in the on‐going course of the popularization of mathematical methods in the People's Republic of China. Some techniques and methodology currently in use both inside and outside China are critically reviewed.

     

Uniform convergence of basic Fourier–Bessel series on a q-linear grid

We study Fourier–Bessel series on a q-linear grid, defined as expansions in complete q-orthogonal systems constructed with the third Jackson q-Bessel function, and obtain sufficient conditions for uniform convergence. The convergence results are illustrated with specific examples of expansions in q-Fourier–Bessel series.