Rationals and decimals as required in the school curriculum: Part 2: From rationals to decimals

In the late seventies, Guy Brousseau set himself the goal of verifying experimentally a theory he had been building up for a number of years. The theory, consistent with what was later named (non-radical) constructivism, was that children, in suitable carefully arranged circumstances, can build their own knowledge of mathematics. The experiment, carried out jointly with his wife, Nadine, in her classroom at the École Jules Michelet, was to teach all of the material on rational and decimal numbers required by the national program with a carefully structured, tightly woven and interdependent sequence of “situations.” This article describes and discusses the second portion of that experiment.     

Rationals and decimals as required in the school curriculum: Part 3. Rationals and decimals as linear functions

In the late seventies, Guy Brousseau set himself the goal of verifying experimentally a theory he had been building up for a number of years. The theory, consistent with what was later named (non-radical) constructivism, was that children, in suitable carefully arranged circumstances, can build their own knowledge of mathematics. The experiment, carried out by a team of researchers and teachers that included his wife, Nadine, in classrooms at the École Jules Michelet, was to teach all of the material on rational and decimal numbers required by the national programme with a carefully structured, tightly woven and interdependent sequence of “situations.” This article describes and discusses the third portion of that experiment.     

Rationals and decimals as required in the school curriculum: Part 4: Problem solving,composed mappings and division

In the late seventies, Guy Brousseau set himself the goal of verifying experimentally a theory he had been building up for a number of years. The theory, consistent with what was later named (nonradical) constructivism, was that children, in suitable carefully arranged circumstances, can build their own knowledge of mathematics. The experiment, carried out by a team of researchers and teachers that included his wife, Nadine, in classrooms at the École Jules Michelet, was to teach all of the material on rational and decimal numbers required by the national program with a carefully structured, tightly woven and interdependent sequence of “situations.” This article describes and discusses the fourth and last portion of that experiment.     

Arithmetic on Groups of Positive Rationals

In this paper we develop a theory of unique factorization for subgroups of the positive rationals. We show that this theory is strong enough to include arithmetic progressions and the theory of genera in algebraic number fields. We establish generalizations of both Dirichlet's theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions and the theory of genera for Abelian extensions of the rationals.     

On the Approximation of Irrationals by Rationals

Let ξ be a real irrational number, and a ≧ 0, b ≧ 0, s > 1 be integers. A theorem of S. UCHIYAMA states that there are infinitely many pairs of integers u and v ≠ 0 such that OVBARξ?u/vOVBAR ≤ s²/4v² and u ? a, v ? b mod s, provided that it is not a ? 6 ? 0 mod s. It is shown that this result is best-possible for all integers s > 1.     

The Rationals have an AZ-Enumeration

Let M be an -categorical structure (that is, M is countableand Th(M) is -categorical). A nice enumeration of M is a totalordering of M having order-type and satisfying the following.Whenever a_i, i<, is a sequence of elements from M, thereexist some i<j< and an automorphism of M such that (a_i)= a_j and whenever ba_i, then (b)a_j. Such enumerations were introduced by Ahlbrandt and Ziegler in[1] where they showed that any Grassmannian of an infinite-dimensionalprojective space over a finite field (or of a disintegratedset) admits a nice enumeration; this combinatorial propertyplayed an essential role in their proof that almost stronglyminimal totally categorical structures are quasi-finitely axiomatisable. Recall that if M is -categorical and is a k-tuple of distinctelements from M (with tp() non-algebraic), then the GrassmannianGr(M; ) is defined as follows. The domain of Gr(M; ) is theset of realisations of tp() in M^k, modulo the equivalence relationxEy if x and y are equal as sets. This is a 0-definable subsetof M^eq, and now the relations on Gr(M; ) are by definition preciselythose which are 0-definable in the structure M^eq. (In particular,Gr(M; ) is also -categorical.) Notice that it is by no means clear that if M admits a niceenumeration, then so do Grassmannians of M. However, there isa strengthening of the notion of nice enumeration for whichthis is the case.     

Algebras of p-Groups of Class 2 Over the Rationals

In this work we analyze p-groups of class 2 G and H, with same rational group algebras. We prove that if QG = QH, then their commutators are equal and the centers, 𝒵(G) and 𝒵(H), have their orders preserved. We apply our results to Frattini Central p-groups, and we present an example of two groups of order p ⁷, with no isomorphic centers and different central cyclic components intersecting the cyclic components of the respective commutators groups.     

Interpreting the Action of the Endomorphism Monoid of the Rationals

Algebra and Logic - In a first order language we interpret the action of the monoid M of embeddings of (?,&lt;) on the set ? inside (M,°). A similar result is proved for the...     

On Dominions of the Rationals in Nilpotent Groups

The dominion of a subgroup H of a group G in a class M is the set of all a ∈ G that have the same images under every pair of homomorphisms, coinciding on H from G to a group in M. A group H is n-closed in M if for every group G = gr(H, a₁,..., a_n) in M that includes H and is generated modulo H by some n elements, the dominion of H in G (in M) is equal to H. We prove that the additive group of the rationals is 2-closed in every quasivariety of torsion-free nilpotent groups of class at most 3.     

How to Solve a Quadratic Equation In Rationals

The title alludes to a similar title of the paper [3] by Grunewaldand Segal, in which it is shown how to solve a quadratic equationin integers. This latter procedure seems to be quite difficult,and the algorithm outlined in [3] is rather involved, althoughit is completely effective in the logical sense. 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification 11D09.     

Monomial conditions on prime rings

The study of pivotal monomials (and related conditions) is continued and extended, with the aim of studying carefully a situation generalizing Martindale's theory of prime rings with generalized polynomial identity. This is used to describe various classes of rings in terms of simple elementary sentences. The focus is on prime “Johnson” rings, which play a crucial role in our characterizations. It turns out that these rings can be characterized in terms of generalized pivotal monomials, thereby yielding a theory similar to that of [17]. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Discrete Chebyshev Approximation by Interpolating Rationals

The problem of discrete Chebyshev approximation by a certainform of rational function is considered. The exchange algorithmis applied with a particular treatment of the levelling equations.Illustrative numerical examples are presented, including thedetection of noise levels.     

Controlled differential equations as Young integrals: A simple approach

The theory of rough paths allows one to define controlled differential equations driven by a path which is irregular. The most simple case is the one where the driving path has finite p-variations with 1?p<2, in which case the integrals are interpreted as Young integrals. The prototypal example is given by stochastic differential equations driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst index greater than 1/2. Using simple computations, we give the main results regarding this theory - existence, uniqueness, convergence of the Euler scheme, flow property … - which are spread out among several articles.     

The concept of fractal experiments: New possibilities in quantitative description of quasi-reproducible measurements

In this paper the authors suggest a new conception of the so-called fractal (self-similar) experiment. Under the fractal experiment (FE) one can imply a cycle of measurements that are subjected by the scaling transformations F(z) → F(zξ^m) in contrast with conventional scheme F(z) → F(z + mT) (m = 0,1,…, M–1), where z defines the controllable (input) variable and can be associated with time, complex frequency, wavelength and etc., T – mean period of time between successive measurements and m defines a number of successive measurements. One can connect a fractal experiment with specific memory effect that arises between successive measurements. The general theory of experiment for quasi-periodic measurements proposed in [1] after some transformations can be applied for the set of the FE, as well. But attentive analysis shown in this paper allows generalizing the previous results for the case when the influence of uncontrollable factors becomes significant. The theory developed for this case allows to consider more real cases when the influence of dynamic (unstable) processes taking place during the cycle of measurements corresponding to some FE is becoming essential. These experiments we define as quasi-reproducible (QR) fractal experiments.The proposed concept opens new possibilities in theory of measurements and numerous applications, especially in different nanotechnologies, when the influence of the scaling factor plays the essential role. This concept allows also to introduce the so-called intermediate model (IM) which can serve as an unified platform for reconciliation of the proposed microscopic theory with reliable experiments “refined” from the influence of the random noise and apparatus function. We forced to consider a modified model experiment in order to demonstrate some common peculiarities that can be appeared in real cases. We know only couple of similar examples of experiments that are close to the proposed concept. Mechanical relaxation and dielectric spectroscopy (based on measurements of the complex susceptibility ε(jω)) represent the branches of physics related to consideration of mechanical and electric relaxation phenomena in different heterogeneous materials. The dielectric spectroscopy can be considered as an instructive example for better understanding of the proposed concept.In cases, when the microscopic model is absent the results of measurements can be expressed in terms of the fitting parameters associated with the generalized Prony spectrum (GPS) belonging to the IM. The authors do hope that this new approach will find an interesting continuation in various applications of different nanotechnologies.     

Topological conformal field theories and Calabi-Yau categories

This is the first of two papers which construct a purely algebraic counterpart to the theory of Gromov-Witten invariants (at all genera). These Gromov-Witten type invariants depend on a Calabi-Yau A_∞ category, which plays the role of the target in ordinary Gromov-Witten theory. When we use an appropriate A_∞ version of the derived category of coherent sheaves on a Calabi-Yau variety, this constructs the B model at all genera. When the Fukaya category of a compact symplectic manifold X is used, it is shown, under certain assumptions, that the usual Gromov-Witten invariants are recovered. The assumptions are that open-closed Gromov-Witten theory can be constructed for X, and that the natural map from the Hochschild homology of the Fukaya category of X to the ordinary homology of X is an isomorphism.     

Generating the patterns of variation with GeoGebra: the case of polynomial approximations

In this paper, we report a teaching experiment regarding the theory of polynomial approximations at the university mathematics teaching in Sweden. The experiment was designed by applying Variation theory and by using the free dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra. The aim of this study was to investigate if the technology-assisted teaching of Taylor polynomials compared with traditional way of work at the university level can support the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts and ideas. An engineering student group (n = 19) was taught Taylor polynomials with the assistance of GeoGebra while a control group (n = 18) was taught in a traditional way. The data were gathered by video recording of the lectures, by doing a post-test concerning Taylor polynomials in both groups and by giving one question regarding Taylor polynomials at the final exam for the course in Real Analysis in one variable. In the analysis of the lectures, we found Variation theory combined with GeoGebra to be a potentially powerful tool for revealing some critical aspects of Taylor Polynomials. Furthermore, the research results indicated that applying Variation theory, when planning the technology-assisted teaching, supported and enriched students’ learning opportunities in the study group compared with the control group.     

The stress-energy tensor of matter as a gravitational field source

This article discusses the hypothesis that the universally conserved stress-energy tensor of matter is the source of the gravitational field. From this hypothesis, it immediately follows that space-time must be Riemannian. In contrast to the general theory of relativity, in the gravitational theory based on this hypothesis, the concept of an inertial coordinate system, acceleration relative to space, and the laws of conservation of the energy and angular momenta are retained. In the framework of this theory, the gravitational field is a physical field. The theory explains all observable facts of the solar system, predicts the existence of a large hidden mass of matter in a homogeneous and isotropic universe, and assumes that such a universe can only be “flat.” The theory changes the established idea of the collapse of large massive bodies. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 110, No. 1, pp. 5–24, January, 1997.     

Some analytic approximations for neutral stochastic functional differential equations

We consider an analytic iterative method to approximate the solution of a neutral stochastic functional differential equation. More precisely, we define a sequence of approximate equations and we give sufficient conditions under which the approximate solutions converge with probability one and in pth moment sense, p ? 2, to the solution of the initial equation. We introduce the notion of the Z-algorithm for this iterative method and present some examples to illustrate the theory. Especially, we point out that the well-known Picard method of iterations is a special Z-algorithm.