Reprint of the original, first published in 1836.

This book includes 18 peer-reviewed papers from nine countries, originally presented in a shorter form at TSG 25 The Role of History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education, as part of ICME-13 during. It also features an introductory chapter, by its co-editors, on the structure and main points of the book with an outline of recent developments in exploring the role of history and epistemology in mathematics education. It serves as a valuable contribution in this domain, by making reports on recent developments in this field available to the international educational community, with a special focus on relevant research results since 2000. The 18 chapters of the book are divided into five interrelated parts that underlie the central issues of research in this domain: 1. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks for integrating history and epistemology in mathematics in mathematics education; 2. Courses and didactical material: Design, implementation and evaluation; 3. Empirical investigations on implementing history and epistemology in mathematics education; 4. Original historical sources in teaching and learning of and about mathematics; 5. History and epistemology of mathematics: Interdisciplinary teaching and sociocultural aspects. This book covers all levels of education, from primary school to tertiary education, with a particular focus on teacher education. Additionally, each chapter refers to and/or is based on empirical research, in order to support, illuminate, clarify and evaluate key issues, main questions, and conjectured theses raised by the authors or in the literature on the basis of historical-epistemological or didactical-cognitive arguments.

A student in class asks the math teacher: "Shouldn't minus times minus make minus?" Teachers soon convince most students that it does not. Yet the innocent question brings with it a germ of mathematical creativity. What happens if we encourage that thought, odd and ungrounded though it may seem? Few books in the field of mathematics encourage such creative thinking. Fewer still are engagingly written and fun to read. This book succeeds on both counts. Alberto Martinez shows us how many of the mathematical concepts that we take for granted were once considered contrived, imaginary, absurd, or just plain wrong. Even today, he writes, not all parts of math correspond to things, relations, or operations that we can actually observe or carry out in everyday life. Negative Math ponders such issues by exploring controversies in the history of numbers, especially the so-called negative and "impossible" numbers. It uses history, puzzles, and lively debates to demonstrate how it is still possible to devise new artificial systems of mathematical rules. In fact, the book contends, departures from traditional rules can even be the basis for new applications. For example, by using an algebra in which minus times minus makes minus, mathematicians can describe curves or trajectories that are not represented by traditional coordinate geometry. Clear and accessible, Negative Math expects from its readers only a passing acquaintance with basic high school algebra. It will prove pleasurable reading not only for those who enjoy popular math, but also for historians, philosophers, and educators. Key Features? Uses history, puzzles, and lively debates to devise new mathematical systems Shows how departures from rules can underlie new practical applications Clear and accessible Requires a background only in basic high school algebra

The History of Modern Mathematics, Volume I: Ideas and their Reception documents the proceedings of the Symposium on the History of Modern Mathematics held at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York on June 20-24, 1989. This book is concerned with the emergence and reception of major ideas in fields that range from foundations and set theory, algebra and invariant theory, and number theory to differential geometry, projective and algebraic geometry, line geometry, and transformation groups. Other topics include the theory of reception for the history of mathematics and British synthetic vs. French analytic styles of algebra in the early American Republic. The early geometrical works of Sophus Lie and Felix Klein, background to Gergonne's treatment of duality, and algebraic geometry in the late 19th century are also elaborated. This volume is intended for students and researchers interested in developments in pure mathematics.

Inequity in Education represents the latest scholarship investigating issues of race, class, ethnicity, religion, gender, and national identity formation that influenced education in America throughout its history. Targeting sophisticated undergraduates along with graduate students and specialists, this exciting new collection will capitalize on the growing interest in the historical foundations of the problems facing our schools today. This collection of cutting-edge essays and primary source documents represents a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives that will appeal to both social and cultural historians as well as those who teach education courses, including introductory surveys and foundations courses.