Resnik expresses his commitment to a structuralist philosophy of mathematics and links this to a defence of realism about the metaphysics of mathematics - the view that mathematics is about things that really exist.

Mathematics as the Science of Patterns: Making the Invisible Visible to Students through Teaching introduces the reader to a collection of thoughtful, research-based works by authors that represent current thinking about mathematics, mathematics education, and the preparation of mathematics teachers. Each chapter focuses on mathematics teaching and the preparation of teachers who will enter classrooms to instruct the next generation of students in mathematics. The value of patterns to the teaching and learning of mathematics is well understood, both in terms of research and application. When we involve or appeal to pattern in teaching mathematics, it is usually because we are trying to help students to extract greater meaning, or enjoyment, or both, from the experience of learning environments within which they are occupied, and perhaps also to facilitate remembering. As a general skill it is thought that the ability to discern a pattern is a precursor to the ability to generalize and abstract, a skill essential in the early years of learning and beyond. Research indicates that the larger problem in teaching mathematics does not lie primarily with students; rather it is with the teachers themselves. In order to make changes for students there first needs to be a process of change for teachers. Understanding the place of patterns in learning mathematics is a predicate to understanding how to teach mathematics and how to use pedagogical reasoning necessary in teaching mathematics. Importantly, the lack of distinction created by the pedagogical use of patterns is not immediately problematic to the student or the teacher. The deep-seated cognitive patterns that both teachers and students bring to the classroom require change. Chapter 1 opens the book with a focus on mathematics as the science of patterns and the importance of patterns in mathematical problem solving, providing the reader with an introduction. The authors of Chapter 2 revisit the work of Pólya and the development and implementation of problem solving in mathematics. In Chapter 3, the authors present an argument for core pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics teacher preparation. The authors of Chapter 4 focus on preservice teachers' patterns of conception as related to understanding number and operation. In Chapter 5 the authors examine the role of visual representation in exploring proportional reasoning, denoting the importance of helping learners make their thinking visible. The authors of Chapter 6 examine patterns and relationships, and the importance of each in assisting students' learning and development in mathematical understanding. The authors of Chapter 7 examine the use of worked examples as a scalable practice, with emphasis on the importance of worked examples in teaching fraction magnitude and computation is discussed. In Chapter 8, the authors expand on the zone of proximal development to investigate the potential of Zankov's Lesson in terms of students analyzing numerical equalities. The authors of Chapter 9 focus on high leverage mathematical practices in elementary pre-service teacher preparation, drawing into specific relief the APEX cycle to develop deep thinking. In Chapter 10, the author focuses on number talks and the engagement of students in mathematical reasoning, which provides opportunities for students to be sensemakers of mathematics. Chapter 11 presents an epilogue, focusing on the importance of recognizing the special nature of mathematics knowledge for teaching.

From rainbows, river meanders, and shadows to spider webs, honeycombs, and the markings on animal coats, the visible world is full of patterns that can be described mathematically. Examining such readily observable phenomena, this book introduces readers to the beauty of nature as revealed by mathematics and the beauty of mathematics as revealed in nature. Generously illustrated, written in an informal style, and replete with examples from everyday life, Mathematics in Nature is an excellent and undaunting introduction to the ideas and methods of mathematical modeling. It illustrates how mathematics can be used to formulate and solve puzzles observed in nature and to interpret the solutions. In the process, it teaches such topics as the art of estimation and the effects of scale, particularly what happens as things get bigger. Readers will develop an understanding of the symbiosis that exists between basic scientific principles and their mathematical expressions as well as a deeper appreciation for such natural phenomena as cloud formations, halos and glories, tree heights and leaf patterns, butterfly and moth wings, and even puddles and mud cracks. Developed out of a university course, this book makes an ideal supplemental text for courses in applied mathematics and mathematical modeling. It will also appeal to mathematics educators and enthusiasts at all levels, and is designed so that it can be dipped into at leisure.

"The great book of nature," said Galileo, "can be read only by those who know the language in which it is written. And this language is mathematics." A richly illustrated celebration of the beauty and elegance of this ever-evolving language, Mathematics: The Science of Patterns explores the many ways mathematics helps us understand our perceptions of reality--both the physical, biological, and social worlds without, and the realm of ideas and thoughts within.

"A mathematician pulls back the curtain and reveals the hidden patterns--from dating sites to divorce, sex to marriage--behind the rituals of love ... applying mathematical formulas to the most common yet complex questions pertaining to love: What's the chance of finding love? What's the probability that it will last? How do online dating algorithms work, exactly? Can game theory help us decide who to approach in a bar? At what point in your dating life should you settle down?"--Amazon.com.

The present work is a systematic study of five frameworks or perspectives articulating mathematical structuralism, whose core idea is that mathematics is concerned primarily with interrelations in abstraction from the nature of objects. The first two, set-theoretic and category-theoretic, arose within mathematics itself. After exposing a number of problems, the Element considers three further perspectives formulated by logicians and philosophers of mathematics: sui generis, treating structures as abstract universals, modal, eliminating structures as objects in favor of freely entertained logical possibilities, and finally, modal-set-theoretic, a sort of synthesis of the set-theoretic and modal perspectives.

This book synthesizes research findings on patterns in the last twenty years or so in order to argue for a theory of graded representations in pattern generalization. While research results drawn from investigations conducted with different age-level groups have sufficiently demonstrated varying shifts in structural awareness and competence, which influence the eventual shape of an intended generalization, such shifts, however, are not necessarily permanent due to other pertinent factors such as the complexity of patterning tasks. The book proposes an alternative view of pattern generalization, that is, one that is not about shifts or transition phases but graded depending on individual experiences with target patterns. The theory of graded representations involving pattern generalization offers a much more robust understanding of differences in patterning competence since it is sensitive to varying levels of entry into generalization. Empirical evidence will be provided to demonstrate this alternative view, which is drawn from the author’s longitudinal work with elementary and middle school children, including several investigations conducted with preservice elementary majors. Two chapters of the book will be devoted to extending pattern generalization activity to arithmetic and algebraic learning of concepts and processes. The concluding chapter addresses the pedagogical significance of pattern learning in the school mathematics curriculum. ​