Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [education]

For math questions related to the teaching and learning of mathematics. Note that Mathematics Educators Stack Exchange may be a better home for narrowly scoped questions on specific issues in mathematics education.

This tag is for questions that are primarily about mathematics, but are related to mathematics education. Also consider using the or the tag. On the other hand, questions that are primarily about teaching and learning mathematics would be a better fit for MathEducators.SE.

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Visually deceptive "proofs" which are mathematically wrong

Related: Visually stunning math concepts which are easy to explain Beside the wonderful examples above, there should also be counterexamples, where visually intuitive demonstrations are actually wrong. (e.g. missing square puzzle) Do you know the…
puzzlet
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Why is negative times negative = positive?

Someone recently asked me why a negative $\times$ a negative is positive, and why a negative $\times$ a positive is negative, etc. I went ahead and gave them a proof by contradiction like so: Assume $(-x) \cdot (-y) = -xy$ Then divide both sides by…
Sev
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What remains in a student's mind

I'm a first year graduate student of mathematics and I have an important question. I like studying math and when I attend, a course I try to study in the best way possible, with different textbooks and moreover I try to understand the concepts…
Dubious
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When to learn category theory?

I'm a undergraduate who wishes to learn category theory but I only have basic knowledge of linear algebra and set theory, I've also had a short course on number theory which used some basic concepts about groups and modular arithmetic. Is it too…
Vicfred
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How do you explain to a 5th grader why division by zero is meaningless?

I wish to explain my younger brother: he is interested and curious, but he cannot grasp the concepts of limits and integration just yet. What is the best mathematical way to justify not allowing division by zero?
Shubh Khandelwal
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What's your favorite proof accessible to a general audience?

What math statement with proof do you find most beautiful and elegant, where such is accessible to a general audience, meaning you could state, prove, and explain it to a general audience in roughly $5 \pm\epsilon$ minutes. Let's define…
userX
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Is there a domain "larger" than (i.e., a supserset of) the complex number domain?

I've been teaching my 10yo son some (for me, anyway) pretty advanced mathematics recently and he stumped me with a question. The background is this. In the domain of natural numbers, addition and multiplication always generate natural numbers,…
user1324
115
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19 answers

What parts of a pure mathematics undergraduate curriculum have been discovered since $1964?$

What parts of an undergraduate curriculum in pure mathematics have been discovered since, say, $1964?$ (I'm choosing this because it's $50$ years ago). Pure mathematics textbooks from before $1964$ seem to contain everything in pure maths that is…
Suzu Hirose
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Mathematical equivalent of Feynman's Lectures on Physics?

I'm slowly reading through Feynman's Lectures on Physics and I find myself wondering, is there an analogous book (or books) for math? By this, I mean a good approach to mathematics given through sweeping motions, appeals to intuition and an…
Cotton Seed
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How Do You Actually Do Your Mathematics?

Better yet, what I'm asking is how do you actually write your mathematics? I think I need to give brief background: Through most of my childhood, I'd considered myself pretty good at math, up through the high school level. I easily followed…
Uticensis
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In calculus, which questions can the naive ask that the learned cannot answer?

Number theory is known to be a field in which many questions that can be understood by secondary-school pupils have defied the most formidable mathematicians' attempts to answer them. Calculus is not known to be such a field, as far as I know. (For…
Michael Hardy
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Why is there no "remainder" in multiplication

With division, you can have a remainder (such as $5/2=2$ remainder $1$). Now my six year old son has asked me "Why is there no remainder with multiplication"? The obvious answer is "because it wouldn't make sense" or just "because". Somewhat I have…
topskip
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Getting Students to Not Fear Confusion

I'm a fifth year grad student, and I've taught several classes for freshmen and sophomores. This summer, as an "advanced" (whatever that means) grad student I got to teach an upper level class: Intro to Real Analysis. Since this was essentially…
Matt
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3 answers

Topology: The Board Game

Edit: I've drawn up some different rules, a map and some cards for playing an actual version of the game. They're available at my personal website with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. This is a math education question that I've been…
Brian Rushton
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Is math built on assumptions?

I just came across this statement when I was lecturing a student on math and strictly speaking I used: Assuming that the value of $x$ equals , ... One of my students just rose and asked me: Why do we assume so much in math? Is math…
Anz Joy
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