Deaf Children’s Concept Formation in Mathematics

Concept Formation in Mathematics

This thesis consists of three overlapping parts, where the first one centers around the possibility of defining a measure of the power of arithmetical theories. In this part a partial measure of the power of arithmetical theories is constructed, where “power” is understood as capability to prove theorems. It is also shown that other suggestions in the literature for such a measure do not satisf...

Automatic Concept Formation in Pure Mathematics

The HR program forms concepts and makes conjectures in domains of pure mathematics and uses theorem prover OTTER and model generator MACE to prove or disprove the conjectures. HR measures properties of concepts and assesses the theorems and proofs involving them to estimate the interestingness of each concept and employ a best first search. This approach has led HR to the discovery of interesti...

Vygotsky’s Theory of Concept Formation and Mathematics Education

I argue that Vygotsky’s theory of concept formation (1986) is a powerful framework within which to explore how an individual at university level constructs a new mathematical concept. In particular, this theory is able to bridge the divide between an individual’s mathematical knowledge and the body of socially sanctioned mathematical knowledge. It can also be used to explain how idiosyncratic u...

Concept Formation 1 Concept Formation

Abduction as a strategy for concept formation in mathematics: Cardano postulating a negative

When dealing with abductive reasoning in scientific discovery, historical case studies are focused mostly on the physical sciences, as with the discoveries of Kepler, Galilei and Newton. We will present a case study of abductive reasoning in early algebra. Two new concepts introduced by Cardano in his Ars Magna, imaginary numbers and a negative solution to a linear problem, can be explained as ...