Brief Reports On Mathematicians’ Proof Skimming: A Reply to Inglis and Alcock
نویسندگان
چکیده
In a recent article, Inglis and Alcock (2012) contended that their data challenge the claim that when mathematicians validate proofs, they initially skim a proof to grasp its main idea prior to reading individual parts of the proof more carefully. This result is based on the fact that when mathematicians read proofs in their study, on average their initial reading of a proof took half as long as their total time spent reading that proof. However, inferring individuals’ strategy use by averaging their reaction times across multiple trials is problematic. We present a more fine-grained analysis of Inglis and Alcock’s data that suggests that mathematicians frequently used an initial skimming strategy when engaging in proof validation tasks.
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