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Once upon a time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Tony Gardiner
Tony Gardiner*
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT
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Extract

Seeking to placate the furies of the present we demean the past…. The evasions…the self-denials and the arbitrary re-structurings of historical remembrance which guilt forces upon us are usually spurious.

(George Steiner. In Bluebeard's Castle).

Teaching mathematics has never been easy. There is no reason to imagine that it ever will be. Yet it is still worth asking whether there might not be relatively simple ways of improving our teaching of particular topics and of particular groups of pupils. History of mathematics has much to offer on both counts, and can enrich ordinary teaching in many ways and on many levels. But it also has its problems and its pitfalls. This article focuses on two issues: the temptation to enlist the support of ‘history’ when trying to change social attitudes; and the uncritical way in which intelligent students respond to such pseudohistory.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 76 , Issue 475 , March 1992 , pp. 143 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1992

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