Explanation in mathematical conversations: an empirical investigation
| Autor: | Andrew Aberdein, Alison Pease, Ursula Martin |
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| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Conceptualization
General Mathematics media_common.quotation_subject General Engineering MathematicsofComputing_GENERAL General Physics and Astronomy Articles Mathematical proof Epistemology Mathematical practice symbols.namesake Empirical research Hilbert's problems symbols Simplicity Experimental philosophy media_common Theme (narrative) |
| Zdroj: | Pease, A, Aberdein, A & Martin, U 2019, ' Explanation in mathematical conversations : An empirical investigation ', Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 377, no. 2140, pp. 1-25 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2018.0159 |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rsta.2018.0159 |
| Popis: | Analysis of online mathematics forums can help reveal how explanation is used by mathematicians; we contend that this use of explanation may help to provide an informal conceptualization of simplicity. We extracted six conjectures from recent philosophical work on the occurrence and characteristics of explanation in mathematics. We then tested these conjectures against a corpus derived from online mathematical discussions. To this end, we employed two techniques, one based on indicator terms, the other on a random sample of comments lacking such indicators. Our findings suggest that explanation is widespread in mathematical practice and that it occurs not only in proofs but also in other mathematical contexts. Our work also provides further evidence for the utility of empirical methods in addressing philosophical problems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The notion of ‘simple proof’ - Hilbert's 24th problem’. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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