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ERIC Number: ED245722
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1984-Jul
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
It's Going to Happen Anyway....
Fusaro, B. A.
Within the context of the developments in mathematics and computer science, this paper argues that the emergence of the microcomputer gives mathematics the opportunity to survive as a viable and healthy discipline. Section I traces the development of the computer and the position of established mathematics on the sidelines of this development. Section 2 discusses some ironies in the synchronous development of computers, with their potential for transforming mathematics education via an emphasis on the computational content of mathematics, and the development of the Bouraki movement in mathematics, which stressed the syntax and structure of mathematics. Section 3 describes the Bouraki years (1945-1975), which focused on abstract formalism coupled with an exclusive mentality, and resulted in alienated client departments, aggravated employment problems, and isolation of the discipline. Section 4 considers the roots of mathematics, looking at three schools of classical mathematics and modern theoretical developments. Section 5 proposes a tetrahedron model of mathematical sciences, in which pure mathematics stands at the apex and applied mathematics, statistics, and computer science stand at its base, and sections 6 and 7 look at the implications of this model for curriculum development with respect to the three classical schools of mathematics. Finally, section 8 suggests ways of revitalizing the mathematics curriculum through, for example, using the computer to provide a graphical or computational component in every math course. (AYC)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Sloan Foundation Conference on New Directions in Two-Year College Mathematics (Atherton, CA, July 11-14, 1984).