Mathematics Tomorrow

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Lynn Arthur Steen

      Pages 1-6

3. What Is Mathematics?

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

      PDF

   2. Applied Mathematics is Bad Mathematics

      • Paul R. Halmos

      Pages 9-20

   3. Solving Equations is Not Solving Problems

      • Jerome Spanier

      Pages 21-27

   4. The Unexpected Art of Mathematics

      • Jerry P. King

      Pages 29-37

   5. Redefining the Mathematics Major

      • Alan Tucker

      Pages 39-48

   6. Purity in Applications

      • Tim Poston

      Pages 49-54

   7. Growth and New Intuitions: Can We Meet the Challenge?

      • William F. Lucas

      Pages 55-69

4. Teaching and Learning Mathematics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

      PDF

   2. Avoiding Math Avoidance

      • Peter J. Hilton

      Pages 73-82

   3. Learning Mathematics

      • Anneli Lax, Giuliana Groat

      Pages 83-94

   4. Teaching Mathematics

      • Abe Shenitzer

      Pages 95-104

   5. Read the Masters!

      • Harold M. Edwards

      Pages 105-110

   6. Mathematics as Propaganda

      • Neal Koblitz

      Pages 111-120

   7. Mathematicians Love Books

      • Walter Kaufmann-Bühler, Alice Peters, Klaus Peters

      Pages 121-126

   8. A Faculty in Limbo

      • Donald J. Albers

      Pages 127-133

   9. Junior’s All Grown Up Now

      • George M. Miller

      Pages 135-138

   10. NSF Support for Mathematics Education

       • E. P. Miles Jr.

       Pages 139-152

5. Issues of Equality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

      PDF

Mathematics today is approaching a state of cnSIS. As the demands of science and society for mathematical literacy increase, the percentage of American college students intending to major in mathematics plummets and achievement scores of entering college students continue thelt unremit­ ting decline. As research in core mathematics reaches unprecedented heights of power and sophistication, the growth of diverse applied special­ ties threatens to fragment mathematics into distinct and frequently hostile mathematical sciences. These crises in mathematics presage difficulties for science and engineer­ ing, and alarms are beginning to sound in the scientific and even in the political communities. Citing a trend towards "virtual scientific and techno­ logical illiteracy" and a "shrinking of our national commitment to excel­ lence . . . in science, mathematics and technology," a recent study con­ ducted for the President by the U. S. National Science Foundation and Department of Education warns of serious impending shortcomings in public understanding of science. "Today people in a wide range of non­ scientific . . . professions must have a greater understanding of technology than at any time in our history. Yet our educational system does not now provide such understanding. " The study goes on to conclude that present trends pose great risk of manpower shortages in the mathematical and engineering sciences. "The pool from which our future scientific and engineering personnel can be drawn is . . . in danger of becoming smaller, even as the need for such personnel is increasing. " It is time to take a serious look at mathematics tomorrow.

• Excel
• Host
• Mathematica
• Mathematik
• applied mathematics
• boundary element method
• communities
• equation
• history of mathematics
• mathematics
• problem solving
• society
• sound
• story
• system

• Saint Olaf College, Northfield, USA

  Lynn Arthur Steen

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