|
Mathematical Maturity
Mathematical maturity often refers to the mastery of the way mathematicians think, operate and communicate. It pertains to a mixture of mathematical experience and insight that cannot be directly taught. Instead, it comes from repeated exposure to mathematical concepts. It is a gauge of mathematics students' erudition in mathematical structures and methods, and can overlap with other related concepts such as mathematical intuition and mathematical competence. The topic is occasionally also addressed in literature in its own right. Definitions Mathematical maturity has been defined in several different ways by various authors, and is often tied to other related concepts such as comfort and competence with mathematics, mathematical intuition and mathematical beliefs. One definition has been given as follows: A broader list of characteristics of mathematical maturity has been given as follows: Finally, mathematical maturity has also been defined as an ability to do the followin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematical model, models, and mathematics#Calculus and analysis, change. History One of the earliest known mathematicians was Thales of Miletus (); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales's theorem. The number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos () established the Pythagorean school, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was "All is number". It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake begins. The first woman math ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rates Of Change
In mathematics, a rate is the quotient of two quantities, often represented as a fraction. If the divisor (or fraction denominator) in the rate is equal to one expressed as a single unit, and if it is assumed that this quantity can be changed systematically (i.e., is an independent variable), then the dividend (the fraction numerator) of the rate expresses the corresponding rate of change in the other ( dependent) variable. In some cases, it may be regarded as a change to a value, which is caused by a change of a value in respect to another value. For example, acceleration is a change in velocity with respect to time ''Temporal rate'' is a common type of rate ("per unit of time"), such as speed, heart rate, and flux. In fact, often ''rate'' is a synonym of rhythm or frequency, a count per second (i.e., hertz); e.g., radio frequencies or sample rates. In describing the units of a rate, the word "per" is used to separate the units of the two measurements used to calculate the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logical Intuition
Logical Intuition, or mathematical intuition or rational intuition, is a series of instinctive foresight, know-how, and savviness often associated with the ability to perceive logical or mathematical truth—and the ability to solve mathematical challenges efficiently. Humans apply logical intuition in proving mathematical theorems, validating logical arguments, developing algorithms and heuristics, and in related contexts where mathematical challenges are involved. The ability to recognize logical or mathematical truth and identify viable methods may vary from person to person, and may even be a result of knowledge and experience, which are subject to cultivation. The ability may not be realizable in a computer program by means other than genetic programming or evolutionary programming. History Plato and Aristotle considered intuition a means for perceiving ideas, significant enough that for Aristotle, intuition comprised the only means of knowing principles that are not subje ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limit Of A Function
Although the function is not defined at zero, as becomes closer and closer to zero, becomes arbitrarily close to 1. In other words, the limit of as approaches zero, equals 1. In mathematics, the limit of a function is a fundamental concept in calculus and analysis concerning the behavior of that function near a particular input which may or may not be in the domain of the function. Formal definitions, first devised in the early 19th century, are given below. Informally, a function assigns an output to every input . We say that the function has a limit at an input , if gets closer and closer to as moves closer and closer to . More specifically, the output value can be made ''arbitrarily'' close to if the input to is taken ''sufficiently'' close to . On the other hand, if some inputs very close to are taken to outputs that stay a fixed distance apart, then we say the limit ''does not exist''. The notion of a limit has many applications in modern calc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graduate School
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and structure of postgraduate education varies in different countries, as well as in different institutions within countries. The term "graduate school" or "grad school" is typically used in North America, while "postgraduate" is more common in the rest of the English-speaking world. Graduate degrees can include master's and doctoral degrees, and other qualifications such as graduate diplomas, certificates and professional degrees. A distinction is typically made between graduate schools (where courses of study vary in the degree to which they provide training for a particular profession) and professional schools, which can include medical school, law school, business school, and other institutions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Proof
A mathematical proof is a deductive reasoning, deductive Argument-deduction-proof distinctions, argument for a Proposition, mathematical statement, showing that the stated assumptions logically guarantee the conclusion. The argument may use other previously established statements, such as theorems; but every proof can, in principle, be constructed using only certain basic or original assumptions known as axioms, along with the accepted rules of inference. Proofs are examples of exhaustive deductive reasoning that establish logical certainty, to be distinguished from empirical evidence, empirical arguments or non-exhaustive inductive reasoning that establish "reasonable expectation". Presenting many cases in which the statement holds is not enough for a proof, which must demonstrate that the statement is true in ''all'' possible cases. A proposition that has not been proved but is believed to be true is known as a conjecture, or a hypothesis if frequently used as an assumption for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterexamples
A counterexample is any exception to a generalization. In logic a counterexample disproves the generalization, and does so rigorously in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. For example, the fact that "student John Smith is not lazy" is a counterexample to the generalization "students are lazy", and both a counterexample to, and disproof of, the universal quantification "all students are lazy." In mathematics In mathematics, counterexamples are often used to prove the boundaries of possible theorems. By using counterexamples to show that certain conjectures are false, mathematical researchers can then avoid going down blind alleys and learn to modify conjectures to produce provable theorems. It is sometimes said that mathematical development consists primarily in finding (and proving) theorems and counterexamples. Rectangle example Suppose that a mathematician is studying geometry and shapes, and she wishes to prove certain theorems about them. She conjectures that "All rect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discrete Mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous functions). Objects studied in discrete mathematics include integers, Graph (discrete mathematics), graphs, and Statement (logic), statements in Mathematical logic, logic. By contrast, discrete mathematics excludes topics in "continuous mathematics" such as real numbers, calculus or Euclidean geometry. Discrete objects can often be enumeration, enumerated by integers; more formally, discrete mathematics has been characterized as the branch of mathematics dealing with countable sets (finite sets or sets with the same cardinality as the natural numbers). However, there is no exact definition of the term "discrete mathematics". The set of objects studied in discrete mathematics can be finite or infinite. The term finite mathematics is sometime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Applied Mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical science and specialized knowledge. The term "applied mathematics" also describes the profession, professional specialty in which mathematicians work on practical problems by formulating and studying mathematical models. In the past, practical applications have motivated the development of mathematical theories, which then became the subject of study in pure mathematics where abstract concepts are studied for their own sake. The activity of applied mathematics is thus intimately connected with research in pure mathematics. History Historically, applied mathematics consisted principally of Mathematical analysis, applied analysis, most notably differential equations; approximation theory (broadly construed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, applied disciplines (including the design and implementation of Computer architecture, hardware and Software engineering, software). Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science. The theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and general classes of computational problem, problems that can be solved using them. The fields of cryptography and computer security involve studying the means for secure communication and preventing security vulnerabilities. Computer graphics (computer science), Computer graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images. Programming language theory considers different ways to describe computational processes, and database theory concerns the management of re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abstract Algebra
In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structures include group (mathematics), groups, ring (mathematics), rings, field (mathematics), fields, module (mathematics), modules, vector spaces, lattice (order), lattices, and algebra over a field, algebras over a field. The term ''abstract algebra'' was coined in the early 20th century to distinguish it from older parts of algebra, and more specifically from elementary algebra, the use of variable (mathematics), variables to represent numbers in computation and reasoning. The abstract perspective on algebra has become so fundamental to advanced mathematics that it is simply called "algebra", while the term "abstract algebra" is seldom used except in mathematical education, pedagogy. Algebraic structures, with their associated homomorphisms, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Analysis
Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (mathematics), series, and analytic functions. These theories are usually studied in the context of Real number, real and Complex number, complex numbers and Function (mathematics), functions. Analysis evolved from calculus, which involves the elementary concepts and techniques of analysis. Analysis may be distinguished from geometry; however, it can be applied to any Space (mathematics), space of mathematical objects that has a definition of nearness (a topological space) or specific distances between objects (a metric space). History Ancient Mathematical analysis formally developed in the 17th century during the Scientific Revolution, but many of its ideas can be traced back to earlier mathematicians. Early results in analysis were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
