Conference 2

“Values provide the only basis for the fully intelligible comprehension of culture, because the actual organisation of all cultures is primarily in terms of their values.” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn 1952 p. 340)

September 17-19 2013

De Morgan House (London)

What do mathematicians mean when they use terms such as ‘deep’, ‘elegant’, ‘explanatory’, etc.? What is the rational structure of the deliberations mathematicians use to reach value judgments (in PhD examinations, book reviews, journal referee reports, etc.)? How much variety is there in mathematical values between mathematical cultures?

Programme

List of Participants

Videos of talks

Speakers

(For abstracts, scroll to foot of page)

Alan Bishop "What would the mathematics curriculum look like if instead of techniques, mathematical values were the focus?" See also this encyclopedia entry on values in mathematics.

David Corfield "Good mathematics as good narrative"

Paul Ernest "Mathematics and Values: Overt and Covert"

José Ferreirós "Purity as a value: contexts and implications in modern German mathematics"

Katalin Gosztonyi "Why don’t we like formalism?"

Emily Grosholz "Explanation and Meaning in Modern Number Theory"

Emmylou Haffner "From a rigorous and perfectly general standpoint: rigor and generality in Richard Dedekind's mathematics."

Matthew Inglis and Andrew Aberdein "The Personality of Mathematical Proofs"

Ursula Martin and Alison Pease "An experimental approach to mathematical values"

John Mason and Gila Hanna "Qualities of Proofs Contributing to Memorability: Length, Width, and Depth and Front, Back, and Sides"

Morten Misfeldt and Mikkel Willum Johansen "Values of problem choice and communication"

Colin Jakob Rittberg "A Lakatosian Approach to Value Systems"

Emil Simeonov "Values in mathematics – a top-down and a bottom-up approach"

Henrik Kragh Sørensen "Cultures of mathematization: Tracing divergent views on explanations"

Manya Raman Sundström "On Beauty and Explanation in Mathematics"

Oleksiy Yevdokimov "Mathematical explanation as the cornerstone of the road towards understanding and appreciation of mathematics"