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Supplementary information files for "How do Introduction-to-Proof Textbooks Explain Conditionals and Implications?"

Version 2 2025-03-26, 13:48
Version 1 2024-07-18, 14:39
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posted on 2025-03-26, 13:48 authored by Lara AlcockLara Alcock, Rentuya Sa
<p dir="ltr">Supplementary files for article "How do introduction-to-proof textbooks explain conditionals and implications?"</p><p dir="ltr">Conditionals are ubiquitous in mathematics: we routinely express theorems using universal conditionals of the form ‘for all ��, if ��(��) then ��(��)’. The logic of universal conditionals is underpinned by that of propositional conditionals, which take the form ‘if ��(��<sub>0</sub>) then ��(��<sub>0</sub>)’, where ��<sub>0</sub> is a specific object. In mathematics, propositional conditionals are subject to a material conditional interpretation: they are true unless ��(��<sub>0</sub>) is true and ��(��<sub>0</sub>) is false. This, unfortunately, makes them peculiar in relation to natural language. Moreover, distinctions between propositional conditionals, universal conditionals, and implications are not always clear. How do introduction-to-proof textbooks deal with these issues? We address this question via a theoretically driven qualitative analysis of 17 texts commonly recommended at UK and US universities. We report on how these texts explain conditionals/implications, how they deal with the peculiarities of the material conditional, and how they discuss related language and reasoning. We then present a theoretical analysis of ambiguities that might leave a student confused, arguing that these arise due to the pragmatics of mathematical communication.<br><br>© The Author(s) CC BY-NC 4.0</p>

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The Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship RF-2022-155

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