Foster, Mathematics in School, Making sense of proof by contradiction.pdf (527.4 kB)
Making sense of proof by contradiction
There are certain topics in mathematics where ‘philosophy’ (in the broadest sense) is likely to intrude. Introducing negative or complex numbers is one: is mathematics discovered or invented? Another one is proof by contradiction (or contrapositive, see Kinnear & Sangwin, 2018, for a discussion of the difference).
History
School
- Science
Department
- Mathematics Education Centre
Published in
Mathematics in SchoolVolume
51Issue
5Pages
32 - 35Publisher
The Mathematical AssociationVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The Mathematical AssociationPublisher statement
Reproduced with the permission of the publisher.Publication date
2022-11-01Copyright date
2022Notes
This article first appeared in Scottish Mathematical Council Journal 51 (2021), pp. 74-77 and is reprinted in Mathematics in School with the kind permission of the Council.ISSN
0305-7259Publisher version
Language
- en
