Religion and Science at the Turn of the Century

This article was published in the 2007 issue of the online Journal of the ACMS (Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences)

Logic and Proof for Mathematicians: A Twentieth Century Perspective

If there is one aspect of mathematics education that frustrates both students and teachers alike, it has got to be learning how to do valid proofs. Students often feel they really know the mathematics they\u27re studying but that their teachers place some unreasonably stringent demands upon their arguments. Teachers, on the other hand, can\u27t understand where their students get some of the wacky arguments they come up with. They argue in circles, they end up proving a different result from what they claim, they make false statements, they draw invalid inferences - it can be quite exasperating at times! Unfortunately, constructing a genuine demonstration is not a side issue in mathematics; deduction forms the backbone and hygiene of mathematical intercourse and simply must be learned by mathematics majors. I\u27d like to focus attention on this topic in this paper first by sharing with you how we attack the problem at Dordt. I will then attempt to give the issue a bit of historical and philosophical depth by tracing some developments in mathematics and logic which seem to have had a strong influence upon contemporary approaches to teaching proof. I hope this will contribute to further discussion of the problem

God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science, edited by David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers (Berkeley: University of California Press) 1986. xi + 516 pp

By Good and Necessary Consequence: Preliminary Genealogy of Biblicist Foundationalism (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Bovell, Carlos R. By Good and Necessary Consequence: A Preliminary Genealogy of Biblicist Foundationalism. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2009. xiv + 173 pages. ISBN: 978-1-60608-457-1

Galileo\u27s Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Galileo\u27s Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts by Mark A. Peterson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011, 336 pages. ISBN 9780674059726

Mathematics Without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Mathematics Without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation by Michael Harris. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015. 438 pages. ISBN: 9780691154237

Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World by Keith Devlin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. 256 pp. ISBN: 9780691174860

Mathematical Visions: The Pursuit of Geometry in Victorian England (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: Joan L. Richards. Mathematical Visions: The Pursuit of Geometry in Victorian England. xiii + 266 pp., illus., figs., bibl., index. Boston/New York: Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988

Neglected Standard: History of Mathematics in the Service of Mathematics Education

An integrated approach that more intrinsically connects the historical development of mathematics with its content enables students to learn how an idea or method emerged while simultaneously exposing (i) the dynamic nature of mathematics along with (ii) its connections to other fields, and (iii) its cultural embeddedness. Examples will be given from a textbook currently in development

The Continuous, the Discrete and the Infinitesimal in Philosophy and Mathematics (Book Review)

Reviewed Title: The Continuous, the Discrete and the Infinitesimal in Philosophy and Mathematics by John L. Bell. Springer, 2019. 313 pp. ISBN: 9783030187064