Mathoetic mode, Article, LMS Newsletter, January 2008
Sonya Kovaleskaya on mathematicians, imagination and poets.
The role of the poet, by W. Shakespeare. Is this role analogous to that of the mathematician?
Albert Einstein on the relevance of considering the Theory of knowledge.
Alexander Grothendieck on speculation.
Barry Mazur has articles on Mathematics and the Imagination on his home page.
Are there famous problems in Category Theory?
``Carpentry: a fable'', R. Brown, Mathematical Intelligencer, 11, no.4 (1989) 37.
What should be the
output of mathematical education?
This is an edited web version of the article published in: Mathematics
education as a research domain: a search for identity, ed. Kilpatrick,
J. and Sierpinska, A., Kluwer, Lancaster (1997) 459-476.
What should be the context of an adequate specialist undergraduate education in mathematics?, (pdf) article by Ronnie Brown and Tim Porter, written for an ICME conference in 1992, but not published.
An examination paper from a
University Staff Training College, Mathematics
Division, has turned up, and may be found here. It was first presented
at an evening discussion session on `The Public Image of Mathematics', led
by the writer, at the British Mathematical Colloquium at St. Andrews in 1987.
No answers were handed in! Related comments and quotations have been added,
and some additional questions. Comments welcome! Following up the ideas here
led to our courses:
Mathematics in Context description of a
course given at Bangor. Have a look also at this interesting
link
to a Didsbury student paper.
`Ideas in mathematics'. Here are details of a first
year math course.
What is mathematics? Please debate these issues!
Best Practice, THES Article, 22/10/04
Promoting mathematics , article for MSOR link to pdf file final article in MSOR Connections Vol 7, No 2, May 2007
"Why study mathematics", by R. Brown and T.Porter, Mathematics for the future IMA/Hobsons 1995.
``The
methodology
of mathematics''. by
R. Brown and T.Porter,
This is a version of the article in Bulletin International Commission
of Mathematical Instruction, 37 (1994) 23-37; Math. Gazette, 79
No 485 July, 1995, 321-324. It has also been published in Lithuanian (Alfa
+ Omega, 1 Nr 5 (1998) 71-84 ), in the J. Transfigural Mathematics, in CUBO,
and in the European Mathematical Society Newsletter in two parts, June and
September, 2001. Towards a
Philosophy of Real Mathematics, by David Corfield. Do look up other links
on this excellent book.
`Mathematicians struggle for truth'
Click here for links to the life and work of Alexander Grothendieck,
George W. Mackey : this is a brief account of how he encouraged me in work on groupoids by telling me of his interest in them.
Donald Coxeter's
90th
Birthday celebration at the Fields Institute, February 9, 1997; photos
of the occasion, and link to my presentation on
The
Symbolic Sculptures of John Robinson: Geometry, values, form and structure
Quality in Higher Education: a discussion document, including an analogy with business and commerce. It seems Government practice is the opposite of recognised quality management, which should be about investment, training, people and attitudes, and not about systems nor paperwork!
Banquo on the seeds of time:
Letter on Science Funding to `Science and Public Affairs', August 1999.
A senseless system: On the RAE, by Simon Caulkin, Management Editor of the Observer, December, 2008.
MetricsREF A document prepared for the LMS by Charles Goldie analysing the problems of using `metrics' as a basis for research evaluation by the HEFC. pdf file
Assesment of articles, journals and Thomsons ISI
Quality management in business, by J. Varey
Category theory and higher dimensional algebra: prospective tools in theoretical neuroscience. (pdf file)
The intuitions of higher dimensional algebra for the study of structures space. (pdf file)
`Out of Line' Link to pdf and html files of a new version of a presentation as a Friday Evening Discourse to the Royal Insititution of Great Britain in May, 1992. The title refers both to the area being non traditional and to the idea of higher dimensional algebra.
Pdf file of presentation on
Mathematics and Knots
at
Visual Representations and Interpretations: Liverpool, Sept 22-24, 1998.
``Making a mathematical exhibition'', by R. Brown and T. Porter, in The popularization of mathematics, edited A.G.Howson and J.-P. Kahane, ICMI Study Series, Cambridge University Press, (1990) 51-64.
`Analogy, concepts and methodology in mathematics', by Ronnie Brown and Tim Porter. pdf file Eureka, (September 2006) 23-27.
`Category Theory: an abstract setting for analogy and comparison', by R. Brown and T. Porter, pdf file In: What is Category Theory? Advanced Studies in Mathematics and Logic, Polimetrica Publisher, Italy, (2006) 257-274.
The five Ds - necessities for any writer! (Learned from a novelist talking on the radio.)
Symbolism in the sculptures of John Robinson
A discussion in the context of
`Knowledge:
representation and interpretation' . Published in Theoria et Historia
Scientiarum, the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, issue
on `Knowledge: representation and interpretation.', edited W. Meyer and R.
Paton, 6 (2002) 55-73.
"Symbolic sculptures and mathematics", Brochure on the four John Robinson Scuptures at Bangor; the non colour version is distributed freely by the University and through Tourist Centres in North Wales. Notes by Ronald Brown, 1993.
"Symbolic Sculptures and Mathematics", Web Site Presented by the Centre for the Popularisation of Mathematics and Edition Limitée.
John Robinson, Sculptor, May 5, 1935 -April 6, 2007. Article in Hyperseeing, June 2007.
Seventeen great videos of sculptures may be found on YouTube by searching for `John Robinson sculptor'.
updated February 8, 2010
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