Blog Post 1: Why Teach Math History?

    As a commerce student, I come across math quite frequently in my core classes and prerequisites. Throughout my degree, and even before that as a high school student, I have never considered the possibility of learning math history. I was very curious to take this class because I do believe that incorporating historical contexts on the math that we learn can actually make it a lot more interesting. I can imagine that learning the origins of the finance formulas that I use day to day can actually give me a deeper appreciation for the discipline itself. 

    I think many people, especially students, typically just do what they are told to do, and complete their math problems to satisfy requirements. After reading this thought-provoking article, I do believe that incorporating the origins and history of the mathematical concepts we learn in class can help spark interest in the subject itself. I believe math is a misunderstood subject, that is characterized by being difficult and boring. Although we haven’t gotten into learning about the origins that derived from ancient civilizations, I do think that sharing these stories would help students understand how the math they are learning today developed. I think that may be interesting for them, because personally I am always intrigued by the “why”. “Why” are we learning this? I think the integration of mathematics history can help students come to their own understanding of “why” this is important for them to learn. 

    Another interesting point that this article highlighted is the human endeavour that is portrayed when studying mathematics history. I particularly agree that studying the history of mathematics can distinguish that “mathematics is an evolving and human subject rather than a system of rigid truths.” Students may not be able to understand this philosophy of math by being taught rigorous analytical concepts. I agree that teaching the historical contexts may give math some humanity. Overall, I really enjoyed this article because it offers some very valuable techniques for an approach to integrating mathematics history. After reading this article, I now have more ideas and a deeper understanding of why incorporating history would be integral to student’s learning.