logo for American Library Association
Pairing STEAM with Stories
46 Hands-On Activities for Children
Elizabeth M. McChesney
American Library Association, 2020

front cover of Performing Math
Performing Math
A History of Communication and Anxiety in the American Mathematics Classroom
Andrew Fiss
Rutgers University Press, 2021
Performing Math tells the history of expectations for math communication—and the conversations about math hatred and math anxiety that occurred in response. Focusing on nineteenth-century American colleges, this book analyzes foundational tools and techniques of math communication: the textbooks that supported reading aloud, the burnings that mimicked pedagogical speech, the blackboards that accompanied oral presentations, the plays that proclaimed performers’ identities as math students, and the written tests that redefined “student performance.” Math communication and math anxiety went hand in hand as new rules for oral communication at the blackboard inspired student revolt and as frameworks for testing student performance inspired performance anxiety. With unusual primary sources from over a dozen educational archives, Performing Math argues for a new, performance-oriented history of American math education, one that can explain contemporary math attitudes and provide a way forward to reframing the problem of math anxiety.
[more]

front cover of Philosophical Remarks
Philosophical Remarks
Ludwig Wittgenstein
University of Chicago Press, 1980
When in May 1930, the Council of Trinity College, Cambridge, had to decide whether to renew Wittgenstein's research grant, it turned to Bertrand Russell for an assessment of the work Wittgenstein had been doing over the past year. His verdict: "The theories contained in this new work . . . are novel, very original and indubitably important. Whether they are true, I do not know. As a logician who likes simplicity, I should like to think that they are not, but from what I have read of them I am quite sure that he ought to have an opportunity to work them out, since, when completed, they may easily prove to constitute a whole new philosophy."

"[Philosophical Remarks] contains the seeds of Wittgenstein's later philosophy of mind and of mathematics. Principally, he here discusses the role of indispensable in language, criticizing Russell's The Analysis of Mind. He modifies the Tractatus's picture theory of meaning by stressing that the connection between the proposition and reality is not found in the picture itself. He analyzes generality in and out of mathematics, and the notions of proof and experiment. He formulates a pain/private-language argument and discusses both behaviorism and the verifiability principle. The work is difficult but important, and it belongs in every philosophy collection."—Robert Hoffman, Philosophy

"Any serious student of Wittgenstein's work will want to study his Philosophical Remarks as a transitional book between his two great masterpieces. The Remarks is thus indispensible for anyone who seeks a complete understanding of Wittgenstein's philosophy."—Leonard Linsky, American Philosophical Association
[more]

front cover of Philosophy in an Age of Science
Philosophy in an Age of Science
Physics, Mathematics, and Skepticism
Hilary Putnam
Harvard University Press, 2012

Hilary Putnam’s unceasing self-criticism has led to the frequent changes of mind he is famous for, but his thinking is also marked by considerable continuity. A simultaneous interest in science and ethics—unusual in the current climate of contention—has long characterized his thought. In Philosophy in an Age of Science, Putnam collects his papers for publication—his first volume in almost two decades.

Mario De Caro and David Macarthur’s introduction identifies central themes to help the reader negotiate between Putnam past and Putnam present: his critique of logical positivism; his enduring aspiration to be realist about rational normativity; his anti-essentialism about a range of central philosophical notions; his reconciliation of the scientific worldview and the humanistic tradition; and his movement from reductive scientific naturalism to liberal naturalism. Putnam returns here to some of his first enthusiasms in philosophy, such as logic, mathematics, and quantum mechanics. The reader is given a glimpse, too, of ideas currently in development on the subject of perception.

Putnam’s work, contributing to a broad range of philosophical inquiry, has been said to represent a “history of recent philosophy in outline.” Here it also delineates a possible future.

[more]

front cover of Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century
Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century
Selected Essays
Charles Parsons
Harvard University Press, 2014

In this illuminating collection, Charles Parsons surveys the contributions of philosophers and mathematicians who shaped the philosophy of mathematics over the course of the past century.

Parsons begins with a discussion of the Kantian legacy in the work of L. E. J. Brouwer, David Hilbert, and Paul Bernays, shedding light on how Bernays revised his philosophy after his collaboration with Hilbert. He considers Hermann Weyl’s idea of a “vicious circle” in the foundations of mathematics, a radical claim that elicited many challenges. Turning to Kurt Gödel, whose incompleteness theorem transformed debate on the foundations of mathematics and brought mathematical logic to maturity, Parsons discusses his essay on Bertrand Russell’s mathematical logic—Gödel’s first mature philosophical statement and an avowal of his Platonistic view.

Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century insightfully treats the contributions of figures the author knew personally: W. V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, Hao Wang, and William Tait. Quine’s early work on ontology is explored, as is his nominalistic view of predication and his use of the genetic method of explanation in the late work The Roots of Reference. Parsons attempts to tease out Putnam’s views on existence and ontology, especially in relation to logic and mathematics. Wang’s contributions to subjects ranging from the concept of set, minds, and machines to the interpretation of Gödel are examined, as are Tait’s axiomatic conception of mathematics, his minimalist realism, and his thoughts on historical figures.

[more]

front cover of The Politics of Large Numbers
The Politics of Large Numbers
A History of Statistical Reasoning
Alain Desrosières
Harvard University Press, 1998

Statistics-driven thinking is ubiquitous in modern society. In this ambitious and sophisticated study of the history of statistics, which begins with probability theory in the seventeenth century, Alain Desrosières shows how the evolution of modern statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments. He traces the complex reciprocity between modern governments and the mathematical artifacts that both dictate the duties of the state and measure its successes.

No other work, in any language, covers such a broad spectrum--probability, mathematical statistics, psychology, economics, sociology, surveys, public health, medical statistics--in accurately synthesizing the history of statistics, with an emphasis on the conceptual development of social statistics, culminating in twentieth-century applied econometrics.

[more]

logo for The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Polynomial Methods in Optimal Control and Filtering
Kenneth Hunt
The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 1993
This book aims to demonstrate the power and breadth of polynomial methods in control and filtering. Direct polynomial methods have previously received little attention compared with the alternative Wiener-Hopf transfer-function method and the statespace methods which rely on Riccati equations.
[more]

logo for University of Minnesota Press
Prediction and Regulation by Linear Least-Square Methods
Peter Whittle
University of Minnesota Press, 1963
Prediction and Regulation by Linear Least-Square Methods was first published in 1963. This revised second edition was issued in 1983. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.During the past two decades, statistical theories of prediction and control have assumed an increasing importance in all fields of scientific research. To understand a phenomenon is to be able to predict it and to influence it in predictable ways. First published in 1963 and long out of print, Prediction and Regulation by Linear Least-Square Methods offers important tools for constructing models of dynamic phenomena. This elegantly written book has been a basic reference for researchers in many applied sciences who seek practical information about the representation and manipulation of stationary stochastic processes. Peter Whittle’s text has a devoted group of readers and users, especially among economists. This edition contains the unchanged text of the original and adds new works by the author and a foreword by economist Thomas J. Sargent.
[more]

front cover of A Primer of Probability Logic
A Primer of Probability Logic
Ernest W. Adams
CSLI, 1996

This book is meant to be a primer, that is, an introduction, to probability logic, a subject that appears to be in its infancy. Probability logic is a subject envisioned by Hans Reichenbach and largely created by Adams. It treats conditionals as bearers of conditional probabilities and discusses an appropriate sense of validity for arguments such conditionals, as well as ordinary statements as premisses.

This is a clear well-written text on the subject of probability logic, suitable for advanced undergraduates or graduates, but also of interest to professional philosophers. There are well-thought-out exercises, and a number of advanced topics treated in appendices, while some are brought up in exercises and some are alluded to only in footnotes. By this means, it is hoped that the reader will at least be made aware of most of the important ramifications of the subject and its tie-ins with current research, and will have some indications concerning recent and relevant literature.

[more]

front cover of Probably Overthinking It
Probably Overthinking It
How to Use Data to Answer Questions, Avoid Statistical Traps, and Make Better Decisions
Allen B. Downey
University of Chicago Press, 2023
An essential guide to the ways data can improve decision making.
 
Statistics are everywhere: in news reports, at the doctor’s office, and in every sort of forecast, from the stock market to the weather. Blogger, teacher, and computer scientist Allen B. Downey knows well that people have an innate ability both to understand statistics and to be fooled by them. As he makes clear in this accessible introduction to statistical thinking, the stakes are big. Simple misunderstandings have led to incorrect medical prognoses, underestimated the likelihood of large earthquakes, hindered social justice efforts, and resulted in dubious policy decisions. There are right and wrong ways to look at numbers, and Downey will help you see which are which.
 
Probably Overthinking It uses real data to delve into real examples with real consequences, drawing on cases from health campaigns, political movements, chess rankings, and more. He lays out common pitfalls—like the base rate fallacy, length-biased sampling, and Simpson’s paradox—and shines a light on what we learn when we interpret data correctly, and what goes wrong when we don’t. Using data visualizations instead of equations, he builds understanding from the basics to help you recognize errors, whether in your own thinking or in media reports. Even if you have never studied statistics—or if you have and forgot everything you learned—this book will offer new insight into the methods and measurements that help us understand the world.
[more]

front cover of Proximity and Preference
Proximity and Preference
Problems in the Multidimensional Analysis of Large Data Sets
Reginald Golledge
University of Minnesota Press, 1982
Proximity and Preference was first published in 1982.How does one design experiments for collecting large volumes of data such as those needed for marketing surveys, studies of travel patterns, and public opinion polls? This is a common problem for social and behavioral scientists. The papers in this collection address the problems of working with large data sets primarily from the perspectives of geography and psychology, two fields that share a common quantitative research methodology.After an introductory paper on substantive and methodological aspects of the interface between geography and psychology, the book is divided into three sections, experimental design and measurement problems, preference functions and choice behavior, and special problems of analyzing large data sets with multidimensional methods. Each paper is directed toward some fundamental problem such as those relating to experimental design, data reliability, and the selection of analytical methods which are appropriate for data sets of various sizes, completeness, and reliability.
[more]


Send via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter