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1. Introduction
4. 3 investigatory tasks
5. Difficulties
And
Isaac Newton
Controversy…
When Newton and Leibniz first published their results, there was great
controversy over which mathematician (and therefore which country)
deserved credit. Newton derived his results first, but Leibniz published
first. Newton claimed Leibniz stole ideas from his unpublished notes,
which Newton had shared with a few members of the Royal Society. This
controversy divided English-speaking mathematicians from continental
mathematicians for many years, to the detriment of English mathematics.
A careful examination of the papers of Leibniz and Newton shows that
they arrived at their results independently, with Leibniz starting first with
integration and Newton with differentiation. Today, both Newton and
Leibniz are given credit for developing calculus independently.
Therefore…
It is Leibniz, however, who gave the new discipline its name. Since the time
of Leibniz and Newton, many mathematicians have contributed to the
continuing development of calculus.
One of the first and most complete works on finite and infinitesimal
analysis was written in 1748 by Maria Gaetana Agnesi.
Claims from outside of
Europe…
Egypt
Calculating volumes and areas, the basic function of integral calculus, can be traced
back to the Moscow papyrus (c. 1820 BC), in which an Egyptian mathematician
successfully calculated the volume of a pyramidal frustum.
China
In the third century Liu Hui wrote his Nine Chapters and also Haidao suanjing (Sea Island
Mathematical Manual), which dealt with using the Pythagorean theorem (already stated
in the Nine Chapters), known in China as the Gougu theorem, to measure the size of
things. He discovered the usage of Cavalieri's principle to find an accurate formula for
the volume of a cylinder, showing a grasp of elementary concepts associated with the
differential and integral calculus.
Claims from outside of
Europe…
India
The mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata in 499 used a notion of infinitesimals and
expressed an astronomical problem in the form of a basic differential equation. Manjula and
Bhāskara II expanded this thought .
Islamic
In the 11th century, when Ibn al-Haytham (known as Alhacen in Europe), an Iraqi
mathematician working in Egypt, performed an integration in order to find the volume of a
parabolic shape, and was able to generalize his result for the integrals of polynomials up to
the fourth degree. He thus came close to finding a general formula for the integrals of
polynomials, but he was not concerned with any polynomials higher than the fourth degree.
Claims from outside of
Europe…
Japan
In 17th century Japan, Japanese mathematician Kowa Seki made a helped
determine areas of figures using integrals, extending the method of
exhaustion. While these methods of finding areas were made largely
obsolete by the development of the fundamental theorems by Newton
and Leibniz, they still show that a sophisticated knowledge of
mathematics existed in 17th century Japan.
The volume of any prism or cylinder is the base times the height. Solids can
be divided into thin “slices” by parallel planes. The volume of the solid can
be determined using the cross sectional area of each slice.
4. Tasks….
A. Introduction to differentiation
B. Differentiation dominos
C. Introduction to integration
D. Integration jigsaw
5. Difficulties and
misconceptions
6. Research Into the Teaching and
Learning Into Differentiation and
Integration
Tony Orton from the Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics
Education, School of Education, University of Leeds which appeared in the
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology,
1986, Vol. 17, No.6, pp 659-668.
For both differentiation and integration, the idea of the limit was generally
neglected he argued. More create ways could be used to bridge this idea
from ‘simpler’ areas of mathematics, eg, the relationship of the circle to
polygons, finding the areas of a circle by using sectors, etc can help to build
an adequate concept of a limit.
Situated Cognition and Conceptual
Understanding of Elementary Calculus
British Society for Research into the Learning of Mathematics, June 2003,
Victor Kofi Amoah takes a more serious look at the effects of two teaching
approaches to pupils’ understanding of differential calculus. This against a
background in which the use of computers has now become second
nature.
Different approaches…
The unify approach, was less structured and no lecturing took place at the
beginning or during any learning activity. It stressed learning that is about
engaging the pupils in learning and keeping track of the ideas the pupils
come up with. Teaching was aimed at the ‘ mathematics making sense’ and
continuously discussing their ideas with their peers and teachers.
Results….
The results of the first approach showed that through the authentic
activities and graphing software students can improve their conceptual
understanding of differential calculus. They did not suffer from a loss of
computational skills as some educators fear and ended up with a strong
graphical understanding of the derivative.
Further resources…
MEI
http://integralmaths.org/resources/course/view.php?id=32
NRICH
http://nrich.maths.org/public/
STEMnet
http://www.stemnet.org.uk/