• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.325-344
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate what influences students' preferences on empirical and deductive proofs and find their relations. Although empirical and deductive proofs have been seen as a significant aspect of school mathematics, literatures have indicated that students tend to have a preference for empirical proof when they are convinced a mathematical statement. Several studies highlighted students'views about empirical and deductive proof. However, there are few attempts to find the relations of their views about these two proofs. The study was conducted to 47 students in 7~9 grades in the transition from empirical proof to deductive proof according to their mathematics curriculum. The data was collected on the written questionnaire asking students to choose one between empirical and deductive proofs in verifying that the sum of angles in any triangles is $180^{\circ}$. Further, they were asked to provide explanations for their preferences. Students' responses were coded and these codes were categorized to find the relations. As a result, students' responses could be categorized by 3 factors; accuracy of measurement, representative of triangles, and mathematics principles. First, the preferences on empirical proof were derived from considering the measurement as an accurate method, while conceiving the possibility of errors in measurement derived the preferences on deductive proof. Second, a number of students thought that verifying the statement for three different types of triangles -acute, right, obtuse triangles - in empirical proof was enough to convince the statement, while other students regarded these different types of triangles merely as partial examples of triangles and so they preferred deductive proof. Finally, students preferring empirical proof thought that using mathematical principles such as the properties of alternate or corresponding angles made proof more difficult to understand. Students preferring deductive proof, on the other hand, explained roles of these mathematical principles as verification, explanation, and application to other problems. The results indicated that students' preferences were due to their different perceptions of these common factors.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.147
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• pp.215-237
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the precise nature and the central line of Kant's proof of the causal principle stated in the Second Analogy of the 2nd. edition of the Critique of Pure Reason. The study argues for the following thesis: 1. The proof of the Second Analogy concerns only the causal principle called the "every-event-some-cause" principle, and not the causal law(s) called the "same-cause-same-event" principle. 2. The goal of the proof is to establish the possibility of knowledge of an temporal order of successive states of an object. 3. The proof is broadly an single transcendental argument in two steps. The 1st. step is an analytic argument that infers from the given perceptions of an oder of successive states of an objects to the conclusion that the causal principle is the necessary condition for the objectivity of dies perceived order. The 2nd. step is a synthetic argument that infers from the formal nature of time to the conclusion that the causal principle is a necessary condition for die possibility of objective alterations and of empirical knowledge of these alterations. 4. The poof involves not the 'non sequitur' assumed by P. F. Strawson, that is, Kant infers not directly from a feature of our perceptions to a conclusion regarding the causal relations of distinct states of affairs that supposedly correspond to these perceptions.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.585-604
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• 2013

This study is based on the problem that most middle school students cannot recognize the generality of geometrical theorems even after having proved them. By considering this problem from the point of view of empirical verification, the particularity of geometrical representations, and the role of geometrical variables, we suggest that some experiences in dynamic geometry environment (DGE) can help students to recognize the generality of geometrical theorems. That is, this study aims to observe students' cognitive changes related to their recognition of the generality and to provide some educational implications by making students experience some geometrical explorations in DGE. To do so, we selected three middle school students who couldn't recognize the generality of geometrical theorems although they completed their own proofs for the theorems. We provided them exploratory activities in DGE, and observed and analyzed their cognitive changes. Based on this analysis, we discussed the effects of DGE on studensts' recognition of the generality of geometrical theorems.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2011

Middle school mathematics treats axiom as mere fact verified by experiment or observation and doesn't mention it axiom. But axiom is very important to understand the difference between empirical verification and mathematical proof, intuitive geometry and deductive geometry, proof and nonproof. This study analysed textbooks and surveyed gifted students' conception of axiom. The results showed the problem and limitation of middle school mathematics on the treatment of axiom and proof.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.305-316
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• 2002

벡터는 수학 문제해결을 위한 중요한 도구로써, 벡터를 이용한 문제해결 과정에서 학생들은 수학적 탐구 활동에 관련된 풍부한 경험을 가질 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 벡터를 이용하여 삼각형의 무게중심에 관한 정리를 증명하기 위한 수학적 탐구 능력이나 아이디어를 학생들이 준비할 수 있도록 정리 증명과 관련된 몇몇 문제들을 체계화하여 제시하였다. 이 문제들을 해결하는 과정에 관련된 탐구 능력을 추출하였으며, 체계화된 문제에 바탕을 둔 무게중심에 관한 정리 증명을 제시하였고, 증명 과정과 관련된 수학적 탐구 능력을 제시하였다.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2003.07e
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• pp.2188-2191
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• 2003

이 논문에서는 라플라스 밀도함수에 대한 최적 홑양자기 지지역은 양자점의 개수와 로그선형 관계가 있음을 증명한다. 그리고, 극상한값을 유도하여 최적 지지역의 로그선형 증가가 어떤 상수값을 초과하지 않음을 증명한다. 이 결과들로부터, 학계에 경험적으로 알려져 왔던 최적 지지역의 로그선형 증가를 증명한다.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.299-314
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• 2008

The purposes of this study were to investigate what attitudes students have toward learning proofs and what difficulties they have in learning proofs, and to examine how the use of dynamic geometry software, the Geometer's Sketchpad, helps students' proof learning. The study involved 117 9th graders in 2 high schools. According to questionnaire data, over 50 percent of the total respondents(116) indicated negative attitudes toward learning proofs, on the other hand, only 16 percent of the total respondents indicated positive attitudes toward the learning. Memorizing and remembering many kinds of theorems, definitions, and postulates to use in proving statements was the most difficult part in learning proofs, which the largest proportion of the total respondents indicated. The study found that the use of the Geometer's Sketchpad played positive roles in developing students' understanding of proofs and stimulating students' interests in learning proofs.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.207-219
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• 2007

Students have a hard time with a formal proof, which is one of most important part in mathematics education. They were taught the proof with algebraic visual materials using technology and specialized visual materials. But, they experienced the difficulty in justifying due to the lack of experimental recognition with the representation using technology. The specialized visual materials limited the extension of mathematics thinking of students because it worked only for the case that is fixed. In order to solve this type of problem, we made algebraic visual materials for 9th graders using technology and generalized visual materials so that students experience for themselves to help them to experience experimental justification, thus we recognized that they were improved in enhancing mathematical thinking.

• School Mathematics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.59-90
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• 2004

This study has been established with two purposes. The first one is to development the learning-teaching model for enhancing students' creative proof capacities in the domain of demonstrative geometry as subject content. The second one is to aim at experimentally testing its effectiveness. First, we develop the learning-teaching model for enhancing students' proof capacities. This model is named the generative-convergent model based instruction. It consists of the following components: warming-up activities, generative activities, convergent activities, reflective discussion, other high quality resources etc. Second, to investigate the effects of the generative-convergent model based instruction, 160 8th-grade students are selected and are assigned to experimental and control groups. We focused that the generative-convergent model based instruction would be more effective than the traditional teaching method for improving middle school students' proof-writing capacities and error remediation. In conclusion, the generative-convergent model based instruction would be useful for improving middle grade students' proof-writing capacities. We suggest the following: first, it is required to refine the generative-convergent model for enhancing proof-problem solving capacities; second, it is also required to develop teaching materials in the generative-convergent model based instruction.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.513-528
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• 2014

This study is intended to examine 36 in-service secondary school mathematics teachers' conceptions of proof in the context of mathematics and mathematics education. The results suggest that almost teachers recognize the role as justification well but have the insufficient conceptions about another various roles of proof in mathematics. The results further suggest that many of teachers have vague concept-images in relation with the requirement of proof and recognize the insufficiency about the actual teaching of proof. Based on the results, implications for revision of mathematics curriculum and mathematics teacher education are discussed.