• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.123-146
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• 2006

The topic in this thesis stems from the current education situation that represses learners' freedom by excessive instruction and compulsory institution, in spite of the education helping learners free from inner prejudice as one of its chief aims. In this thesis, to discuss with an educational aspect, I call the learners' freedom in the learning process 'freedom-in-process' and the learners' freedom as the result of learning 'freedom-as-result'. Through this discussion, the conclusions are as follows; First, learners who enjoy freedom-in-process get to obtain freedom-as-result in mathematics education. Second, freedom-in-process and freedom-as-result appear repeatedly in the process of looking for and gaining structures. Freedom-in-process and freedom-as-result are both faces of coin, like seed and fruit which are related mutually and fertilized each other. For this purpose, Mathematics teacher must have awareness of the value of freedom, cherish the freedom, and enjoy it with his students.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.247-267
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• 2016

It has been pointed out that the mathematics textbooks according to 2009 revised national curriculum cause difficulty not by mathematical knowledge but concomitantly by words and sentences for the first graders who just started learning Korean alphabets. This study focused on the suitability of words and sentences in mathematics textbooks for elementary first grade. We analyzed the degree of difficulty and familiarity in terms of words and the structure, length, and expression in terms of sentences. The results show some causes that lead the first graders to the difficulty. In more detail, we found 108 difficult words and 6 unfamiliar words for the first graders. And it is noticed that the textbooks contain 37 compound sentences, 727 complex sentences, and 38 compound-complex sentences. They also contain 237 long sentences that are composed of 9 words or more, 168 sentences that assign two activities or more, and 52 sentences that contain three nouns or adjectives or more successively. Based on these results and discussions, we suggested several implications for writing mathematics textbooks for the lower grades in elementary school.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.53-75
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• 2012

When imaginary numbers were first encountered in the 16th century, mathematicians were able to calculate the imaginary numbers the same as they are today. However, it required 200 years to mathematically acknowledge the existence of imaginary numbers. The new mathematical situation that arose with a development in mathematics required a harmony of real numbers and imaginary numbers. As a result, the concept of complex number became clear. A history behind the development of complex numbers involved a process of determining a comprehensive perspective that ties real numbers and imaginary numbers in a single category, complex numbers. This came after a resolution of conflict between real numbers and imaginary numbers. This study identified the new perspective and way of mathematical thinking emerging from resolving the conflicts. Also educational implications of the analysis were discussed.

• School Mathematics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 2004

This article was to develop a tool and apply it to the high school classrooms for the performance assessment in trigonometry Bloom(1956)'s cognitive domain and holistic rubric and analytic rubric(NCTM, 1999) were used to guide the development of 12 problems. To find validity and credibility of this developed tool, Cronbach n and Rasch's BIGSTEPS were used with the samples of high students, 208, using SPSS 10.0K. The results from the investigation, indicated that the tool was very worth assessing students' achievement and there was no difference between the areas where students lived, but were differences between genders as well as between a specialized high school and preparatory high schools.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.11-19
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• 2012

Zhu Shi Jie's Suan Xue Qi Meng (算學啓蒙) is one of the most important books which had a great influence to the development of Chosun Mathematics and Gyung SunJing's Muk Sa Jib San Bub is the oldest Chosun mathematics book. In this paper, comparing Suan Xue Qi Meng (算學啓蒙) with Muk Sa Jib San Bub, we study the mathematics educational constructions and structures in books and then conclude that their structure can be used in present school mathematics.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2005

The Rule of False Position is known as an arithmetical solution of algebraical equations. On the other hand, the Excess-Deficit Rule is an algorithm for calculating about excessive or deficient quantitative relations, which is found in the ancient eastern mathematical books, including the nine chapters on the mathematical arts. It is usually said that the origin of the Rule of False Position is the Excess-Deficit Rule in ancient Chinese mathematics. In relation to these facts, we pose two questions: - As many authors explain, the excess-deficit rule is a solution of simultaneous linear equations？ - Which relation is there between the two rules explicitly？ To answer these Questions, we consider the Rule of Single/Double False Position and research the Excess-Deficit Rule in some ancient mathematical books of Chosun Dynasty that was heavily affected by Chinese mathematics. And we pursue their historical traces in Egypt, Arab and Europe. As a result, we can make sure of the status of the Excess-Deficit Rule differing from the Rectangular Arrays(the solution of simultaneous linear equations) and identify the relation of the two rules: the application of the Excess-Deficit Rule including supposition in ancient Chinese mathematics corresponds to the Rule of Double False Position in western mathematics. In addition, we try to appreciate didactical value of the Rule of False Position which is apt to be considered as a historical by-product.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-50
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• 2017

This study analyses on the history of uniform convergence, and discusses its educational implications. First, this study inspects 'overflowing of the Euclidean methodology' which was suggested by Lakatos as a cause of tardy appearance of uniform convergence, and reinterprets that cause in the perspective of 'symbolization'. Second, this study looks into the emergence of uniform convergence of Seidel and Weierstrass in this viewpoint of symbolization. As a result, of analysis, we come to know that the definition of uniform convergence had been changed into the theory of 'domain and graph' from that of 'point and function value' by the location change of the quantifier. As these results, this study puts forward an educational suggestion from an angle of epistemological obstacle, concept definition and concept image.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.9-22
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• 2005

Natural numbers have not yet been studied adequately on the aspect of its historical development in spite of its mathematical and educational importance. This article studied the historical development of natural number concept, that is, its historical meaning in the mathematical development process and influence of cultural and social element in relation with way of understanding number. From these examinations, we identified some characteristics in the history of natural number concept.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-86
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• 2004

Discussing the history of mathematics in classrooms is often recommended as a way to help show that mathematics was not handed down unchanged from God into the students' notebooks but has been changing and growing throughout the centuries. Now that new millenium century is begun, it is appropriate for historians to look back and for teachers to show that mathematics is not only alive and well but in its most productive period ever. This paper is a brief summary that hints at the flavor of recent mathematical developments. Even if the actual content may be difficult, however, the exciting stories of the people, developments, results, and applications deserve coverage. These stories can add life to school mathematics and encourage our students to join in the fun.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.301-313
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• 2019

This paper briefly examines the Book of Changes that is the philosophical background of East Asian ancient mathematics and its collection of complementary(ShíYì), and then examines the structure and contents of GyeSaJeon, which explains the basic principles of Book of Changes as one of ShíYì. GyesaJeon reveals the unique East Asian thought of dealing with numbers in the process of explaining the formation of Eight-Gwae(Bagua) and Sixty-four-Gwae based on Yin-Yang theory. It understands numbers in terms of symbols, not quantitative, and use them to represent characteristics or hierarchy of certain classes, and to explain certain principles. Based on this, the implications of using East Asian mathematics history in the mathematics classroom are discussed.