• The Mathematical Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

We have studied the issues of the current math war in America. Traditionalists and the reformers have been arguing about the curriculums, teaching methods, use of calculators, basic skills, and assessment methods in K-12 mathematics. They both have strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation have contributed for the development of mathematics education. Instead of choosing between traditionalists and the reformist sides, we suggest to adopt an eclectic view point i.e., rigor and creativity, memorization and understanding that may seem at odds with each other are quite compatible and mutually reinforcing. Also teacher's deep knowledge in mathematics is extremely important as his/her knowledge in pedagogy.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.371-391
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• 2016

Long division was one of the major issues in math war II started from 1990's in US. In this paper, we investigated this concretely and examined present teaching condition of long division in Korea. Firstly, Long division is not only a mechanical way to get the answer but also a realization of core conception in elementary mathematics. Futhermore it is a connecting link between elementary and middle mathematics education. Secondly, it is needed to use the term 'long division' to provide the concrete teaching guidelines. Thirdly, a minor algorithm, like an 'partial quotient method', is necessary to introduce in order to help understanding long division.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.645-668
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• 2014

This study was designed to gain insights into contemporary secondary mathematics curriculum revision in Korea. The two secondary mathematics curriculum reports submitted in the 1920s, the Kilpatrick Reports and 1923 Reports were compared and contrasted as the origin of recent math wars, and their backgrounds, committee members, viewpoints of math and math education and contents were analyzed to understand the perspectives of the two extreeme parts. Kilpatrick Reports was selected at that time, but nevertheless 1923 Report had taken a role of guiding secondary mathematics in US until the New Math era. The direction and process of mathematics curriculum revision were suggested based on the analysis of reports' short- and long-term influences. A close examination of the curriculum revision process in US and in Korea and the implications from the results are also included in the suggestion.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.73-88
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• 2022

Mathematics is a way of thinking. To do mathematics means to think mathematically. In other words, mathematics education and mathematics literacy are related. In elementary and secondary school mathematics education in many countries, teaching of mathematics using textbooks is conducted mostly in their native language. So mathematics education takes place while reading, writing, listening, and speaking mathematics. Analysis of mathematics textbooks for the lower grades of undergraduate mathematics shows that most advanced countries in mathematics use excellent undergraduate mathematics textbooks written in their native language. However, the ratio of using imported textbooks from foreign countries is particularly high in the case of textbooks for mathematics majors at Korean universities. In this article, the effect of language used in university mathematics education is analized. In particular, the importance of high-quality leading-edge university mathematics textbooks in native language is introduced by analyzing the case of Bourbaki in France and 'War of language' at the Israel Institute of Technology. The innovation of French university mathematics education in the 20th century began with Bourbaki's 'Fundamentals of Mathematics', a French textbook written in his native language. Israel's Technion and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem continue to teach all subjects in their mother tongue. This has led to produce many Nobel Prize and Fields medal winners in these two countries. This study shows that textbooks and languages used in university mathematics education has affected mathematical literacy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.98-104
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• 2016

With the development of modern science and technology, weapon systems such as tanks, submarines, combat planes, radar are also dramatically advanced. Among these weapon systems, the ballistic missile, one of the asymmetric forces, could be considered as a very economical means to attack the core facilities of the other country in order to achieve the strategic goals of the country during the war. Because of the current ballistic missile threat from the North Korea, establishing a missile defense (MD) system becomes one of the major national defense issues. This study focused on the optimization of air defense artillery units' deployment for effective ballistic missile defense. To optimize the deployment of the units, firstly this study examined the possibility of defense, according to the presence of orbital coordinates of ballistic missiles in the limited defense range of air defense artillery units. This constraint on the defense range is originated from the characteristics of anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs) such as PATRIOT. Secondly, this study proposed the optimized mathematical model considering the total covering problem of binary integer programming, as an optimal deployment of air defense artillery units for defending every core defense facility with the least number of such units. Finally, numerical experiments were conducted to show how the suggested approach works. Assuming the current state of the Korean peninsula, the study arbitrarily set ballistic missile bases of the North Korea and core defense facilities of the South Korea. Under these conditions, numerical experiments were executed by utilizing MATLAB R2010a of the MathWorks, Inc.