Premium
Teaching and Learning Guide for: Explanation in Mathematics: Proofs and Practice
Author(s) -
D'Alessandro William
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12630
Subject(s) - mathematical proof , citation , computer science , mathematics education , library science , psychology , mathematics , geometry
Mathematicians value and pursue proofs they consider explanatory, as opposed to those that merely verify a result without explaining it. This is philosophically interesting for at least two reasons. One is because we care about explanation: how does a proof explain a theorem, and what does this tell us about explanation in general? Another is because we care about mathematical practice: what kinds of proofs do mathematicians consider explanatory, and what does this tell us about how mathematics is done and why? The last twenty years has seen a surge of important work on explanatory proof; the article surveys some key recent developments.