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Full-Text Articles in Education

Identifying Structure In Introductory Topology: Diagrams, Examples, And Gestures, Keith N. Gallagher Jan 2020

Identifying Structure In Introductory Topology: Diagrams, Examples, And Gestures, Keith N. Gallagher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Despite the prevalence of research in calculus, linear algebra, abstract algebra, and analysis in undergraduate mathematics, the teaching and learning of general topology is a largely unexplored area of research. Although enrollment in courses like linear algebra is often higher than that of topology, the study of students’ learning and understanding of topology is of great significance to the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) community. Courses in topology present many students with their first experience in axiomatic reasoning and explicit interactions with mathematical structure, itself.

I present a thorough case study of Stacey, an undergraduate taking a first course …


Connectedness- Its Evolution And Applications, Nicholas A. Scoville Apr 2019

Connectedness- Its Evolution And Applications, Nicholas A. Scoville

Topology

No abstract provided.


Nearness Without Distance, Nicholas A. Scoville Jul 2018

Nearness Without Distance, Nicholas A. Scoville

Topology

No abstract provided.


The Cantor Set Before Cantor, Nicholas A. Scoville Apr 2016

The Cantor Set Before Cantor, Nicholas A. Scoville

Topology

A special construction used in both analysis and topology today is known as the Cantor set. Cantor used this set in a paper in the 1880s. Yet it appeared as early as 1875 in a paper by the Irish mathematician Henry John Stephen Smith (1826 - 1883). Smith, who is best known for the Smith normal form of a matrix, was a professor at Oxford who made great contributions in matrix theory and number theory. In this project, we will explore parts of a paper he wrote titled On the Integration of Discontinuous Functions.


Topology From Analysis, Nicholas A. Scoville Apr 2016

Topology From Analysis, Nicholas A. Scoville

Topology

Topology is often described as having no notion of distance, but a notion of nearness. How can such a thing be possible? Isn't this just a distinction without a difference? In this project, we will discover the notion of nearness without distance by studying the work of Georg Cantor and a problem he was investigating involving Fourier series. We will see that it is the relationship of points to each other, and not their distances per se, that is a proper view. We will see the roots of topology organically springing from analysis.