Other Mathematics Commons^™

Unomaha Problem Of The Week (2021-2022 Edition), Brad Horner, Jordan M. Sahs

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The University of Omaha math department's Problem of the Week was taken over in Fall 2019 from faculty by the authors. The structure: each semester (Fall and Spring), three problems are given per week for twelve weeks, with each problem worth ten points - mimicking the structure of arguably the most well-regarded university math competition around, the Putnam Competition, with prizes awarded to top-scorers at semester's end. The weekly competition was halted midway through Spring 2020 due to COVID-19, but relaunched again in Fall 2021, with massive changes.

Now there are three difficulty tiers to POW problems, roughly corresponding to …

Exploring Argumentation, Objectivity, And Bias: The Case Of Mathematical Infinity, Ami Mamolo

OSSA Conference Archive

This paper presents an overview of several years of my research into individuals’ reasoning, argumentation, and bias when addressing problems, scenarios, and symbols related to mathematical infinity. There is a long history of debate around what constitutes “objective truth” in the realm of mathematical infinity, dating back to ancient Greece (e.g., Dubinsky et al., 2005). Modes of argumentation, hindrances, and intuitions have been largely consistent over the years and across levels of expertise (e.g., Brown et al., 2010; Fischbein et al., 1979, Tsamir, 1999). This presentation examines the interrelated complexities of notions of objectivity, bias, and argumentation as manifested in …