Introduction

Summary

Using the history of mathematics to motivate interest and understanding in the mathematics classroom has become an acknowledged pedagogical option for mathematics instructors. The knowledge base on how to incorporate history into the classroom has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few decades. A look at the number of recent books published by many academic publishers, to include the MAA, is indicative of this effort to improve mathematics teaching and learning.

However, due to the nature of mathematical advances in the last few centuries, the history of topics such as logic and Galois theory are much less accessible. The level of mathematical sophistication needed to grasp these topics, even at an introductory level, is much higher than that needed for most older subjects. Given that the development of a subject is usually harder to follow than the final theory, the history of more recent topics may be even harder to comprehend. For exactly these reasons, it is important to present the historical evolution of and motivation for these topics. Many higher-level concepts seem remote and arbitrary to students. Presenting the historical development of these more recent and advanced topics gives the students the connections needed to gain a deeper understanding of higher mathematics.

This volume is intended to be a resource for undergraduate mathematics teachers, providing ideas and materials for immediate adoption and proven examples to motivate innovation by the reader.