More on the History of Functions, with Remarks on Teaching

Israel Kleiner ()
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Israel Kleiner: York University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Chapter Chapter 6 in Excursions in the History of Mathematics, 2012, pp 125-150 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The notion of function is central in both mathematics and mathematics education. Textbook definitions or descriptions of function have varied with time, context, and level of presentation. A function has been viewed as a formula, a rule, a correspondence, a relation between variables, a table of values, a graph, a mapping, a transformation, an operation, a set of ordered pairs (see, e.g., Math Teacher 61:575–579, 1968; Int Jour Math Educ Sci Technol 11:489–492, 1980; Learn Math 62(2):18–24, 28, 1986). These ideas reflect the historical evolution of the function concept. We will briefly trace some aspects of this evolutionary process, and following the historical account in each section (except for the first and last), draw some pedagogical morals.

Keywords: Nineteenth Century; Power Series; Fourier Series; Eighteenth Century; Function Concept (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-0-8176-8268-2_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-0-8176-8268-2_6

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