I’m inviting you to take part in research to investigate experts’ views of mathematical proof. This study is designed to better understand what characteristics expert mathematicians value when considering the relative merits of different mathematical proofs.
You will be asked to read and compare several short proofs of a given theorem. We would be very grateful if you would contribute a number of judgements of pairs of proofs. From previous work, we expect this will take 15-20 minutes to complete and we hope you find these proofs interesting.
By taking part you will be helping us better understand what experts value in mathematical proof. We anticipate this will enable us, and others, to improve mathematics teaching in the future.
Please follow this link to participate in the study.
https://george-kinnear.shinyapps.io/comparing-proofs/
We plan to publish research as a result of this study, and all the materials (proofs) will be available in due course if you would like copies for use in the future.
Thank you very much for your time,
Prof. Chris Sangwin
School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh.
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.