History of mathematics: what is the point of it?
by
Peter Fenton and Coralie Daniel
University of Otago

The title is intended to suggest the complaint of a student who finds that here is another useless thing to be burdened with. It comes to be the view of some (not all) students in the history of mathematics course at Otago, as their enthusiasm for something non-technical begins to wilt under an accumulation of detail. Much has been written about using historical material in mathematics teaching, some of it bound up with fundamental concerns about the nature of mathematics and how it should be taught, the so-called humanistic perspective. Occasionally history has been represented almost as a panacea for the ills of bad teaching. What are we hoping to achieve by including historical material in our teaching?

Date received: June 10, 1999