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Some thoughts on the use of computer symbols in mathematics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2016

Margaret Brown*
Affiliation:
Centre for Science Education, Chelsea College, Bridges Place, London SW6 4HR

Extract

The increasing use of simple computing languages in schools gives an opportunity for rationalisation of our existing mathematical notation as follows:

It is time we abandoned “÷”, which is used in primary schools and causes great difficulties later on when children have to cope with the fact that or, worse still, If we used “|” from the start, what could be easier than (Nor is there a case for restricting ÷ to ‘sharing’ situations, since + and − are used for both natural numbers and rationals.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1974

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