PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2012
Portland, Oregon
What’s the big idea?: Mathematicians’ and undergraduates’ proof summaries
Page: 2-527
In this study, seven mathematicians and seven undergraduates were asked to read and summarize mathematical proofs that they read to investigate which ideas they consider to be important in a proof. Mathematicians’ ideas were generally a) important equations, theorems or facts used in the proof, b) general methods used in the proof, c) diagrams or graphs, or d) overarching goals of the proof. Additionally, mathematicians and students sometimes included details or computations in their summaries that were unfamiliar, subtle, or not routine for them.