| A Mathematician's Lament | |
| Author: | Paul Lockhart |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Philosophy, Mathematics |
| Published: | 2009 Bellevue Literary Press |
| Media Type: | Print (paperback) |
| Pages: | 140 |
| Isbn: | 978-1-934137-17-8 |
A Mathematician's Lament, often referred to informally as Lockhart's Lament, is a short book on mathematics education by Paul Lockhart, originally a research mathematician at Brown University and U.C. Santa Cruz, and subsequently a math teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York City for many years. This strongly worded opinion piece is organized into two parts. The first part, "Lamentation", criticizes the way mathematics is typically taught in American schools and argues for an aesthetic, intuitive, and problem-oriented approach to teaching. The second part, "Exultation", gives specific examples of how to teach mathematics as an art.
This book was developed from a 25-page essay that was written in 2002, originally circulated in typewritten manuscript copies, and subsequently published by Keith Devlin on his online column for the Mathematical Association of America's webzine MAA Online.[1]
"The first thing to understand is that mathematics is an art. The difference between math and the other arts, such as music and painting, is that our culture does not recognize it as such."
"Other math courses may hide the beautiful bird, or put it in a cage, but in geometry class, it is openly and cruelly tortured."
"Part of the problem is that nobody has the faintest idea what it is that mathematicians do. The common perception seems to be that mathematicians are somehow connected with science— perhaps they help the scientists with their formulas, or feed big numbers into computers for some reason or other"
Daniel Farlow and William Schmidt, writing in Math Horizons and Notices of the American Mathematical Society, respectively, praised Lockhart's criticisms of mathematics education.[2] [3] Schmidt, however, also criticized Lockhart's proposed approach to math education for exacerbating preexisting inequalities within the education system. Timo Tossavainen, writing in The Mathematical Intelligencer, criticized Lockhart for "overlook[ing] what is realistically possible in mathematics teachers’ education", but he ultimately praised the book as a "necessary reminder of how all is lost if the joy of doing mathematics and the students’ right to experience it are not at the heart of mathematics education."[4]