Abstract / Synopsis
In order to investigate how a 19th century mathematical textbook (in contrast to a contemporary one) would be experienced by a novice reader, we embarked on the following project: In the summer of 2013, a student with no previous training in college-level mathematics (the first author) set out to learn projective geometry from Pasch's 1882 textbook Lectures on Modern Geometry. Afterwards, he studied the same material from Coxeter's 1994 popular undergraduate textbook Projective Geometry. We report here some of his experiences and impressions contextualizing them along the way.
DOI
10.5642/jhummath.201402.06
Rights Information
© Douglas Roland Campbell and Dirk Schlimm
Recommended Citation
Douglas R. Campbell & Dirk Schlimm, "A Subjective Comparison Between a Historical and a Contemporary Textbook on Geometry," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 4 Issue 2 (July 2014), pages 58-66. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.201402.06. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol4/iss2/6
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
