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On the persuasiveness of visual arguments in mathematics

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journal contribution
posted on 2011-07-05, 15:10 authored by Matthew InglisMatthew Inglis, Juan P. Mejia-Ramos
Two experiments are reported which investigate the factors that influence how persuaded mathematicians are by visual arguments. We demonstrate that if a visual argument is accompanied by a passage of text which describes the image, both research-active mathematicians and successful undergraduate mathematics students perceive it to be significantly more persuasive than if no text is given. We suggest that mathematicians’ epistemological concerns about supporting a claim using visual images are less prominent when the image is described in words. Finally we suggest that empirical studies can make a useful contribution to our understanding of mathematical practice.

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Mathematics Education Centre

Citation

INGLIS, M. and MEJIA-RAMOS, J.P., 2009. On the persuasiveness of visual arguments in mathematics. Foundations of Science, 14 (1-2), pp. 97-110.

Publisher

© Springer

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2009

Notes

The final publication is available at: www.springerlink.com

ISSN

1233-1821

Language

  • en

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