Mathematical Activities
Many areas of thinking are closely related to mathematics, such as understanding an existing theory of mathematics, solving a mathematical problem, constructing a new theory, or solving a problem in a nonmathematical field by applying mathematics. We group these areas of thinking together and call them mathematical activities. At various points in the whole process, we will consider their significance with respect to the relation between the world of mathematics and the world of reality as reflected in the model shown in figure 1.1. This model can be seen to reflect a historical process through which humans have developed today’ s mathematics as well as a developmental process of a student’ s learning mathematics in the sense that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.