Third International Conference on the History and Education of Modern Mathematics

Research in both the history of mathematics and the applications of history of mathematics to pedagogy have in recent years been enriched by new directions. The results have included new emphases in both disciplines, with diverse and far-reaching consequences. On the side of history, we see a renewed interest in the philosophical issues of various kinds, on the transmission of mathematical knowledge from local settings to global norms, on networks of scholars and networks of texts, on the nature and importance of application in mathematics, and on a reassessment of the importance of computation in all its forms. On the side of education, we see an expansion of the strategic use of history as a tool, going beyond cross-cultural comparison to being an ingredient in various theoretical approaches. The purpose of the meeting proposed is to assemble senior scholars active in these fields, junior scholars whose work promises to be transformative, and scholars who are ambitious to acquire new approaches while presenting contributed papers on work of their own for comment by their peers. With a broadly inclusive scope we hope to build on the positive experiences of earlier meeting to continue to build a Chinese and international research community and to build links for the future. We are deeply convinced that the better understanding of modern mathematical activity that such an approach can yield will be helpful for mathematics education at all levels, and that the presence of researchers with education as a primary focus will enhance this aim.