An Ethnographic Study of the Mathematical Ideas of a Group of Carpenters by Wendy L. Millroy
Publisher: Nationall Council of Teachers; illustrated edition (December 1991) | ISBN: 0873533410 | Pages: 210 | PDF | 2.12 MB

Mathematical knowledge has commonly been portrayed as consisting of universal truths that exist independently of people and that are discovered by mathematicians through a process of formal reasoning. Mathematical reasoning, unlike any other cognitive activity, is believed to be a decontextualized activity, tied to a formal system that relies upon a specifically defined set of symbols. These ideas have led to a view of mathematics as divorced from ordinary human activity and devoid of social, cultural, and political considerations.