Using History to Teach Mathematics (opens in new tab)

In my previous post I maintained that reasoning like a mathematician helps in order to grasp the history of mathematics. Here I shall support a complementary claim which is less obvious: knowing important developments in the history of mathematics facilitates mathematical comprehension. Specifically, I engage with fellow scholars and I use Henri Poincaré as an historical actor in an attempt to explain why teaching mathematics with a historical dimension is desirable. Finally, in the last two ...