Presentation Session I

We don’t know what mathematics is. Is it a noun? A verb? Both? For generations, scholars have tried to define mathematics, and yet, there remains no consensus. This inability to define mathematics has led to simplistic and static interpretations of mathematics with detrimental and unhealthy effects in its utility in education and beyond. As such, this session proposes a theory for a definition of mathematics [with subsequent next steps] that explicitly explains what mathematics is [and what it is not], why we do mathematics [in pursuit of “Flow”], when mathematics happens [in response to disruption in/of application], and what happens after a mathematics event (plasticity and niche construction in local interaction).