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The importance of mistakes

The 1984 Presidential address

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2016

R. L. E. Schwarzenberger
R. L. E. Schwarzenberger*
Affiliation:
Department of Science Education, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
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Extract

The Mathematical Association is very kind to its Presidents. They are relative strangers, they are placed for a short-time in the most intimate contact with all the Association’s affairs, and they are given up to two years in which to agonise over the subject of their Presidential Address. In my own case I chose the above title about 18 months ago, and was then filled with worry and embarrassment when last year Frank Budden unveiled his title “Accuracy is a virtue”. Would my lecture be viewed as an unworthy attack on a very distinguished predecessor? More important, was I completely mistaken in my view? My conclusion was that I should go ahead with the talk as planned asking you to view Frank Budden’s remarks and my own as two elements in a necessary dialectic, another example of the tensions which are inherent and necessary to good mathematical education.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 68 , Issue 445 , October 1984 , pp. 159 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Mathematical Association 1984

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References

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