3384

Michael Gr. Voskoglou

philosophy of mathematics education

2016

30

Cantor’s ternary set , Aristotle’s potential/actual dichotomy of the infinity , large finite numbers , fractals , attainable and unattainable infinite , APOS explanations for the difficulties of understanding the infinite

Students of today are facing significant difficulties for understanding the concept of infinity and especially the actual form of it, according to the Aristotle’s dichotomy. In this work we present an experimental study on the effects that an instruction to the basic philosophical/epistemological aspects of the infinite could have for the improvement of student abilities to deal successfully in their mathematical courses with situations involving, directly or indirectly, the concept of infinity.