UREM-ULB :
Unité de Recherche sur l’Enseignement des Mathématiques

Appel de Dirk Huylebrouck huylebrouck@gmail.com

Dear All,

I am involved in a so-called "Discussion Group" at the forthcoming
"International Congress on Mathematical Education" ICME-12 in Korea
(see http://www.icme12.org/default.asp).

It is called DG 16 : "Can art save mathematics ?" and a description is
available here : http://www.icme12.org/sub/sub02_06.asp . Please
consider this e-mail as an invitation to participate in the discussion
http://www.icme12.org/sub/dg/Dgload.asp?tsgNo=16

Just click on the button "write" on the bottom at the right to
participate in the discussion about our key questions (given on the
web site, and reproduced below).

Feel free to invite as many people as possible to participate by
forwarding this message. Of course, some people will get this
invitation several time as we have many common friends, but, well, it
means they will notice we are working on a common goal.

Sincerely,
Dirk Huylebrouck

===

Key questions :

Q1 : How much art should “artistic mathematicians” know in order to
produce more than embellished mathematical results, so that their
artistic mathematics are not mere “kitschy attempts” ?

Q2 : How much mathematics should “mathematical artists” grasp in order
to get really involved in the pure sciences, so that their
mathematical art is not mere “baby math” ?

Q3 : Or else, instead of turning mathematicians into ‘artists’ and
artists into ‘mathematicians’, wouldn’t it be better both sides simply
cooperate – and if so, what should be the framework for such a
collaboration ?

Q4 : How can mathematics departments take mathematical art achievements
into account in their output evaluation ? For example, are mathematical
art journals included in the journal rankings ?

Q5 : How should the refereeing process work in this case where “peers”
are by definition hard to find since the creative process implies
every mathematical artwork should be unique ? In the art world,
refereeing is seldom done by peers.

Q6 : What is the difference between a scientific paper on mathematical
art and a poetic artistic portrayal ? The objectives of a purely
mathematical paper are well known, but what about those of a paper on
mathematical art ?

Q7 : As for its implications in teaching mathematical art to art
students, what are their specific needs and aspirations ? The
scientific “aha-Erlebnis” and “problem solving” are not sufficient, so
how do we stimulate the creative mathematical approach ?

Q8 : Is there a need for teaching mathematical art ? The implications
could be students’ attention is diverted from classical mathematics
material (leading to “easy credit” courses). However, it could also
raise awareness of the usefulness and the beauty of mathematics,
inspiring students to take math courses.