Ursula Martin
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Research Subjects
Research Interests
Ursula Martin has a total of 6 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
Alison Pease
University of Dundee
1 shared publication- Alison Pease
University of Dundee
1 shared publication - Andrew Aberdein
School of Arts and Communication, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, USA
1 shared publication Dave Murray-Rust
University of Edinburgh
1 shared publicationFenner Tanswell
University of St Andrews
1 shared publicationLorenzo Lane
University of Oxford
1 shared publication
Latest Publications
- 2 October 2019
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 197-212
Journeys in Mathematical Landscapes: Genius or Craft?
- 2 October 2019
- Published by Springer Nature
- p. 197-212
Journeys in Mathematical Landscapes: Genius or Craft?
- Open Access
- 21 January 2019
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- Vol. 377 (2140) , 20180159
Explanation in mathematical conversations: an empirical investigation
Analysis of online mathematics forums can help reveal how explanation is used by mathematicians; we contend that this use of explanation may help to provide an informal conceptualization of simplicity. We extracted six conjectures from recent philosophical work on the occurrence and characteristics of explanation in mathematics. We then tested these conjectures against a corpus derived from online mathematical discussions. To this end, we employed two techniques, one based on indicator terms, the other on a random sample of comments lacking such indicators. Our findings suggest that explanation is widespread in mathematical practice and that it occurs not only in proofs but also in other mathematical contexts. Our work also provides further evidence for the utility of empirical methods in addressing philosophical problems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The notion of ‘simple proof’ - Hilbert's 24th problem’.
- 21 January 2019
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- Vol. 377 (2140) , 20180159
Open AccessExplanation in mathematical conversations: an empirical investigation
Analysis of online mathematics forums can help reveal how explanation is used by mathematicians; we contend that this use of explanation may help to provide an informal conceptualization of simplicity. We extracted six conjectures from recent philosophical work on the occurrence and characteristics of explanation in mathematics. We then tested these conjectures against a corpus derived from online mathematical discussions. To this end, we employed two techniques, one based on indicator terms, the other on a random sample of comments lacking such indicators. Our findings suggest that explanation is widespread in mathematical practice and that it occurs not only in proofs but also in other mathematical contexts. Our work also provides further evidence for the utility of empirical methods in addressing philosophical problems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The notion of ‘simple proof’ - Hilbert's 24th problem’.