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BMC Psychology Feb 2021Maths anxiety is defined as a feeling of tension and apprehension that interferes with maths performance ability, the manipulation of numbers and the solving of... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Maths anxiety is defined as a feeling of tension and apprehension that interferes with maths performance ability, the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations. Our aim was to identify the facilitators and barriers of maths anxiety in university students.
METHOD
A scoping review methodology was used in this study. A search of databases including: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Scopus, PsycInfo, Medline, Education Resources Information Centre, Google Scholar and grey literature. Articles were included if they addressed the maths anxiety concept, identified barriers and facilitators of maths anxiety, had a study population comprised of university students and were in Arabic or English languages.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
After duplicate removal and applying the inclusion criteria, 10 articles were included in this study. Maths anxiety is an issue that effects many disciplines across multiple countries and sectors. The following themes emerged from the included papers: gender, self-awareness, numerical ability, and learning difficulty. The pattern in which gender impacts maths anxiety differs across countries and disciplines. There was a significant positive relationship between students' maths self-efficacy and maths performance and between maths self-efficacy, drug calculation self-efficacy and drug calculation performance.
CONCLUSION
Maths anxiety is an issue that effects many disciplines across multiple countries and sectors. Developing anxiety toward maths might be affected by gender; females are more prone to maths anxiety than males. Maths confidence, maths values and self-efficacy are related to self-awareness. Improving these concepts could end up with overcoming maths anxiety and improving performance.
Topics: Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Female; Humans; Male; Mathematics; Students; Universities
PubMed: 33632322
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00537-2 -
Studies in History and Philosophy of... Apr 2021Structuralists typically appeal to some variant of the widely popular 'mapping' account of mathematical representation to suggest that mathematics is applied in modern...
Structuralists typically appeal to some variant of the widely popular 'mapping' account of mathematical representation to suggest that mathematics is applied in modern science to represent the world's physical structure. However, in this paper, I argue that this realist interpretation of the 'mapping' account presupposes that physical systems possess an 'assumed structure' that is at odds with modern physical theory. Through two detailed case studies concerning the use of the differential and variational calculus in modern dynamics, I show that the formal structure that we need to assume in order to apply the mapping account is inconsistent with the way in which mathematics is applied in modern physics. The problem is that a realist interpretation of the 'mapping' account imposes too severe of a constraint on the conformity that must exist between mathematics and nature in order for mathematics to represent the structure of a physical system.
Topics: Mathematics; Physics
PubMed: 33965667
DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.01.004 -
Neuropsychology Review Jun 2024Mathematics incorporates a broad range of skills, which includes basic early numeracy skills, such as subitizing and basic counting to more advanced secondary skills... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Mathematics incorporates a broad range of skills, which includes basic early numeracy skills, such as subitizing and basic counting to more advanced secondary skills including mathematics calculation and reasoning. The aim of this review was to undertake a detailed investigation of the severity and pattern of early numeracy and secondary mathematics skills in people with epilepsy. Searches were guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Twenty adult studies and 67 child studies were included in this review. Overall, meta-analyses revealed significant moderate impairments across all mathematics outcomes in both adults (g= -0.676), and children (g= -0.593) with epilepsy. Deficits were also observed for specific mathematics outcomes. For adults, impairments were found for mathematics reasoning (g= -0.736). However, two studies found that mathematics calculation was not significantly impaired, and an insufficient number of studies examined early numeracy skills in adults. In children with epilepsy, significant impairments were observed for each mathematics outcome: early numeracy (g= -0.383), calculation (g= -0.762), and reasoning (g= -0.572). The gravity of impairments also differed according to the site of seizure focus for children and adults, suggesting that mathematics outcomes were differentially vulnerable to the location of seizure focus.
Topics: Humans; Epilepsy; Mathematics; Child; Adult
PubMed: 37490196
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-023-09600-8 -
Studies in History and Philosophy of... Feb 2022Applications of unrigorous mathematics are relatively common in the history and current practice of physics but underexplored in existing philosophical work on...
Applications of unrigorous mathematics are relatively common in the history and current practice of physics but underexplored in existing philosophical work on applications of mathematics. I argue that perspicuously representing some of the most philosophically interesting aspects of these cases requires us to go beyond the most prominent accounts of the role of mathematics in scientific representations, namely versions of the mapping account. I defend an alternative, the robustly inferential conception (RIC) of mathematical scientific representations, which allows us to represent the relevant practices more naturally. I illustrate the advantages of RIC by considering one such case, Heaviside's use of his unrigorous operational calculus to produce and apply an early generalization of Ohm's law in terms of "resistance operators."
Topics: Calculi; Humans; Mathematics; Physics
PubMed: 34915431
DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.11.013 -
Science and Engineering Ethics Oct 2022While the consequences of mathematically-based software, algorithms and strategies have become ever wider and better appreciated, ethical reflection on mathematics has... (Review)
Review
While the consequences of mathematically-based software, algorithms and strategies have become ever wider and better appreciated, ethical reflection on mathematics has remained primitive. We review the somewhat disconnected suggestions of commentators in recent decades with a view to piecing together a coherent approach to ethics in mathematics. Calls for a Hippocratic Oath for mathematicians are examined and it is concluded that while lessons can be learned from the medical profession, the relation of mathematicians to those affected by their work is significantly different. There is something to be learned also from the codes of conduct of cognate but professionalised quantitative disciplines such as engineering and accountancy, as well as from legal principles bearing on professional work. We conclude with recommendations that professional societies in mathematics should sponsor an (international) code of ethics, institutional mission statements for mathematicians and syllabuses of ethics courses for incorporation into mathematics degrees.
Topics: Codes of Ethics; Ethics, Medical; Hippocratic Oath; Mathematics; Morals
PubMed: 36042113
DOI: 10.1007/s11948-022-00389-y -
Quarterly Journal of Experimental... Sep 2023Mathematics skills are associated with future employment, well-being, and quality of life. However, many adults and children fail to learn the mathematics skills they...
Mathematics skills are associated with future employment, well-being, and quality of life. However, many adults and children fail to learn the mathematics skills they require. To improve this situation, we need to have a better understanding of the processes of learning and performing mathematics. Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial growth in psychological research focusing on mathematics. However, to make further progress, we need to pay greater attention to the nature of, and multiple elements involved in, mathematical cognition. Mathematics is not a single construct; rather, overall mathematics achievement is comprised of proficiency with specific components of mathematics (e.g., number fact knowledge, algebraic thinking), which in turn recruit basic mathematical processes (e.g., magnitude comparison, pattern recognition). General cognitive skills and different learning experiences influence the development of each component of mathematics as well as the links between them. Here, I propose and provide evidence for a framework that structures how these components of mathematics fit together. This framework allows us to make sense of the proliferation of empirical findings concerning influences on mathematical cognition and can guide the questions we ask, identifying where we are missing both research evidence and models of specific mechanisms.
Topics: Child; Adult; Humans; Quality of Life; Cognition; Learning; Mathematics; Achievement
PubMed: 37129432
DOI: 10.1177/17470218231175325 -
Annual Review of Biophysics May 2022In stark contrast to foldable proteins with a unique folded state, intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (IDPs) persist in perpetually disordered ensembles. Yet... (Review)
Review
In stark contrast to foldable proteins with a unique folded state, intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (IDPs) persist in perpetually disordered ensembles. Yet an IDP ensemble has conformational features-even when averaged-that are specific to its sequence. In fact, subtle changes in an IDP sequence can modulate its conformational features and its function. Recent advances in theoretical physics reveal a set of elegant mathematical expressions that describe the intricate relationships among IDP sequences, their ensemble conformations, and the regulation of their biological functions. These equations also describe the molecular properties of IDP sequences that predict similarities and dissimilarities in their functions and facilitate classification of sequences by function, an unmet challenge to traditional bioinformatics. These physical sequence-patterning metrics offer a promising new avenue for advancing synthetic biology at a time when multiple novel functional modes mediated by IDPs are emerging.
Topics: Intrinsically Disordered Proteins; Mathematics; Protein Conformation
PubMed: 35119946
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-120221-095357 -
The British Journal of Educational... Jun 2022Creativity requires both divergent and convergent thinking. Previous research established that divergent thinking relates to mathematics performance, but generally...
BACKGROUND
Creativity requires both divergent and convergent thinking. Previous research established that divergent thinking relates to mathematics performance, but generally ignored the role of convergent thinking and, hence, leaves it unclear how both might interact when children work on mathematical tasks. This study addressed this paucity in the research literature, with the goal of improving our understanding of the role of creative thinking in primary school mathematics.
AIMS
This study examined how divergent and convergent thinking contribute to mathematics performance, both directly and jointly, on single- and multiple-solution tasks.
SAMPLE
The study was conducted with 229 Dutch fifth graders of 12 primary schools.
METHOD
Divergent and convergent thinking were measured with a visual and verbal task. Path analysis was used including verbal and visual divergent and convergent thinking tasks in relation to single- and multiple-solution mathematics task performance. Working memory was included as a covariate.
RESULTS
Verbal convergent thinking positively predicted single- and multiple-solution task performance. Verbal divergent and convergent thinking interacted in relation to single-solution task performance, while visual divergent and convergent thinking interacted in relation to multiple-solution task performance.
CONCLUSIONS
Children's mathematics performance mainly relies on convergent thinking. The role of divergent thinking is twofold: it complements convergent thinking on multiple-solution tasks and compensates convergent thinking on single-solution tasks.
Topics: Child; Creativity; Humans; Mathematics; Memory, Short-Term; Task Performance and Analysis; Thinking
PubMed: 34496047
DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12459 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2023Molecular representations are of great importance for machine learning models in RNA data analysis. Essentially, efficient molecular descriptors or fingerprints that...
Molecular representations are of great importance for machine learning models in RNA data analysis. Essentially, efficient molecular descriptors or fingerprints that characterize the intrinsic structural and interactional information of RNAs can significantly boost the performance of all learning modeling. In this paper, we introduce two persistent models, including persistent homology and persistent spectral, for RNA structure and interaction representations and their applications in RNA data analysis. Different from traditional geometric and graph representations, persistent homology is built on simplicial complex, which is a generalization of graph models to higher-dimensional situations. Hypergraph is a further generalization of simplicial complexes and hypergraph-based embedded persistent homology has been proposed recently. Moreover, persistent spectral models, which combine filtration process with spectral models, including spectral graph, spectral simplicial complex, and spectral hypergraph, are proposed for molecular representation. The persistent attributes for RNAs can be obtained from these two persistent models and further combined with machine learning models for RNA structure, flexibility, dynamics, and function analysis.
Topics: RNA; Data Analysis
PubMed: 36959450
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2974-1_12 -
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular... Sep 2019It is not unanimous among scientists if there is beauty in science. Some deny it. Mental clarity of conclusions when captured in simple looking equations is mathematical... (Review)
Review
It is not unanimous among scientists if there is beauty in science. Some deny it. Mental clarity of conclusions when captured in simple looking equations is mathematical beauty. This we also find in the Euclidian geometry when performing the Golden Section and by deriving the Golden or Devine Number in golden rectangles, spirals and the Golden Angle. The Golden Section is considered as most beautiful and used in architecture and art. It is found everywhere in nature, e.g. in the pentagram of flowers, in the spirals of the shells of snails and Nautilus and even in galaxies of space. The Golden Angle in plants is realized in the phyllotaxis of spirals of leaf rosettes, in fruit stands and in the cones of conifers and cycads. It optimizes packing of modules such as seeds and fruits as well as the capture of light by leaves for photosynthesis and the fitness of productivity. Although we can mathematically deduce it and scientifically explain its role in organization and formation of patterns of structure and function, we cannot explain why we find it beautiful. In a methodological dualism esthetics and beauty are transcendental categories besides science. Or are the pleasant sensations of the Golden Section elicited by different stimuli to which our brain is adapted? Perhaps the Golden Section found everywhere in the entire universe is a link between natural science and the transcendental dimension, while a flower of a rose remains both a complex scientific system and an object of overwhelming beauty.
Topics: Beauty; Mathematics; Nature; Plants; Science
PubMed: 30557534
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2018.12.008