A Mathematician's Lament
Front cover | |
| Author | Paul Lockhart |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Philosophy, Mathematics |
| Published | 2009 Bellevue Literary Press |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 140 |
| ISBN | 978-1-934137-17-8 |
A Mathematician's Lament, often referred to informally as Lockhart's Lament, is a short book on mathematics education by Paul Lockhart, originally a research mathematician at Brown University and U.C. Santa Cruz, and subsequently a math teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York City for many years. This strongly worded opinion piece is organized into two parts. The first part, "Lamentation", criticizes the way mathematics is typically taught in American schools and argues for an aesthetic, intuitive, and problem-oriented approach to teaching. The second part, "Exultation", gives specific examples of how to teach mathematics as an art.
The author of this book, as well as of the books titled Measurement (2012) and Arithmetic (2017), is not to be confused with either the historian or the astronaut who are also named Paul Lockhart.