MATHEMATICAL REFORMS IN TECHNOLOGY

The engineer who fights shy of mathematics — and jettisons as much of it as he decently can when his course is over — is scarcely the thinking technologist one would like to see. But many are like that. The author suggests that the colleges should not wait for school mathematics reforms, but give students a mathematical background and understanding by a more concrete form of teaching straight away. The approach proposed also aims to ensure that future technologists acquire their maths in the form in which they will need it — as a tool, as an integrating factor between the sciences and technologies, as a means of communication, and as a medium for creative thinking.