The educational perspective

This opening chapter presents the aims and rationale of the book within an appropriate theoretical framework. Initially, we provide the reader with an orientation of what the book intends to achieve. The next section highlights some important issues in mathematical education, establishing a framework against which ideas in the book have been developed. Partly, the research has been inspired by the first series on mathematical education: Freudenthal's Didactical Phenomenology of Mathematical Structures. Though he considers many topics in mathematics he excludes (perhaps surprisingly) probability. Finally, summaries of each of the chapters are related to these didactic approaches.