Las paradojas en la enseñanza de las matemáticas: una perspectiva histórica

Resumen

In mathematics' development, the paradoxes exerted a remarkable and predominant role in various periods of the progress of science, promoting revolutions, transformations, and helping to extend ideas, arguments, concepts, methods, rigor and logic. Thus, in this paper, we discussed some paradoxes involving numbers and functions, and we discussed also their contributions to the construction of axiomatic set of negative numbers, for a rigorous conceptualization of infinite limits, and for formalize the concept of function. With it, we pointed the paradoxes as a resource for the teaching and for the learning of mathematics, which in addition to arouse curiosity, create an environment for discussion, encourage students to examine assumptions and show that the failures of logic, and erroneous arguments are a common feature in the evolution of mathematics, can also help teachers to develop a new attitude towards mistakes made by students.