Mathematical Practice

Roles: mathematician, proof, theorem, conjecture, formalism, intuition, computation, abstraction

The social and cognitive activity of doing mathematics — proving theorems, formulating conjectures, computing, and communicating results. Distinct from mathematical objects themselves (numbers, sets, spaces), this frame covers the human practice: the labor of proof, the culture of departments, the folklore of problem-solving, and the self-image of practitioners. As a source domain, it provides metaphors for any knowledge work that is solitary, abstract, and cumulative. As a target domain, it borrows heavily from manufacturing (producing theorems), exploration (discovering truths), and combat (attacking problems).

As Source Frame (2)

• Proof by Exhaustion → problem-solving, software-engineering
• Shut Up and Calculate → epistemology

Applied To This Frame (1)

• manufacturing → Mathematician Is a Machine for Turning Coffee into Theorems