Mathematical Expertise and the Contextual Memory System
Edmund Furse
Mathematical expertise is characterised by the mathematician having a large amount of knowledge of mathematics. This knowledge is of various types, including the language the mathematics is expressed in, the rules of the "game" of mathematics, sensory features, matching processes, heuristics for problem solving, logic, set theory and knowledge of various branches of mathematics. A key characteristic of the mathematician is his ability to "see" that a mathematical result is applicable, and this skill can be modelled by a large number of features indexing his vast knowledge of mathematical results. This paper examines the various types of knowledge, and in particular focuses on how these features can be learned from mathematics texts, and updated through experience.

Furse E., (1991), Mathematical expertise and the Contextual Memory System, Technical Report no. CS-91-6, Department of Computer Studies, University of Glamorgan.

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