The history of mathematics is a science that studies the occurrence, development and laws of mathematical science. In short, it studies the history of mathematics. It not only traces the evolution and development process of mathematics contents, ideas and methods, but also explores various factors affecting this process and the influence of the development of mathematics science on human civilization in history. Therefore, the research object of the history of mathematics includes not only the specific mathematical content, but also the social sciences and humanities such as history, philosophy, culturology and religion. It is an interdisciplinary subject. Or only when the subject's psychology develops to an appropriate level can he begin to learn a certain topic (concept, theory, etc. ). That is to say, when the subject is faced with some problems that can't be solved by existing knowledge and feels the need to learn new methods or theories, teachers begin to teach this new method or theory. The emergence of new concepts, new ideas, new methods and new theories in the history of mathematics is often due to the need to solve problems. Therefore, the history of mathematics provides abundant resources for life-oriented teaching methods.

First of all, the questions raised

Our school is located in Wuxi-Xinyi Industrial Park. After the administrative adjustment, the study area has shrunk and the number of students has dropped sharply, surrounded by five private schools. There are few gifted students enrolled, and students are generally tired of learning mathematics. They think that mathematics is boring and difficult to learn, and mathematics teaching is becoming more and more inefficient. We reflect that in the past, in mathematics education, we only paid attention to the cultivation of formal logical reasoning ability, but ignored mathematics, a more internal scientific thing, and the mathematics textbooks we used. It is written under the guidance of the principle of combining science with educational requirements. It is a knowledge system that compiles historical mathematical data according to certain logical structure and learning requirements, and abandons the actual background, knowledge background, evolution process and various factors that lead to its evolution of many mathematical concepts and methods. Therefore, it is difficult to get the whole picture of mathematics by studying only mathematics textbooks and ignoring those mathematical materials and methods that have been eliminated by history but may be useful to real science. The best shortcut to make up for this deficiency is to learn through the history of mathematics. When we infiltrate the history of mathematics in mathematics teaching and make mathematics come alive, we can stimulate students' interest in learning and help them deepen their understanding and understanding of mathematical concepts, methods and principles.

Second, the theoretical basis

1 Li Wenlin, a famous expert in the history of mathematics in China, pointed out in the recording of the conversation between the history of mathematics and mathematics education: "We should explore the cultural value of the history of mathematics from five angles. First, mathematics provides a precise thinking model for human beings; Secondly, mathematics is the tool and language of other disciplines; Thirdly, mathematics is a lever to promote the development of production and influence the material life style of human beings; Fourthly, mathematics is a powerful weapon of human ideological revolution; Finally, mathematics is a cultural hormone that promotes the development of art. "

Zhang Dianzhou, a mathematics educator, believes that the core of mathematics teaching design is how to embody the essence of mathematics, seek simplicity and return to the original in essence, present a unique educational form of mathematics, and let students understand and experience the value and charm of mathematics with high efficiency and high quality.

Article 8 in the preface of Mathematics Curriculum Standard (Experiment) approved and promulgated by the Ministry of Education points out that mathematics is an important part of human culture, and mathematics curriculum should properly reflect the history, application and development trend of mathematics, its role in promoting social development, its social demand, its promotion by social development, its ideological system and its development. Mathematicians' innovative spirit, mathematics curriculum should help students understand the role of mathematics in the development of human civilization and gradually form a correct view of mathematics.

Third, the role of mathematics history in mathematics teaching

1 Stimulate students' interest in learning. Form a positive learning attitude

Oscar Wilde, an American mathematician, believes that it is not enough to emphasize only mathematical skills in mathematics class. In order to attract students to learn mathematics, they must use the knowledge of mathematics history. To be a qualified math teacher, the accomplishment of math history is indispensable. The anecdotes of mathematicians introduced by teachers, the origin of mathematical concepts, and the comparison of simple ancient and modern mathematical methods in class can stimulate interest. The stories of Archimedes, Cardin, Galois and Gauss can stimulate students' interest, because students are naturally curious about people and reasons, and mathematical stories are also excellent materials when introducing new courses.

2. Cultivate students' correct mathematical thinking mode.

Compared with the old textbooks, the mathematics textbooks under the new curriculum standard have made great progress in facilitating students' learning, but they still lack natural thinking methods, and there are still few introductions to the connotation of mathematics knowledge and the creation process of corresponding knowledge. It is difficult for students to understand that mathematical knowledge mostly affects the formation of students' correct way of thinking by asking questions, guessing, demonstrating, testing, perfecting and gradually maturing. Reasonably quoting the history of mathematics can help students gradually form this clearer understanding.

The history of mathematics can guide students to form the habit of exploration and research, discover and understand every link in the whole process of a problem from generation to solution, experience a vivid and true mathematical thinking process, and gradually form a correct mathematical thinking mode.

3 to help students understand mathematics and form a correct view of mathematics

The history of mathematics will let students know that the development of mathematics has gone through a long and tortuous road for thousands of years. There are four major mathematical peaks and three major mathematical crises in human history, and there is an amazing close relationship between them. This relationship is not accidental. It is the necessity of mathematics as a science that pursues perfection. From this relationship, we can find that mathematics pursues clarity, accuracy and strictness, and it is not allowed to be chaotic and vague, which makes it easy for students to get started.

At the same time, introducing the necessary knowledge of the history of mathematics can help students to deeply understand the background of what they have learned in their usual study and know that mathematics is not isolated. It is closely related to many other disciplines, is the foundation and growth point of many disciplines, and plays a huge role in the development of human civilization. The discovery of Neptune, Newton, Descartes, Einstein and other famous mathematicians have explained this point. Today, mathematics is not only the foundation of natural science. And gradually entered the field of social sciences, played an unexpected role. All high technologies have certain mathematical technical support. Mathematics has become an important feature in the era of knowledge economy, so that students can understand that no matter where they want to make a difference in the future, they should lay a good foundation in mathematics today.