Meet the mathematicians

Abstract

We felt that it would be informative, through case studies, to bring the mathematicians as individuals into these pages. We wanted their voices to be heard much more directly than in the other chapters where comparative interpretation is involved. We see what they have to say both specifically, with respect to each model category and then globally, that is across all five categories of the model. The intention was not to establish characterisations or general trends within each category so much as to communicate some of the richness and complexity of each category, for each of the mathematicians, as they describe how they come to know throughout the interviews. Also, meeting the model in this way, through a personal approach to individuals, we hope helps to bring more meaning to the categories and to the model as a whole.