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The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics pp 589–608Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

A Cognitive and Quantitative Approach to Mathematical Concretization

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the linguistic role of analogy as a strategy of concretizing abstract concepts addressed in popular science focused on mathematics. A rich analogy used in a text popularising number theory is explored through firstly a quantitative method and then using conceptual blending, a theory taken from cognitive linguistics. The chapter demonstrates the use of corpus-based and cognitive approaches to language in the analysis of the ways in which popular science texts aim to give non-experts a sense of understanding of complex mathematical concepts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Marc Alexander

Authors
  1. Marc Alexander
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Robert Tubbs

  2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Alice Jenkins

  3. Department for English Literatures, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Nina Engelhardt

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Alexander, M. (2021). A Cognitive and Quantitative Approach to Mathematical Concretization. In: Tubbs, R., Jenkins, A., Engelhardt, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55478-1_32

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