Start Where They Are: Geometry as an Introduction to Proof
Given that in the USA the mathematics the overwhelming majority of students encounter in school as well as in the college ``Calculus courses consists of computational practices, many mathematics departments have created transition to advanced mathematics courses focusing on proof, set theory, relations, etc. The author of this paper suggests a transition course based on a thorough study of the use of proofs in Euclidean geometry, preferably from Euclid's Elements, whose language, unlike that of a modern axiomatically oriented text, such as \textit{M. J. Greenberg} [Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries (3rd edition, Freeman, San Francisco) (1993; Zbl 0418.51001)], his students found intelligible. A text which appeared after this paper and which proceeds in this vein is \textit{R. Hartshorne} [Geometry: Euclid and beyond (Springer, Berlin) (2000; Zbl 0954.51001); cf.\ also Notices Am. Math. Soc. 47, No. 4, 460-465 (2000; Zbl 1040.51001)]. Reviewer's remarks: The reviewer, who has taught both a transition course and an undergraduate geometry course for the past 7 years, finds that it is particularly hard to teach in one semester what students in other countries (such as Roumania) learn from sixth grade on, regardless of the particular material and the approach taken, and that proof-based mathematics ought to be introduced much earlier in the mathematics curriculum.
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