ABSTRACT
I began this study of adults’ mathematical thinking and emotions during an exciting period for mathematics education. The findings of an enquiry into mathematics teaching in the UK (Cockcroft Committee 1982) had recently reported, and there was a growing concern with adult ‘numeracy’. Many in the research communities were discussing exciting and impressive research on the ways that people’s mathematical thinking might be different in different settings; for example, when doing school problems, working in street markets, or shopping in supermarkets (e.g. Carraher et al. 1985, Lave et al. 1984). In addition, a few writers on both sides of the Atlantic were discussing mathematics anxiety, and other kinds of feelings about mathematics (e.g. Tobias 1978, Buxton 1981, Nimier 1978).
