NOTE: THIS SUMMARY IS ABBREVIATED

• by 1800 math teaching in England was better than math teaching in France
• in addition, after 1750 British math was oriented towards practical teaching, French towards developing calculus and astronomy
• The British market was less regulated and less controlled by guilds
• Both the British and the French were increasingly influenced by markets, and markets demanded basic mathematical skills and education
• Some of the English preference for more practical mathematical explanations could be found in Newton’s preference for geometry over algebra
• An example of the differences between the two countries can be found in the steam engine, it was developed by the English and theoretically explained by the French
• Several British industrialists are profiled, showing how technical rather than purely mathematical knowledge became important, and carried social status with it
• They also discuss how these industrialists taught their workers technical knowledge rather than mathematical knowledge
• In short, the British education system put the focus on mathematical skills for practical purposes, whereas the French was more abstract
• In the early days of the industrial revolution, when technical knowledge was more important than abstract mathematical knowledge, this gave the English an advantage, as the revolution proceeded, abstract and complex mathematics became more important, and the UK advantage decreased