Mathematical Thinking and Psychogenesis of Economical Concepts: interfaces and implications to mathematical education

The relationship among Mathematics, daily activities and different fields of knowledge has been object of academic discussion and reason for decisions to Mathematics teaching improvement. A strategy often employed to improve mathematical learning is problem solving situations in order to contextualize the content by means of statements seen as familiar to students. A familiar lexicon is adopted when mathematical concepts and methods are employed on problems of economical nature (purchase and sale), viewed as known even by beginners. Arithmetical operations are allocated among terms such as price, cost, parcels and interest. While such expressions are adopted by their recurrence and apparent simplicity, they represent epistemologically complex concepts, often debated by the economical science. This paper aims to present some interfaces between mathematical thinking and the formation of economical concepts according to the hypothesis that the synergy between both fields are useful to mathematics education.