What if the founding of Tangente, like mathematics itself, rested on a combination of axioms that proved compatible?
Axiom 1: Mathematics is an essential part of culture.
Axiom 2: Mathematics is inseparable from other disciplines.
Axiom 3: Mathematics brings a new dimension to our analysis of the world around us—scientific, economic, political, artistic, historical, and more.
The "Tangente group" that formulated these axioms emerged in the late 1980s, at a difficult time that called for new initiatives. Mathematics was then in urgent need of rehabilitation, following its excessive use as a means of selection and, above all, the era of so-called "new math." New cohorts of students, brought together by the comprehensive middle-school system, created new needs among teachers. One increasingly pressing need was to bring culture, games, and experimentation into the classroom.
