David Tall

David Tall is a British mathematics education researcher and emeritus professor at the University of Warwick known for his theoretical work on how students come to understand mathematical concepts. He developed, with Eddie Gray, the notion of the procept, describing how mathematical symbols function simultaneously as processes and as objects, and later proposed a broader framework known as the three worlds of mathematics, distinguishing embodied, symbolic, and formal ways of mathematical thinking. Tall's research has shaped how mathematics educators analyze the cognitive difficulties students encounter moving from arithmetic through algebra to advanced mathematical reasoning.