What Do We Mean by Mathematical Proof?

What is a mathematical proof? This question, and variations on it, have been debated for some time, and many answers have been proposed. One variation of this question is the title of this article: \What do

we mean by mathematical proof?" Here we may stand for the international community of mathematicians, a classroom of students, the human race as a whole, or any number of other mathematical communities. When the question is phrased this way, it becomes clear that any answer to this question must, in one way or another, take into account the fact that mathematics and mathematical proof are endeavors undertaken by people, either individually or communally.