Music provides an excellent setting for students to explore trigonometric functions in a setting which is independent of their utility in resolving triangles. In this paper, we present several investigations using trigonometric functions to model musical phenomena. From a mathematical technology point of view, most examples require only function…

Many students do not have a deep understanding of slope. This paper defines what a deep understanding of slope is in terms of mathematics-education theory. The various factors which help explain why such a deep understanding is difficult to acquire are then discussed. These factors include the following: the different representations for slope;…

In this article we consider an example suitable for investigation in many mid and upper level undergraduate mathematics courses. Fourier series provide an excellent example of the differences between uniform and non-uniform convergence. We use Dirichlet's test to investigate the convergence of the Fourier series for a simple periodic saw tooth…

The mathematics students are given a task to understand the fundamentals of liner functions by analyzing the height of the football stadium bleachers, as studying mathematical relationships in real-world contexts can enhance a student's knowledge of mathematics. The study of the stadium seating problem helps students to understand quadratic,…

We examine the behavior of the curvature function associated with most common families of functions and curves, with the focus on establishing where maximum curvature occurs. Many examples are included for student illustrations. (Contains 18 figures.)