The paper investigates geometric errors students made as they tried to use their basic geometric knowledge in the solution of the Applied Calculus Optimization Problem (ACOP). Inaccuracies related to the drawing of geometric diagrams (visualization skills) and those associated with the application of basic differentiation concepts into ACOP…

For almost all students, what happens when they push buttons on their calculators is essentially magic, and the techniques used are seemingly pure wizardry. In this article, the author draws back the curtain to expose some of the mathematics behind computational wizardry and introduces some fundamental ideas that are accessible to precalculus…