ERIC Number: EJ1004101
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Jul
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1954
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Available Date: N/A
University Students' Grasp of Inflection Points
Tsamir, Pessia; Ovodenko, Regina
Educational Studies in Mathematics, v83 n3 p409-427 Jul 2013
This paper describes university students' grasp of inflection points. The participants were asked what inflection points are, to mark inflection points on graphs, to judge the validity of related statements, and to find inflection points by investigating (1) a function, (2) the derivative, and (3) the graph of the derivative. We found four erroneous images of inflection points: (1) f ' (x) = 0 as a necessary condition, (2) f ' (x) is not equal to 0 as a necessary condition, (3) f " (x) = 0 as a sufficient condition, and (4) the location of "a peak point, where the graph bends" as an inflection point. We use the lenses of Fischbein, Tall, and Vinner and Duval's frameworks to analyze students' errors that were rooted in mathematical and in real-life contexts.
Descriptors: College Students, Mathematics Education, Mathematics Instruction, Higher Education, Mathematical Models, Mathematics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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