The present paper describes a dynamic investigation of polygons obtained by reflecting an arbitrary point located inside or outside a given polygon through the midpoints of its sides. The activity was based on hypothesizing on the shape of the reflection polygon that would be obtained, testing the hypotheses using dynamic software, and finding a…

Determining how to provide good tutoring functions is an important research direction of intelligent tutoring systems. In this study, the authors develop an intelligent tutoring system with good tutoring functions, called "FUDAOWANG." The research domain that FUDAOWANG treats is junior middle school mathematics, which belongs to the objective…

This article discusses two examples of geometric problem solving suitable for middle and high school students. Both problems are related to students' everyday life experience and allow them to discover deep connections between mathematical properties and nature. With the help of dynamic mathematics software, students have the opportunity to…

Assigning difficulty level indicators to the knowledge units helps the learners plan their learning activities more efficiently. This paper focuses on how to use the topology of a knowledge map to compute and rank the difficulty levels of knowledge units. Firstly, the authors present the hierarchical structure and properties of the knowledge map.…

Counting the number of internal intersection points made by the diagonals of irregular convex polygons where no three diagonals are concurrent is an interesting problem in discrete mathematics. This paper uses an iterative approach to develop a summation relation which tallies the total number of intersections, and shows that this total can be…

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a planimeter is "an instrument for measuring the area of a plane figure by tracing its boundary line". Even without knowing how a planimeter works, it is clear from the definition that the idea behind it is that one can compute the area of a figure just by "walking" on the boundary. For someone who has…

This paper describes aspects of 13 year-olds activity in mathematics as emerged during the implementation of proportional geometric tasks in the classroom. Pupils were working in pairs using a piece of software specially designed for multiple representation (symbolic and graphical) of the variation in parametric procedures with dynamic…

In response to low achievement in mathematics at a middle school, an ethnomathematic approach was used to teach coordinate planes. Whether there were achievement differences between students taught by the culturally sensitive approach and those taught by a traditional method was studied. Data were collected from the coordinate planes unit…

Shows a way in which algebra and geometry can be used together to find the lengths and areas of spirals. This method develops better understanding of shapes, similarity, and mathematical connections in students. Discusses spirals embedded in triangles and squares, the Pythagorean theorem, and the area of regular polygons. (MKR)

Presents activities which use graphing calculators to explore parametric equations of spirals, circles, and polygons. (MKR)