• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.129-149
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• 2020

This study reports the results of analyzing the learning opportunities about the plane figures provided by the first and second grade mathematics textbooks. The plane figures that students learn during this period are important in that it serves as the basis for the later geometric education. With assumptions that mathematics learning is related to the problem of meaning and that meaning-related activity can be viewed as a symbolic activity, it adopts and uses the perspectives and tools of semiotics to analyze the learning opportunities provided by the mathematics textbook. The analysis of the semiotic process of the textbook activities revealed the significance of learning opportunities and helped to distinguish the seemingly similar learning opportunities. Based on the results of the analysis, I discussed the link between learning opportunities provided by grade 1 and grade 2 mathematics textbooks. Finally, the paper concludes with suggestions and conclusions and suggestions for further research.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.559-587
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to derive implications for the development of the next curriculum and textbooks by comparing and analyzing the textbooks of the 2015 revised high school mathematics curriculum <Mathematics for Economics> and social studies curriculum <Economics>. In the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks, economic terms and function notations should be introduced. Additionally, the use of graphs for economic-related functions is different from the use of graphs in mathematics in the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks. For these reasons, the usage of economic terms, function notations, and function graphs covered in the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks were compared and analyzed with the usage in the <Economics> textbooks. In the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks, economic terms that are highly related to mathematics are defined and presented. Contrary to the conventions of mathematics and economics, the function notations in the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks were used inconsistently because uppercase and lowercase letters were mixed in the function notations. Function graphs in the <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks had differences in the range of values represented by the variables regarding axes and scaling. The <Mathematics for Economics> textbooks did not provide a mathematical interpretation of the translation or slope. In the course of <Mathematics for Economics>, it is necessary to specify considerations for teaching and learning, and assessment in the curriculum to promote students' understanding of mathematics and economics. The descriptions in the curriculum document and textbooks of <Mathematics for Economics> should be supplemented to provide learning opportunities for mathematical interpretation of economics-related contents.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.937-957
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to discover the features of symbol sense. This study tries to sum up the meaning and elements of symbol sense and the measures to improve them through documents. Also based on this, it analyzes the learning conditions about symbol sense for 6th grade mathematically able students and suggests the method that activates symbol sense in the math of elementary schools. Considering various studies on symbol sense, symbol sense means the exact knowledge and essential understanding in a comprehensive way. Symbol sense is an intuition about symbols that grasps the meaning of symbols, understands the situation of question, and realizes the usefulness of symbols in resolving a process. Considering all other scholars' opinions, this study sums up 5 elements of the symbol sense. (The recognition of needs to introduce symbol, ability to read the meaning of symbols, choice of suitable symbols according to the context, pattern guess through visualization, recognize the role of symbols in other context) This study draws the following conclusions after applying the symbol questionnaires targeting 6th grade mathematically able students : First, although they are math talents, there are some differences in terms of the symbol sense level. Second, 5 elements of the symbol sense are not completely separated. They are rather closely related in terms of mainly the symbol understanding, thereby several elements are combined.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2012

Thomas Harriot(1560-1621) introduced a simplified notation for algebra. His fundamental research on the theory of equations was far ahead of that time. He invented certain symbols which are used today. Harriot treated all answers to solve equations equally whether positive or negative, real or imaginary. He did outstanding work on the solution of equations, recognizing negative roots and complex roots in a way that makes his solutions look like a present day solution. Since he published no mathematical work in his lifetime, his achievements were not recognized in mathematical history and mathematics education. In this paper, by comparing his works with Viete and Descartes those are mathematicians in the same age, I show his achievements in mathematics.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.211-237
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• 2017

Depending on the type of textbook, the word and mathematical notation expression used in high school mathematics textbooks varied and there were also some differences on the mathematical definition and the content description methods. Not only the composition of textbooks but also various expressing ways of textbooks have significant impacts on teaching and learning of teacher and student. The diversity of expression had pros and cons like both sides of a coin. There is a positive aspect that we can pursue pedagogical diversity. Simultaneously there is a negative aspect that the possibility of acting as a learning burden exists in the viewpoint of the student and the equality of evaluation may be undermined. In this study, Preferentially we focused on analyzing the actual situation rather than judging what is more appropriate about the diversity of words and notation expressions used in mathematics textbooks which is based on the current curriculum. For this purpose, we analyzed 56 kinds of mathematics textbooks based on the 2009 revised mathematics curriculum, and presented four aspects(terms expressing, notations expression, mathematical definition, content description method) with examples about differences of the various expressions used in textbooks including 'terms and notations'.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.511-528
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• 2010

Students' intuition in formal proof should be expressed as symbols according to the deductive process. The symbol will play a role of the mediation between the intuition and the formal proof. This study examined the evolution process of intuition mediated by the symbol in geometry proof. According to the results first, symbol took the great roles when students had the non-formed intuition for the proposition. The signification of symbols could explain even the proof process of the proposition with the non-expectable intuition. And when students proved it by symbols, not by figure nor words, they could evolute the conclusive intuition about the proposition.

• School Mathematics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.353-367
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• 2013

A mathematics pre-service teacher T analyzed American mathematics textbooks and developed his teaching material for instruction. This study analyzed his thinking processes and results in the view of semiotics. If we regard the textbook as a sign and the unitary conversion that students should learn as an object of the sign, the interpretant of the sign is the pre-service teacher's analysis, which is conducted at the aspects of a subject matter knowledge and student understanding. T interpreted the textbook versatilely in terms of his knowledges and experiences. He developed his teaching materials as diagrams, did the diagrammatic thinking and became to have the hypostatic abstraction. This study is significant because it used semiotics for explaining T's thinking process.

• School Mathematics
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.351-368
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• 2009

This study presents data from a year-long teaching experiment which illustrate how two seventh graders modified their multiplicative thinking and interacted with their representing symbols in the context of combinatorial problem situations. Damon was at the process of construction of recursively multiplicative thinking by modifying his multiplicative reasoning, but Carol appeared to remain at the stage of a binary multiplicative scheme. The two students' struggles with their representing symbols or represented symbols by the teacher show that even well-organized symbolic systems from teachers' perspective do not necessarily help students advance their mathematical capacity.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.207-223
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• 2013

Teachers unfold a series of timeless mathematical symbols such as 5+2=7 in time by verbalizing the symbols in classrooms. A number sentence 5+2=7 is read in Korean as '5 더하기 2는(five plus two) 7과(seven) 같다(equals). Unlike in English, 5+2 and 7 are read first before the equal sign in Korean. This sequence of reading in Korean conflicts with the conventional linguistic sequence of writing from left to right. Ways of resolving the discrepancy between reading and writing sequences can make a difference students' understanding of the equal sign. Students would be in danger of perceiving the equal sign as an operational symbol, if a teacher resolves the discrepancy by subordinating reading sequence to linguistic convention of writing. This way of resolving results in the undesired phenomenon of changing the reading expressions in Korean elementary math textbook which represent relational notion of the equal sign into other reading expressions that represent operational notion of it. For understanding of relational notion of the equal sign, the discrepancy should be resolved by changing writing sequence in accordance with reading sequence. In addition, teaching of verbalizing the equal sign should be integrated with teaching of verbalizing inequality signs.

• Korean Journal of Logic
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• v.2
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• pp.91-118
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• 1998

라이프니츠는 일반적으로 현대논리학의 선각자라고 부른다. 그래서 라이프니츠 논리학에서는 현대 논리학을 이해함에 있어서 중요한 단초들을 발견할 수 있다. 라이프니츠의 논리학을 대표하는 개념으로는 흔히 보편수학, 보편기호학 그리고 논리연산학을 들곤한다. 라이프니츠의 보편수학의 이념은 연대 논리학이 논리학과 수학의 통일에서 출발할 수 있는 결정적인 근거를 제공했다. 이러한 현대 논리학의 출발에 있어서는 상이한 두 입장을 발견할 수 있는데, 부울, 슈레더의 논리대수학과 프레게의 논리학주의가 바로 그것이다. 이 두 입장은 "논리학과 수학의 통일"에 있어서는 공통적인 관심을 보이지만, 논리학의 본질을 라이프니츠의 보편기호학에서 찾느냐 또는 라이프니츠의 논리연산학에서 찾느냐에 따라 상이한 입장을 취한다. 이외에도 보편과학이나 조합술을 이해하지 않고는 라이프니츠 논리학에 대한 총체적인 시각을 갖기 힘들다. 이 두 개념은 특히 타과학이나 과학적 방법론과 관련지어 논리학이란 과연 무엇인가라는 논리철학적인 조명에 있어서 중요한 실마리를 제공한다.