• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.465-486
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• 2010

Studying the definition and building a foundation about variables during elementary school is a crucial factor before students study the variable in depth in middle school. So, forming a basis for understanding variable in this period should be treated with importance, because it is the first step in forming a clear understanding of the concept of variables. According to analysis of the types of letters used in current textbooks, we can see that too much emphasis was placed on type 1(letter evaluated), type 3(letter used as an Object). By not utilizing the various types of letter usage we reduce the situation to one which is removed from the context and an automatous style of learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study was the development about early algebra learning materials which use diverse types of letters. We have analyzed the types of letters used from the 4-ga to 6-na mathematics textbooks and the 4-ga to the 6-na workbooks. To make learning materials for well-balanced letter use, we developed learning materials focused on early algebra with the 6-ga and the 6-na textbooks.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.215-233
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• 2008

Deep comprehension of basic mathematical notions and concepts is a basic condition of a successful teaching. Some elements of algebraic thinking belong to the elementary school mathematics. The question "What stays the same and what changes?" link arithmetic problems with algebraic conception of variable. We have studied beliefs and comprehensions of future elementary school mathematics teachers on early algebra. Pre-service teachers from three academic pedagogical colleges deal with mathematical problems from the pre-algebra point of view, with the emphasis on changes and invariants. The idea is that the intensive use of non-formal algebra may help learners to construct a better understanding of fundamental ideas of arithmetic on the strong basis of algebraic thinking. In this article the study concerning arithmetic series is described. Considerable number of pre-service teachers moved from formulas to deep comprehension of the subject. Additionally, there are indications of ability to apply the conception of change and invariance in other mathematical and didactical contexts.

• School Mathematics
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.409-426
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• 2007

The relevance of secondary school algebra focused on paper and pencil manipulation has been reconsidered along with the expansion of universal education and the development of ICT such as computer or calculators. This study was designed to investigate the issues and trends of the recent algebra so as to provide implementations for algebra curriculum in Korea. The focus of algebra education has being shifted from paper pencil manipulation to algebraic thinking. The early algebra or informal algebra is one of the important traits of revolution, and the role of ICT is integrated in newly developed curricula. In Korea, algebra education has been retaining the traditional line even though the national curriculum documents allows ICT for instruction. The reasons of these discrepancies were analyzed and the tasks for the new curriculum in accordance with the current trends were suggested in this paper.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.41-59
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• 2011

Given the importance of algebra in the early grades, this paper analyzed the contents of whole numbers and their operations from the perspectives of generalized arithmetic. In particular, the focus of analysis was given to the properties of 0 and 1, those of operations such as commutativity, associativity, and distributivity, and the relations between operations. As such, this paper analyzed in detail how such properties and relations were introduced and expanded across different grades. It is expected that many issues in this paper will serve basic information to develop instructional materials in a way to fostering students' algebraic thinking in the elementary grades.

• School Mathematics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.445-468
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• 2012

This study is tried in order to link informal arithmetic reasoning to formal algebraic reasoning. In this study, we investigated elementary school student's non-formal algebraic reasoning used in algebraic problem solving. The result of we investigated algebraic reasoning of 839 students from grade 1 to 6 in two schools, Korea, we could recognize that they used various arithmetic reasoning and pre-formal algebraic reasoning which is the other than that is proposed in the text book in word problem solving related to the linear systems of equation. Reasoning strategies were diverse depending on structure of meaning and operational of problems. And we analyzed the cause of failure of reasoning in algebraic problem solving. Especially, 'quantitative reasoning', 'proportional reasoning' are turned into 'non-formal method of substitution' and 'non-formal method of addition and subtraction'. We discussed possibilities that we are able to connect these pre-formal algebraic reasoning to formal algebraic reasoning.

• School Mathematics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.581-598
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• 2011

Given the growing agreement that algebra should be taught in the early stage of the curriculum, considerable studies have been conducted with regard to early algebra in the elementary school. However, there has been lack of research on how to organize mathematic lessons to develop of algebraic reasoning ability of the elementary school students. This research attempted to gain specific and practical information on effective algebraic teaching and learning in the elementary school. An exploratory qualitative case study was conducted to the fourth graders. This paper focused on the associative law of the multiplication. This paper showed what kinds of activities a teacher may organize following three steps: (a) focus on the properties of numbers and operations in specific situations, (b) discovery of the properties of numbers and operations with many examples, and (c) generalization of the properties of numbers and operations in arbitrary situations. Given the steps, this paper included an analysis on how the students developed their algebraic reasoning. This study provides implications on the important factors that lead to the development of algebraic reasoning ability for elementary students.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.213-231
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyze the 6th graders' understanding of the concepts of variable on various aspects of school algebra. For this purpose, the test of concepts of variable targeting a sixth-grade class was conducted and then two students were selected for in-depth interview. The level of mathematics achievement of the two students was not significantly different but there were differences between them in terms of understanding about the concepts of variable. The results obtained in this study are as follows: First, the students had little basic understanding of the variables and they had many cognitive difficulties with respect to the variables. Second, the students were familiar with only the symbol '${\Box}$' not the other letters nor symbols. Third, students comprehended the variable as generalizers imperfectly. Fourth, the students' skill of operations between letters was below expectations and there was the student who omitted the mathematical sign in letter expressions including the mathematical sign such as x+3. Fifth, the students lacked the ability to reason the patterns inductively and symbolize them using variables. Sixth, in connection with the variables in functional relationships, the students were more familiar with the potential and discrete variation than practical and continuous variation. On the basis of the results, this study gives several implications related to the early algebra education, especially the teaching methods of variables.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.531-535
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• 1996

Computer aided conceptual solution of engineering problems can be effectively implemented by qualitative reasoning based on a physical model. Qualitative reasoning needs modeling paradigm which provides intellignet control of modeling assumptions and robust inferences without quantitative information about the system. We developed reasoning method using new algebra of qualitative mathematics. The method is applied to a conceptual design scheme of anadaptive control system of cutting process. The method identifies differences between proportional and proportional-integral control scheme of cutting process. It is shown that unfeasible investment could be prevented in the early conceptual stage by the qualitative reasoning procedures proposed in this paper.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.380-392
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• 2000

This paper proposes a qualitative reasoning approach for the spatial configuration of mechanisms that could be applied in the early phase of the conceptual design. The spatial configuration problem addressed in this paper involves the relative direction and position between the input and output motion, and the orientation of the constituent primitive mechanisms of a mechanism. The knowledge of spatial configuration of a primitive mechanism is represented in a matrix form called spatial configuration matrix. This matrix provides a compact and convenient representation scheme for the spatial knowledge, and facilitates the manipulation of the relevant spatial knowledge. Using this spatial knowledge of the constituent primitive mechanisms, the overall configuration of a mechanism is described and identified by a spatial configuration state matrix. This matrix is obtained by using a qualitative reasoning method based on sign algebra and is used to represent the qualitative behavior of the mechanism. The matrix-based representation scheme allows handling the involved spatial knowledge simultaneously and the proposed reasoning method enables the designer to predict the spatial behavior of a mechanism without knowing specific dimension of the components of the mechanism.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.301-310
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• 2015

Since Jiuzhang Suanshu, the main tools in the theory of right triangles, known as Gougushu in East Asia were algebraic identities about three sides of a right triangle derived from the Pythagorean theorem. Using tianyuanshu up to siyuanshu, Song-Yuan mathematicians could skip over those identities in the theory. Chinese Mathematics in the 17-18th centuries were mainly concerned with the identities along with the western geometrical proofs. Jeong Yag-yong (1762-1836), a well known Joseon scholar and writer of the school of Silhak, noticed that those identities can be derived through algebra and then wrote Gugo Wonlyu (勾股源流) in the early 19th century. We show that Jeong reveals the algebraic structure of polynomials with the three indeterminates in the book along with their order structure. Although the title refers to right triangles, it is the first pure algebra book in Joseon mathematics, if not in East Asia.