The problem with percentages

A great many students at a major research university make basic conceptual mistakes in responding to simple questions about two successive percentage changes. The mistakes they make follow a pattern already familiar from research on the difficulties that elementary school students have in coming to...

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Published inPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 373; no. 1740; p. 20160519
Main Authors Jacobs Danan, Jennifer A., Gelman, Rochel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England The Royal Society 19.02.2018
The Royal Society Publishing
Subjects
Approximate Number System
Arithmetic
Bidirectional Mapping
Colleges & universities
Comprehension
Concept Formation
Decimals
Financial Illiteracy
Humans
Knowledge
Learning
Mathematical Concepts
Mathematics
Number theory
Numbers
Numerons
Rational Numbers
Research facilities
Review
Students
Young Adult
arithmetic
bidirectional mapping
rational numbers
approximate number system
financial illiteracy
numerons
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Summary:A great many students at a major research university make basic conceptual mistakes in responding to simple questions about two successive percentage changes. The mistakes they make follow a pattern already familiar from research on the difficulties that elementary school students have in coming to terms with fractions and decimals. The intuitive core knowledge of arithmetic with the natural numbers makes learning to count and do simple arithmetic relatively easy. Those same principles become obstacles to understanding how to operate with rational numbers. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities’.
Bibliography:Discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities’ compiled and edited by Brian Butterworth, Charles R. Gallistel and Giorgio Vallortigara
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One contribution of 19 to a discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities’.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2016.0519