Exponentiation Is Not Repeated Multiplication: Developing Exponentiation as a Continuous Operation

• Published in: North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
• Main Author: Avitzur, Arnon
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education 01.11.2012
• Subjects: Algebra; Arithmetic; Fractions; Learning Activities; Mathematical Concepts; Mathematics Instruction; Multiplication; Numbers

The concept of exponents has been shown to be problematic for students, especially when expanding it from the domain of positive whole numbers to that of exponents that are negative and later rational. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the concept of exponentiation as a continuous operat...