Solving Exponential Equations: Learning from the Students We Teach
Journal Title: International Journal of Engineering and Science Invention - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 5
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to share with the mathematics community what I discovered from analyzingone of myGrade 11 students’ approach to solving exponential equations of the form a a k x p x q , where a and k are positive integers greater than 1, and p , q . The student got a correct answer using a procedure which does not conform with the known exponential laws, thereby making it difficult to evaluate the student’s work. I gave the student’s script to fellow mathematics educators and they marked the student wrong, arguing that laws of exponents cannot be extended to a sum or difference of exponentials with the same base. Ithen decided to present the student’s solution method to other mathematics experts (through the Math Forum)for further evaluation. The responses and comments I received were far from being conclusive. It was suggested that there was need to use mathematical proof to verify whether the student’s approach was valid or not. I then set out to investigate why what looked like invalid reasoning on the surface gave the right answer in the end.After a careful analysis of the student’s approach, coupled with some kind of empirical investigations and mathematical proof, I eventually discovered that there was some logic in the student’s approach, only that it was not supported by the known theory of exponents. I therefore recommend that mathematics educators should not take students’ solution methods for granted. We might be marking some of the students’ solution methods wrong when they are valid, and robbing them of their precious marks. It is possible for students to come up with new and valid methods of solving mathematics problems which are not known to the educators.Good mathematics educators should therefore be on the lookout for new unanticipated approaches to solving mathematical problems that students of exceptional abilities may use in class. The famous German mathematician and astronomer, Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)amazed his teachers when he discovered a quick way of summing the integers from 1 to 100, at the age of seven. Such exceptional intellectual abilities still existeven in school children of today.
Authors and Affiliations
Eric Machisi
Keywords
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