PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Student use of Dirac notation to express probability concepts in quantum mechanics
Page: 1276
As part of an effort to examine student understanding and use of mathematical representations in quantum mechanics, three students were interviewed. In one task, developed to investigate student understanding of representations for probability concepts, students generated expressions in Dirac notation consistent with quantum mechanical formalism. While two of the students provided reasoning consistent with Dirac notation’s emphasis on vector concepts, the third did not appear to reason in this way at all. We use the symbolic forms framework to both analyze their reasoning and propose preliminary symbolic forms for Dirac notation elements.