RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
The Problems with “Any” and “All”: How Language Impacts Student Meanings for Quantified Variables
Page: 608
This study investigates undergraduate students’ meanings for quantified variables, and how the language of a mathematical statement impacts their meanings. I conducted 3-day exploratory teaching interviews with eight students from transition-to-proof and advanced calculus courses (four from each course). Over the course of the three days, I presented students with a variety of statements from calculus in order to test how both and language and mathematical content might impact students’ meanings for quantified variables. I found that students’ meanings did often change across mathematical contexts that contained different language. In particular, the words “any” and “all” were found to lead some students to use different meanings for quantified variables in calculus statements.