RUME 26
2024
Omaha, Nebraska
The Meta-Narratives about Function Conveyed by a Commonly Used Multivariable Calculus Textbook
Page: 1253
Function is a unifying, cross-curricular theme that plays a central role in nearly every subdiscipline of mathematics. Yet, this cultural meta-narrative that is widely accepted by mathematicians is not one students readily adopt. In this report, I share a preliminary analysis of the stories told about three different types of multivariable functions in a commonly used calculus textbook. In doing so, I juxtapose these stories and consider how this textbook—a cultural artifact of the discipline of mathematics—might support or hinder the transmittal of desirable cultural meta-narratives about the role of function. Ultimately, I find that real-valued functions are consistently positioned as functions, while the function properties of both types of vector-valued functions are de-emphasized. As only one of the three function types are positioned as functions, this suggests that the stories in the textbook could hinder students’ adoption of the meta-narrative of function as a unifying mathematical theme