RUME 25
2023
Omaha, Nebraska
Physics Students’ Interpretation of Matrix Multiplication
Page: 1133
Most upper-division physics courses use mathematics beyond that encountered in the calculus sequence. Matrix multiplication and eigentheory are used by physics students in courses including classical mechanics, optics, and quantum mechanics. While there have been recent investigations of student use of linear algebra in quantum mechanics, no prior work has examined how physics students approach this mathematics in other contexts. In this paper, we investigated the extent to which student interpretations of matrix multiplication could be characterized by those from Larson and Zandieh (2013): linear combination, system of equations, and transformations. We have examined student responses to written questions and used the results to develop an interview protocol to examine how physics students interpret matrix equations using the three interpretations to classify their responses. Results are shown from an interview sample of six undergraduate physics majors.