RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
Approaching Zero: Exploring Calculus Students’ Conceptions of Zero
Page: 1436
Zero’s introduction into mathematics sparked a new understanding of our number system even though we now perceive it as very subtle and obvious. Zero has grown to become important in many fields of mathematics including calculus. Researchers have suggested that students' and teachers’ understanding of zero is limited or incomplete (Seidelmann, 2004). In this study, I consider the many conceptions of zero that calculus students hold and how they employ those conceptions differently based on tasks types and context. Four calculus classes will participate in a digital survey aimed at uncovering their conceptions of zero and how they operationalize those conceptions. A subset of those students representing diverse conceptions of zero will participate in follow-up interviews that expand upon the topics found in the survey. I will conduct a thematic analysis with a series of a priori frameworks from existing literature as a guide to establish students’ conceptions of zero.