PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2015
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Examining proficiency with operations on irrational numbers
Page: 593
Undergraduate students need proficient knowledge of the real numbers, because the real numbers form the foundation for more advanced mathematical concepts. To achieve numerical literacy, students must have some proficiency in the real number system (Fischbein, Jahiam, & Cohen, 1995; Guven, Cekmez, & Karatas, 2011). Studies have shown that the set of irrational numbers is difficult to grasp, because of challenges with the definitions of rational and irrational numbers (Fischbein et al., 1995), with the connection between irrational numbers and limits (Peled & Hershkovitz, 1999), and with moving between multiple representations of irrational numbers (Arcavi, Bruckheimer, & Ben-Zvi, 1987; Sirotic & Zazkis, 2007).