PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Reinventing the multiplication principle
Page: 1063
Counting problems offer opportunities for rich mathematical thinking, yet students struggle to solve such problems correctly. In an effort to better understand students’ understanding of a fundamental aspect of combinatorial enumeration, we had two undergraduate students reinvent a statement of the multiplication principle during an eight-session teaching experiment. In this presentation, we report on the students’ progression from a nascent to a sophisticated statement of the multiplication principle, and we highlight two key mathematical issues that emerged for the students through this process. We additionally present potential implications and directions for further research.