PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Students’ quantitative reasoning in a revenue maximization context
Page: 755
The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ quantitative reasoning when solving a multivariable problem in a revenue maximization context. We conducted task-based interviews with 12 pairs of business calculus students. Analysis of verbal responses and work written by the students revealed that in reasoning about the relationships among the quantities (sales, discount, and total revenue) in the problem, nearly all the pairs of students created new quantities. The creation of these quantities helped the students to reason about the effect of the discount on sales and total revenue. An important finding of this study is that the students took different approaches to the meaning of the discount and only five pairs of the students interpreted the discount as intended in the design of the problem. Directions for future research are discussed.