Abstract
Although function analysis is widely applied in science, there are some areas, like function limits or continuity that are underrepresented. The purpose of this study is to model motion and support this process by applying function continuity. Students will model the principles of continuity by formulating position functions for objects moving along a horizontal path with multiple rules. The scientific context will be supplied by an interactive simulation called Walking Man that is available for free at http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/moving-man. This simulation allows designing a movement that can be mathematized using piecewise polynomial functions. Function continuity and sided limits will be used as tools to support the construction of these functions. The activity was conducted with a group of 20 calculus students. It was hypothesized that by applying the principles in context, the students would realize that function continuity is a critical condition that functions representing motion must satisfy. Posttest results supported the hypothesis.
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Sokolowski, A. (2018). Exploring Function Continuity in Context. In: Scientific Inquiry in Mathematics - Theory and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89524-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89524-6_8
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