Open AccessSOME ASPECTS OF EVALUATING COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY OF MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS
Author(s) -
Ralf Mayer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vestnik omskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogičeskogo universiteta. gumanitarnye issledovaniâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2309-9380
DOI - 10.36809/2309-9380-2020-28-122-126
Subject(s) - computer science , cognition , divergence (linguistics) , measure (data warehouse) , cognitive complexity , base (topology) , theoretical computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , data mining , linguistics , psychology , mathematical analysis , philosophy , neuroscience
The article is devoted to the development of a method for assessing the cognitive complexity of mathematical concepts by summing the complexities of the terms included in their definitions. A measure of the concept complexity is the number of words that need to be pronounced to define a concept using terms included in a fifth-grader’s thesaurus. The amount of information contained in an ordinary word is taken as a conventional unit of information. Difficulty equations were compiled for the evaluated concepts. As a result of the analysis of definitions, the complexity of mathematical concepts was estimated and it was found that it varies from 1–3 (add, multiply) to 100–200 (gradient, divergence, rotor). The resulting comparison base can be used to assess the complexity of other mathematical terms.