Laura Phillips

Article #1 Analysis

Journal: Mathematics Teacher Vol. 112, Issue 4 Pages: 258-259

URL: https://mt-nctm.advanced-pub.com/?issueID=57&pageID=20

Article Title: Finding Meaning in the Quadratic Formula Publish Date: January 2019

Author: Thomas G. Edwards and Kenneth R. Chelst

The main argument of this article is that the quadratic formula as we know it is too

simplified. The authors say the simplified form hides the meaning of many components, and

that these components are hidden when the two fractions are combined. They would like to

change the quadratic formula from

−𝑏 ± √𝑏 2 − 4𝑎𝑐
𝑥=
2𝑎

to

−𝑏 √𝑏 2 − 4𝑎𝑐
𝑥= ±
2𝑎 2𝑎
The authors believe that this will make understanding the meaning and purpose of the

−𝑏
equation easier because students are already familiar with at least the first part, , which is
2𝑎

the equation for the axis of symmetry. At this point of the article I was not in agreement with

the authors because I don’t even know what the two components of the equation mean, so

how can we expect high school students to understand the meaning? However, they go on to

say that “… it is not sufficient to leave it to students to recognize the geometric significance of

each of the two terms…” and that we as teachers need to develop those connections with the
students. This is true for virtually every topic in math, we cannot just expect students to

understand everything on their own, or else what is the point of our jobs?

The authors then describe a GeoGebra activity for this topic that might help the student

visualize and work with the equation. I love GeoGebra and plan on using it in my classroom so

when I read this, I became less skeptical about the authors’ theory.

In the conclusion, they describe how using this approach fits in to the Common Core

State Standards for Mathematics and Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. They

claim that by engaging in such activities, students will be hitting on many objectives of the State

Standards like reasoning abstractly and quantitatively and using an appropriate tool

strategically. The authors believe that their approach will help students to better “apply the

formula and understand and interpret the meaning of the resulting solutions.”

At first, I thought this article was arguing for unnecessary change and was making the

quadratic formula too complicated. Then I realized my criticisms of their approach only proved

their point. I never learned the meaning of the quadratic formula, it was just a formula I

memorized and knew to use it when I couldn’t factor in my head. This is exactly the point they

are trying to make, and that it is important that students do understand the meaning of the

quadratic formula. I still think that their approach may be a little advanced for most high school

classes, but can be useful at the college level, or even upper level high school.