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Reflections on the status and

nature of visual reasoning -
the case of the matches
a a
Rina Hershkowitz , Abraham Arcavi & Maxim
a
Bruckheimer
a
Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Published online: 11 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: Rina Hershkowitz , Abraham Arcavi & Maxim Bruckheimer
(2001) Reflections on the status and nature of visual reasoning - the case of
the matches, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and
Technology, 32:2, 255-265, DOI: 10.1080/00207390010010917

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 int. j. math. educ. sci. technol., 2001, vol. 32, no. 2, 255± 265

Re¯ections on the status and nature of visual reasoningÐthe

case of the matches

RINA HERSHKOWITZ*, ABRAHAM ARCAVI and

MAXIM BRUCKHEIMER
Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
e-mail: nthershk@wiccmail.weizmann.ac.il; ntarcavi@wiccmail.weizmann.ac.il;
ntmaxim@wicc.weizmann.ac.il

(Received 18 October 1999)

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1. Introduction
Visualization is a central component in mathematical activity [1±4]. `Visualiza-
tion generally refers to the ability to represent, transform, generate, communicate,
document, and re¯ect on visual information’ ([5], p. 75). As such it is crucial to the
learning of geometrical concepts. A visual image, by virtue of its concreteness, `is
an essential factor for creating the feeling of self-evidence and immediacy’ ([6], p.
101).
In this paper, we propose to illustrate that:
. visualization can be much more than the intuitive support of higher level
reasoning, it also may constitute the essence of rigorous mathematics; and
. visualization can be central not only in areas which are obviously associated
with visual images (such as geometry), but also in formal symbolic argu-
ments (such as high school algebra).
First, we present a problem (borrowed from a verbal communication with
Professor I. Weinzweig), which was tried out in teacher courses in various
countries and with several colleagues. What started as an in-service teacher course
activity, became a source of interesting data. Second, we present the data and
analyse it. The analysis uncovers some `mechanisms’ of visualization towards the
building of a mathematical generalization.
Finally, we summarize the ®ndings and exemplify how pedagogy can harness
them to guide the design and use of beginning algebra problems.

2. The problem
How many matches are needed to build the following n £ n square?

* Author for correspondence.

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology
ISSN 0020±739X print/ISSN 1464±5211 online # 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/00207390010010917
 256 R. Hershkowitz et al.

If one plays with this problem a little, one realizes that it has potential to engage
both beginning students and mathematically sophisticated adultsÐit is not very
complex, does not require pre-requisite knowledge, and yet it is not straight-
forward. Moreover, as we shall see, the problem can be approached and solved in
many di€ erent ways.
This problem is representative of a whole class of `counting’ situations in which
the main steps in its solution can be described as follows: observation, recording
and understanding of a regularity, ®nding and applying a `counting’ strategy,
generalizing and capturing the generalization in a symbolic form. As such, and
without further analysis, the problem is a good candidate for discussion in teacher
courses. Therefore, it was chosen and used by us with teachers in various
countries. What happened was very illuminating and made us realize that the
number of di€ erent solution strategies used, and their implications, merit detailed
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description and discussion. The analysis of the data led us to re¯ect, once more, on
some aspects of the nature and status of visualization, generalization processes,
ways of conceptualizing symbol use, and even `cultural’ and aesthetic factors
in¯uencing the `doing of mathematics’.

3. Findings
The ®rst general observation we made when analysing the di€ erent solution
strategies, was that visualization played a most important role for many people in
their construction of the symbolic form of the answer. This may not seem
surprising since the task is presented visually, and this undoubtedly in¯uenced
solution strategies. However, it is surprising that visualization did not play any role
for many others (see ®rst strategy described below), and we believe that this is an
interesting ®nding in itself.
In the following we report, classify and discuss di€ erent strategies.
A methodological digression: our focus here is the analysis of successful
solution strategies themselves, their classi®cation and their cognitive and pedago-
gical implications. Therefore, we summarize what individuals did without provid-
ing detailed protocols of the process of construction of these solutions.

3.1. Numerically driven solutions

Many individual teachers and also some groups of them, produced a sequence
of squares of increasing size, just to count the number of matches in each and to
create the following numerical table.
Square size No. of matches
1£1 4
2£2 12
3£3 24
4£4 40
5£5 60
6£6 84
° °
° °
° °
n£n ?

At this point the drawing was ignored, and e€ orts were concentrated on searching
for a numerical pattern. Since the pattern is not linear, it was not easy for many to
 Re¯ections on the status and nature of visual reasoning 257

®nd the appropriate symbolic expression. In spite of the di culty, they insisted on
generalizing from numbers and did not return to the drawing. Some added a third
column as follows:

Square size No. of matches Di€ erences

1£1 4
2£2 12 8
3£3 24 12
4£4 40 16
5£5 60 20
6£6 84 24
° ° °
° ° °
° ° °
n£n ? °
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The third column enabled them to produce the sum

4 ‡ 8 ‡ 12 ‡ 16 ‡ 24 ‡ . . . ‡ 4n
Many others did not succeed.

3.2. Visually driven solutions

As mentioned above, we found many di€ erent solutions which where visually
driven. In the following we bring just a few, which exemplify the rich spectrum of
visual strategies used.

3.2.1. From one square on . . .

A common strategy was to start with a corner square (usually the upper left) of
4 matches, to continue by counting the matches in the ®rst row and column made
out of a chain of both `sideways’ and the upright Us (three matches each), to obtain
3…n ¡ 1† £ 2.

Then the counting concentrated on the …n ¡ 1†…n ¡ 1† inverted Ls (with two

matches each). Thus the total count comes to 4 ‡ 2 £ 3…n ¡ 1† ‡ 2…n ¡ 1†…n ¡ 1†.
This visual strategy consists of:

(a) A decomposition of the whole into smaller parts consisting of one square, a
row and a column which are `similar’, and the remainder. This decomposition is
guided by the di€ erent `units’ visualized in each part: a square, Us and Ls.
 258 R. Hershkowitz et al.

The decomposition proceeded somehow sequentially, from one unit of counting

easily separable from the whole (the 1 £ 1 square) to another unit, the Us, and then
to the Ls.

(b) A recomposition consisting of: (1) multiplication of similar units by the

`number’ of their appearances, and (2) reconstruction of the whole by adding the
three partial sums. Some teachers identi®ed the same units di€ erently, they used
one of Polya’s best know heuristics: `consider special cases’ ([7], pp. 115 € .): ®rst
they considered a 1£1 square, then they constructed the 2 £ 2 by adding to the
former two Us, and one L.
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In order to construct the 3£3, they added four Us, and four Ls.

In other words, the units were identi®ed by building the structure rather than by
the decomposition of a `general’ case. Schoenfeld ([8], pp. 76±81) claims that
Polya’s `consider special cases’ is not just a single heuristic; it is too broadly de®ned
and can be considered as a collection of more speci®c substrategies which he
describes. We suggest that besides those detailed there, one of those substrategies
can also be the visual re-building of a whole structure by composing it step by step
through subsumed special cases, as illustrated, in order to visualize a general
pattern which supports the counting strategy.

3.2.2. Perceiving a global pattern and completing

Another common strategy consisted of detaching the ®rst column and the ®rst
row of matches, and then regarding the remainder of each row as made out of
inverted Ls, and counting them (n Ls), as shown in the ®gure.

Since there are n rows and each L consists of two matches, 2n2 matches are needed.
Then, the left and bottom boundaries are counted (2n matches) yielding a total of
2n2 ‡ 2n. As in the previous case, this solution involved the decomposition into
visually salient units and recomposition. However, in this case, fewer units were
 Re¯ections on the status and nature of visual reasoning 259

identi®ed, and as a consequence both the whole process and the (raw) form of the
symbolic result are simpler.

3.2.3. `Warp and woof’

This was the most popular strategy. It consists of `counting’ the n matches in a
row (or a column), and since there are n ‡ 1 rows (or columns), there are n…n ‡ 1†
matches. The same goes for the columns (rows), thus there are 2n…n ‡ 1†
altogether.
In this case, the unit is the simplest: a single match (as opposed to a square, Ls
and Us) is the basic `building block’ of the whole structure. In this way, the
decomposition of the whole into a conglomerate of identical units, becomes a
global generalization of the whole structure. We note that the symbolic form
obtained is not only in `simpli®ed’ form, but its main operation is multiplication
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(as opposed to a sum in the previous case). This seems to re¯ect the fact that the
counting was done on the basis of one single unit for the whole structure.

3.2.4. `Shake and count’

MB and JO, a colleague and a mathematics teacher respectively from two
di€ erent countries, came up with a global strategy which was also based on a single
unit: 1 £ 1 squares. JO expressed it vividly: `If I shake the whole construction, I
imagine getting n2 separated little squares with 4 matches each, namely a total of 4n2
matches’. Both were aware that they had counted the internal matches twice, but
proceeded di€ erently to adjust the `miscount’. JO counted the internal matches as
in strategy 3 above, and thus his ®nal result was 4n2 ¡ 2n…n ¡ 1†. MB added the
number of matches in the perimeter, 4n, in order to obtain twice the total number
of matches. Thus he divided 4n2 ‡ 4n, by 2, to obtain the solution in the form
4n2 ‡ 4n
2
The ®rst three visual strategies described above, illustrate the di€ erent ways in
which people decomposed and identi®ed countable units. When the whole
structure was decomposed into parts, `local’ units were identi®ed for each part.
It would seem that the simpler the visually identi®ed unit (one match), the less
decomposed is the whole, and the counting strategy becomes more global and
uniform. The fourth strategy, illustrates that there may be other visible units, less
simple than a single match (such as a 1 £ 1 square) which are global, namely, they
can be identi®ed throughout the whole structure. Thus the whole does not need to
be decomposed in sub-parts and there is only one count to be made. However, the
®nal count is in excess, and has to be adjusted in the ®nal recomposition to take
away matches that were counted twice because of the nature of the chosen unit.

3.2.5. `Intersections’
For ZA, the most visually salient unit, which can be identi®ed throughout the
whole, was, paradoxically, that which is not explicitly `present’ in the drawing: the
`holes’ left by the absent `intersection points’.
 260 R. Hershkowitz et al.

He noticed that there are four matches at each of these intersections. But, to make
this general, he built an auxiliary boundary construction, as illustrated:
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Now, all the intersections (including those at the edges and the corners) have
exactly four matches attached to them. There are …n ‡ 1†2 intersections of 4
matches each. Like JO and MB (in strategy 4 above), ZA was aware that he had
to adjust the count: ®rstly, to subtract the 4…n ‡ 1† matches added, and secondly, to
divide by 2, because all the remaining matches are attached to two intersections,
and thus were counted twice. This led him to

4…n ‡ 1†2 ¡ 4…n ‡ 1†

2
ZA made an auxiliary construction which enabled him to see a global pattern by
identifying a unit (intersection points) which applies throughout the whole. Then
he proceeded to make the two adjustments. In a sense, this strategy is similar to the
previous: ZA, like MB, identi®ed a visually salient unit (for ZA an intersection and
for MB a square), added an extra amount to the count to make it global, and then
corrected accordingly. However, there are some subtle di€ erences between these
strategies: (a) the square as a unit seems to be more visually explicit, whereas the
intersections are more implicit, and (b) MB added the extra amount without
drawing, whereas ZA actually drew an auxiliary construction. We will see later that
auxiliary constructions may also play a very di€ erent role.

3.2.6. `Cut and paste’

RI, a teacher, suggested splitting the square into two `equal triangles’, and
rearranged the two `triangles’, as follows:
 Re¯ections on the status and nature of visual reasoning 261

She concentrated on one triangle and saw that the number of horizontal matches
`as we descend the staircase’ is 1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . . ‡ n. The same is true for the
vertical matches `as we ascend the staircase’. Thus in one triangle there are
2…1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . . ‡ n†. Since there are two triangles, her ®nal count was
2 £ 2…1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . . ‡ n†.
This strategy exempli®es that the decomposition into the simplest unit may
come together (we don’t know which came ®rst) with a global visual action (on the
whole structure of matches) to produce a new result, easier to count.

3.2.7. Diagonalizing
MRU noticed that if she added diagonals as in the ®gure,
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then there are 1 £ 2 matches to the upper left of the ®rst diagonal, between the ®rst
and the second diagonal there are 2 £ 2 matches, between the second and the third,
2 £ 3 matches; and so on until one reaches the diagonal of the whole square. Thus,
the number of matches in half a square is 2…1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . . ‡ n†, so in the
whole square there are 2 £ 2…1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . . ‡ n†.
In this case, the auxiliary construction played a di€ erent role from that in
strategy 5. It did not add extra objects to the count to be subtracted later, instead it
was a visual aid imposed on the whole structure which enabled MRU to recognize
an emerging pattern, and thus to systematize the count.
This example suggests that visualization may imply, not only composition or
decomposition of existing (and possibly added) elements, it may also imply the
importation of external elements which re-arrange, transform, and re-present the
situation in such a way that visual clues become more evident and thus suggest a
strategy. As a matter of fact this is one of the tools used in many `mathematization’
processes, in which tools, constructs, modeling elements are used to re-organize or
clarify a situation and even to solve a problem.

3.2.8. Starting with symbols

AB, who worked on this problem and solved it using strategy 3 (’warp and
woof’), noticed that the ®nal count 2n…n ‡ 1† reminded him of
n…n ‡ 1†
2
which he associated with the sequence 1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ . . . ‡ n. By regarding 2n…n ‡ 1†
as
n…n ‡ 1†
4£
2
 262 R. Hershkowitz et al.

namely four times the sum of that sequence, he looked at the ®gure with the
purpose of identifying patterns for which 1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ . . . ‡ n is a counting strategy.
His search brought him to `break’ the `warp and woof’ strategy and to decompose
the match count as follows:
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The dashed lines show one of the sequences he identi®ed …1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ 4 ‡ . . .†. To

complete the counting of the matches in the columns, he noticed the symmetry
along the main diagonal of the square, which again yields the same sum. Twice
these two sums, counts the matches in the rows as well.
The point of departure of this strategy was a simple transformation of the
symbolic expression known to be the solution of the problem. The symbolic
transformation
n…n ‡ 1†
2n…n ‡ 1† ˆ 4x
2
suggested the search for a visual pattern which would illustrate a counting strategy
(4 times the count of 1 ‡ 2 ‡ 3 ‡ . . . n). This exempli®es how visual reasoning can
be guided, inspired and supported, a posteriori, by a symbolic expression known to
be the solution. Therefore, the visualization process may not only involve the
decomposition into units or the creation of auxiliary constructions, it may also be
guided by a known symbolic result.

4. Discussion
We propose that the above sample of strategies raise several issues worth
discussing.
Let us review what we have reported so far.
. What we intuitively felt about the richness of the problem was con®rmed: it
elicited many di€ erent solution strategies, lively discussions and a non-
negligible amount of enthusiasm on each and every occasion we proposed it
to teachers and colleagues.
. It has been advocated (see, for example, [9, 10]) that, the search for patterns
and their organization in mathematical language, is a central component of
mathematical thinking. Our data shows that visualization can play a crucial
role in this.
. We found some support to corroborate Fischbein’s claim that visualization
`not only organizes data at hand in meaningful structures, but it is also an
important factor guiding the analytical development of a solution.’ ([6], 1987,
p.101). We suggest that visualization can be even more than that: it can be
the analytical process itself which concludes with a general formal solution.
As such, its analytical components may include: (a) decomposition of a
 Re¯ections on the status and nature of visual reasoning 263

structure into substructures and units, (b) creation of auxiliary constructions,

(c) transformation of the whole structure into another structure, and (d)
recomposition and synthesis.
. In some cases, a visual strategy can be inspired by a symbolic result.
. Not everyone used a visual strategy. Some teachers looked for patterns
purely numerically (mostly organized by tables). Some of these had di culty
in reaching a general solution, but did not re-approach the task visually in
spite of repeated visual prompts. We speculate that their persistence with
numerical approaches was because: (a) their mind’s eye was not used to
visual analysis, and/or (b) visual means were not highly regarded and not
considered as a legitimate mathematical way to produce a general and formal
solution. Some of the teachers were unaware of or unable to appreciate that a
general solution and its justi®cation can be produced entirely visually.
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5. Instructional implications
The above discussion suggests instructional implications.
The matches problem can be considered as representative of a whole class of
problems which allow, or even invite, the integration of visualization as a working
tool in early algebra instruction to the bene®t of the latter.
Encouraged by the above (and other) ®ndings we brought the matches problem
to several junior high school pre-algebra or beginning algebra classrooms (13±14-
year-old students). These classes were divided into groups of 4±6 students who
worked together. Students were encouraged (a) to ®nd more than one solution
strategy, and (b) to write group reports on their solution processes.
After about half to three-quarters of an hour, a whole class usually produced
three or four di€ erent strategies, always using visual approaches to count. The
most popular solutions were `warp and woof’ and some version of the ®rst three
described above. Usually, after a symbolic expression was produced, students in
the groups checked the expression for a particular value for n, to see whether the
two independent results (a) from the count in the example, and (b) from the
substitution in the expression obtained, produced the same number. The whole
class reconvened to collect, present and criticize the di€ erent strategies. In general,
students were eager to show that their particular symbolic expression was correct.
Since students described di€ erent strategies, and thus `di€ erent’ symbolic expres-
sions were obtained and seen to be correct, the question of the equivalence of these
`di€ erent’ expressions was usually raised by the students, and if not, by the
teacher.
We found several kinds of reaction to this `di culty’.
. Some students said that one should substitute the same number in all the
symbolic expressions and check whether the same result is obtained. This led
to considerable activityÐthe substitution of numbers into an algebraic
expressionsÐbut with a clear purpose in mind, and not just as drill and
practice.
. Other students suggested that if the counting strategies were inspected and
found to be correct, then since the same con®guration of matches was
counted in each case, all the resulting expressions must represent the same
amount, even if they looked di€ erent.
 264 R. Hershkowitz et al.

At this stage, teacher and students began to consider the possibility of ®nding
systematic ways to show that the expressions were equivalent. This was a powerful
motivation for introducing technical algebraic manipulations.

6. Conclusions
In this paper, we have analysed the way in which teachers and students solved
the matches problem. The analysis is intended to provide more elements to the
ongoing discussion and increasing interest in visualization within the mathematics
education community.
In particular we propose this paper as (i) a contribution to the understanding of
the nature, role and cognitive characteristics of visualization and (ii) a re-evalua-
tion of the role of visualization in mathematics, especially in beginning algebra.
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From the many visual strategies teachers produced while solving the problem,
we noticed how visualization may act and what may be some of its components.
We also noticed that, whereas visual reasoning may be easily invoked and used by
many, many others may still dispute (implicitly or explicitly) its legitimacy.
We also found that this problem is rich in stimulating visual strategies among
students. As opposed to teachers, students did not raise the issue of legitimacy of
the visual strategy, and thus we propose that the curriculum should incorporate
appropriate activities quite early as part of the mathematical enculturation, which
has the potential to encourage both visual and symbolic reasoning and their
interconnections.
Moreover, we realized that the di€ erent student strategies can serve as a
motivation to explore the equivalence of the symbolic results obtained, making
the learning and teaching of syntactic rules more meaningful and purposeful.
Finally, we provided another example that visualization, which in some cases
can be considered as mere subjective veri®cation [11], may, in other cases, become
a generalization which includes its justi®cation, and thus becomes a `proof that
explains’ [12].

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank teachers from Brazil, Spain, Australia, South Africa,
Chile and Israel for providing us with the lovely collection of solution strategies,
most of which are reported in this paper.

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