It is known that language can either help or hinder learning. If language is used correctly and with clarity, it helps in thinking but if it reveals imperfect meanings it creates a misunderstanding.
- Since mathematics deals in abstractions and itself is a way of thinking, it creates a dependent relationship between the notions and the language used to describe them. Mathematical language facilitates thinking by complementing ordinary language.
- To use or communicate that abstract idea, one requires language. So mathematical language walks hand in hand with tlie growth of mathematical understanding, permeating the general linguistic development of children.
- Also, mathematics is itself a language. It has its own symbols and rules for correct usage. Mathematical language is clear, concise, consistent, and cogent. Pupils who get the idea and describe it in correct language are less confused than pupils who memorize terms representing ideas that remain as strange as the terms themselves.
Translating verbal language to the language of mathematics, that is solving a word problem, involves three stages: (i) encoding, (ii) operations, (iii) decoding.
- Encoding - It is the process of building a mathematical model from a given verbal statement. Suppose we say that "a father's age is 5 years more than twice his son's age". If we
- assume the two ages to be x and y years respectively, then the corresponding mathematical model is X = 2Y + 5.
- Operations - It refer to the stage when a model has been set up, we operate on it according to given conditions, obtain a solution and then translate it back into verbal language.
- Decoding - The skill of model-building requires a clear understanding of the mathematical equivalent of words that have mathematical meanings. Words such as more, less, times, difference, is equal to, square, etc., have to be identified and used in the model for the verbal statement.
Therefore, Suppose we say that "a father's age is 5 years more than twice his son's age". If we assume the two ages to be x and y years respectively, then the corresponding mathematical model is X = 2Y + 5 is correct in the context of the question.