About: Multiple representations (mathematics education)

In mathematics education, a representation is a way of encoding an idea or a relationship, and can be both internal (e.g., mental construct) and external (e.g., graph). Thus multiple representations are ways to symbolize, to describe and to refer to the same mathematical entity. They are used to understand, to develop, and to communicate different mathematical features of the same object or operation, as well as connections between different properties. Multiple representations include graphs and diagrams, tables and grids, formulas, symbols, words, gestures, software code, videos, concrete models, physical and virtual manipulatives, pictures, and sounds. Representations are thinking tools for doing mathematics.