After reviewing several of my classmates’ definitions and seeing how they defined “equations” and “functions,” I feel that I could change some of the wording in mine. One of the things teaching middle school students has taught me is the importance of using “student-friendly” vocabulary. If students can’t understand the words that are used to define a concept, how can they be expected to understand and implement the concept itself? My definitions now read as follows:
Equation – An equation is a statement in math that has an equal sign in between two mathematical expressions. These two expressions may or may not have variables. Algebraic equations contain variables while numeric equations have only numbers.
Function – A function is a mathematical rule that describes what mathematical operations should be used to change one number into another number. When one number is entered into the function, a different value is outputted. There is no limit to the number of numbers that can be entered, but the number of outputs depends on the function.
I feel that the examples I provided are good examples of functions and equations. However, I could probably provide some examples of different types of quadratic or logarithmic functions.
To determine if my students know the difference between an equation and a function, I could provide them with a list of both and have them identify whether each was an equation or function. Students should recognize that functions always have variables, while equations may or may not.
