Solving Equations in a Technological Environment

O ver the past few years, a call has been made for a dramatic shift in the algebra curriculum away from an emphasis on rote exercises and manipulations of symbolic expressions. Traditionally, solving equations as an analytic, noncontextual task monopolized algebraic manipulations and was often considered to be subject to rote learning. Technology, which generates numerical solutions mainly through the use of graphical analysis, allows us to split the traditional meaning of “solving an equation” into two parts: manipulating equations and seeing solutions. The two are no longer dependent.