Investigating Students’ Errors in Graphing Polynomial Functions

The transition from school to college mathematics courses involving advanced mathematics is a challenging task for many students. Undergraduate students in their first year are very often to experience difficulties in understanding mathematical concepts in a setting that emphasizes symbolic algebraic skills and graphing skills. Graphing skills are very important ability to grasp for students especially for whom mastering in mathematics. However, many references outlined that many students lack graphical skills. This study aims to investigate various students’ errors in graphing polynomial functions which are considered as basic types of functions. To gather data on students’ errors in graphing polynomial functions, two kinds of test are administered to first year students majoring in mathematics. The first test is directed to investigate students’ prior knowledge on graphical skills learnt in school. On the other hand, the second one is aimed to gather information on students’ graphical skills in higher order polynomial functions which have not been taught in school. The result reveals that many students make errors in graphing higher polynomial functions the same way as graphing linear and quadratic ones. Students’ prior knowledge in graphing linear and quadratic functions essentially influences graphing skills in polynomial functions of higher degree.