EXPLORING OF MULTI MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION CAPABILITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING ON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The students' multi-mathematical representation capability in problem solving is very important and interesting to discuss, specifically for problems in the two-variable linear equation system. Data was collected from 48 students using written tests and in-depth interviews with selected participants. The research findings showed that few students are using three representations namely symbolic - verbal - table representation, and symbolic representation, however most of the students are using three representations namely symbolic - verbal - images representation, and two representations namely symbolic – verbal representations, and the rest used symbolic representation. In the use of verbal representation, some students had difficulty composing words and all students encountered difficulties in the translational process from symbolic representation and verbal representation to other types of representation. The ability to understand concepts and relationships between mathematical concepts was found to be a necessary condition for the achievement of multi-mathematical representation capability. It is therefore recommended that teachers use a variety of different types of representation, such as verbal, tables and images, to enhance students' understanding of the material.