"Should Recursion be part of the secondary student's mathematics toolbox?"

Antonio Quesada
The University of Akron
146 Judson Rd.
Kent, Ohio 44240
USA
E-mail:aquesada@uakron.edu


The capabilities of modern graphing calculators are changing the way
we teach as well as the content and scope of what is taught in basic
mathematics. For instance, an increase number of recursive
applications have begun to appear in new textbooks from pre-algebra to
calculus, both in high school and introductory college levels. In this
talk we will present examples that illustrate how, with the help of a
graphing calculator, (i) recursion can be used to solve a great
variety of problems (growth, convergence, Markov chains...); (ii) for
students of basic mathematics, recursion makes accessible models that
are traditionally taught in upper levels to selected groups of
students, and finally, (iii) recursion, in some cases, provides an
alternative problem solving approach less dependent on ready made
formulas.