Solving Arithmetic Word Problems of Entailing Deep Implicit Relations by Qualia Syntax-Semantic Model

Solving arithmetic word problems that entail deep implicit relations is still a challenging problem.However,significant progress has been made in solving Arithmetic Word Problems(AWP)over the past six decades.This paper proposes to discover deep implicit relations by qualia inference to solve Arithmetic Word Problems entailing Deep Implicit Relations(DIR-AWP),such as entailing commonsense or subject-domain knowledge involved in the problem-solving process.This paper proposes to take three steps to solve DIR-AWPs,in which the first three steps are used to conduct the qualia inference process.The first step uses the prepared set of qualia-quantity models to identify qualia scenes from the explicit relations extracted by the Syntax-Semantic(S2)method from the given problem.The second step adds missing entities and deep implicit relations in order using the identified qualia scenes and the qualia-quantity models,respectively.The third step distills the relations for solving the given problem by pruning the spare branches of the qualia dependency graph of all the acquired relations.The research contributes to the field by presenting a comprehensive approach combining explicit and implicit knowledge to enhance reasoning abilities.The experimental results on Math23K demonstrate hat the proposed algorithm is superior to the baseline algorithms in solving AWPs requiring deep implicit relations.

Diagrams Produced by Secondary Students in Multiplicative Comparison Word Problems

We investigated the use of diagrams in multiplicative comparison word problems. The diagrams have been considered as one of the effective heuristic strategies or solving math problems. However, how students use during their school and the degree development that shows in their performance when applied to specific fields of knowledge is a task to be elucidated. We place our study in the school stage in which it makes the transition from arithmetic to algebra and arithmetic problems we focus on in the underlying multiplicative comparison scheme. In this paper, we analyzed the responses of high school students to the translation of multiplicative comparison word problems to representation graphs. We have used the responses of 12 -14 year old students （freshman year of secondary school） to represent multiplicative comparison word problems to identify and categorize the students responses, which allowed us identify categories for each type of representation and hypothesize priority order and subordination between the categories. Results show that students are not familiar with building diagrams that integrate existing relations in word problems. Most of the students do not use all the quantitative information contained in the word problem, therefore draw diagrams referring to the subject or context of the problem without relating to the data in it. We describe in detail the quantitative diagram types produced by these students. We have identified four kinds of quantitative diagrams that the students used to represent the multiplicative comparison problems with inconsistent statements, and these diagrams correspond to the four strategies for tackling the construction of the diagram.

Chinese Upper Elementary School Mathematics Teachers’Attitudes towards the Place and Value of Problematic Word Problems in Mathematics Education

Word problems play a crucial role in mathematics education.However,the authenticity of word problems is quite controversial.In terms of the necessity of realistic considerations to be taken into account in the solution process,word problems have been classified into two categories:standard word problems(S-items)and problematic word problems(P-items).S-items refer to those problems involving the straightforward application of one or more arithmetical operations with the given numbers,whereas P-items call for the use of real-world knowledge and real-life experience in the problem-solving process.This study aims to explore how Chinese upper elementary school mathematics teachers think of the place and value of P-items in the elementary mathematics curriculum.

WORD PROBLEMS AND THE CENTERS OF ABEL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

The approach of word problems is adopted to study the centers of nonautonomous cubic equations.We answer various questions that arise from this investigation. In particular.we demonstrate that a recent condition for the existence of a center is not necessary.

Automatic Generation of Amharic Math Word Problem and Equation

Math word problem uses a real word story to present basic arithmetic operations using textual narration. It is used to develop student’s comprehension skill in conjunction with the ability to generate a solution that agrees with the story given in the problem. To master math word problem solving, students need to be given fresh and enormous amount of problems, which normal textbooks as well as teachers fail to provide most of the time. To fill the gap, a few research works have been proposed on techniques to automatically generate math word problems and equations mainly for English speaking community. Amharic is a Semitic language spoken by more than hundred million Ethiopians and is a language of instruction in elementary schools in Ethiopia. And yet it belongs to one of a less resourced language in the field of linguistics and natural language processing (NLP). Hence, in this paper, a strategy for automatic generation of Amharic Math Word (AMW) problem and equation is proposed, which is a first attempt to introduce the use template based shallow NLP approach to generate math word problem for Amharic language as a step towards enabling comprehension and learning problem solving in mathematics for primary school students. The proposed novel technique accepts a sample AMW problem as user input to form a template. A template provides AMW problem with placeholders, type of problem and equation template. It is used as a pattern to generate semantically equivalent AMW problems with their equations. To validate the reality of the proposed approach, a prototype was developed and used as a testing platform. Experimental results have shown 93.84% overall efficiency on the core task of forming templates from a given corpus containing AMW problems collected from elementary school mathematics textbooks and other school worksheets. Human judges have also found generated AMW problem and equation as solvable as the textbook problems.

Novel Method to Deal with Interval Quadratic Equations via Sign-Variation Analysis

In this article, analytical results are obtained apparently for the first time in the literature, for the lower and upper bounds of the roots of quadratic equations when two or all three coefficients a, b, c constitute an interval, with a method called the sign-variation analysis. The results are compared with the parametrization technique offered by Elishakoff and Miglis, and with the solution yielded by minimization and maximization commands of the Maple software. Solutions for some interval word problems are also provided to edulcorate the methodology. This article only focuses on the real roots of those quadratic equations, complex solutions being beyond this investigation.

Two Aspects of Evolutionary Algorithms

In this paper we discuss the paradigm of evolutionary algorithms (EAs). We argue about the need for new heuristics in real-world problem solving, discussing reasons why some problems are difficult to solve. After introducing the main concepts of evolutionary algorithms, we concentrate on two issues: (1) self-adaptation of the parameters of EA, and (2) handling constraints.