Número racional: uma teia de relações

Abstract

Rational Number: a net of relationships Rational number is a subject that is considered an important subject in the basic education of Mathematics, and the way it is taught to the students may be an obstacle to full comprehension. One of the aspects that may justify such a situation is this complexity. Rational umber should be understood as a net of relationships where the mathematical notions, principles and procedures are built or acquired through different contexts. This study is based on the premise that the full comprehension of rational number could be obtained by means of a meaningful work in all contexts in which this subject appears. Accordingly, in each context, the notion of number and the mathematical operations should be re-conceptualized in relation to the natural number. Relationships such as measure, quotient, ratio, multiplicative operator, probability and number are “personalities” impersonated by the rational number, these relationship being represented by means of as a/b, decimal and percentual notations.