Meanings and Representations of Rational Numbers Addressed in the National High School Exam - ENEM

This research proposes to investigate what are the meanings and the representations of the rational numbers that are contemplated in the National High School Exam – ENEM. Therefore, we take as reference the studies of Romanatto (1997) and Gomes (2010) and we adopted the following meanings for the rational numbers: measure (part-whole), quotient, reason, multiplicative operator, probability, a number in straight numerical, and percentages. To analyze the records of representations of the rational numbers that are contemplated in ENEM, we used the Theory of the Semiotics Representations by Raymond Duval, who considers that mathematical objects are not directly perceptible and that access to them is possible only through a system of representation. We concluded that, the meanings identified in the items relative to the 1998 to 2008 ENEM were virtually the same identified in the period of the new ENEM. In the items related to math tests and their technologies of the 2009 to 2011 ENEMs, the semiotic register of rational numbers that were most mobilized during its resolutions was the fractional numerical register.

Rational numbers; Meanings; Representations; ENEM