Abstract
This study is focused on investigating errors made by students and the various causal factors in working on trigonometry problems by applying sine and cosine rules. Samples were taken randomly from high school students. Data were collected in two ways, namely a written test that was referred to Polya's strategy and interviews with students who made mistakes. Students' errors were analyzed with the Newman concept. The results show that all types of errors occurred with a distribution of 3.83, 19.15, 24.74, 24.89 and 27.39% for reading errors (RE), comprehension error (CE), transformation errors (TE), process skill errors (PSE), and encoding errors (EE), respectively. The RE, CE, TE, PSE, and EE are marked by errors in reading symbols or important information, misunderstanding information and not understanding what is known and questioned, cannot change problems into mathematical models and also incorrectly use signs in arithmetic operations, student inaccuracies in the process of answering and also their lack of understanding in fraction operations, and the inability to deduce answers, respectively. An anomaly occurs because it turns out students who have medium trigonometry achievements make more mistakes than students who have low achievement.
Highlights
Problem-solving ability is one of the most important math skills for students because it can encourage students to answer the questions themselves
The written test instrument consists of four items test to determine the ability to solve problems with the form of description that has been adapted to the assessment standards 'Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)'
Item 3, errors at the high level mostly lie in the transformation and encoding types with a total percentage of 1.33%, at the medium level the most errors are in the process skill type (3.09%), and at the low level, the most errors are in the encoding type (2.21%)
Summary
Problem-solving ability is one of the most important math skills for students because it can encourage students to answer the questions themselves. Many students complain and think that mathematics is a subject that is too difficult that can evoke negative emotions. Trigonometry is an important math lesson because it can improve a variety of cognitive skills in students and has a wide area of use in everyday life. Trigonometry is a basic concept that is very important in mathematics. In many other topics, including algebra, geometry, and graphic concepts, trigonometry is often used as a fundamental principle [4,5]. A strong understanding of trigonometry can enhance the cognitive abilities of students, like critical thinking via the reasoning process and proofing skills [1]. Solving problems in trigonometry that are considered very difficult by students and teacher candidates [6,7] is very important
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