ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the functions of equations in conceptual change in the domain of physics. The chapter begins by presenting a framework, drawn from the philosophical literature, for understanding functions. This framework is then applied to understand the functions, specifically, of physics equations in conceptual change. Two classes of functions for equations are identified: (1) intuitive knowledge, which is adapted by and for the use of equations and (2) physics equations, which provide a new domain of experience from which intuitions can be abstracted.
