ABSTRACT
In mathematics, domain-specific strategies were initially focused on mathematics word problems, such as the one Finley was trying to solve in the vignette. Two types of domain-specific mathematical strategies at the tactical level can help one make sense of patterns. These are pictorial strategies and symbolic strategies. Pictorial strategies are those that rely on visual-spatial properties of drawings or objects to represent mathematical relationships or patterns. Pictorial strategies can be useful to solve or understand a wide variety of mathematical problems including addition, subtraction, fraction comparisons, and finding geometric patterns, just to name a few. For addition, typical strategies used when first learning to add are count-all, count-on, and dot-notation methods. Pictorial strategies can also be helpful in understanding different geometric shapes. Symbolic strategies are those that rely on using symbols or combinations of symbols to represent mathematical relationships or patterns. Strategies in mathematics are useful for more subjective tasks than arithmetic, which are more objective tasks.
