Misunderstandings and Logical Problems Related to the Centroid of a Polygon

도형의 무게중심과 관련된 오개념 및 논리적 문제

The purpose of this study is to resolve misunderstanding for centroid of a triangle and to clarify several logical problems in finding the centroid of a Polygon. The conclusions are the followings. For a triangle, the misunderstanding that the centroid of a figure is the intersection of two lines that divide the area of the figure into two equal part is more easily accepted caused by the misinterpretation of a median. Concerning the equilibrium of a triangle, the median of it has the meaning that it makes the torques of both regions it divides to be equal, not the areas. The errors in students' strategies aiming for finding the centroid of a polygon fundamentally lie in the lack of their understanding of the mathematical investigation of physical phenomena. To investigate physical phenomena mathematically, we should abstract some mathematical principals from the phenomena which can provide the appropriate explanations for then. This abstraction is crucial because the development of mathematical theories for physical phenomena begins with those principals. However, the students weren't conscious of this process. Generally, we use the law of lever, the reciprocal proportionality of mass and distance, to explain the equilibrium of an object. But some self-evident principles in symmetry may also be logically sufficient to fix the centroid of a polygon. One of the studies by Archimedes, the famous ancient Greek mathematician, gives a solution to this rather awkward situation. He had developed the general theory of a centroid from a few axioms which concerns symmetry. But it should be noticed that these axioms are achieved from the abstraction of physical phenomena as well.

도형의 무게중심에 대한 일반적인 고찰은 삼각형의 무게중심에 대한 오개념을 올바르게 이해하게 해 주며, 일반화와 특수화, 해의 존재성과 유일성, 실세계의 수학적 모델링, 공리적 방법론 등과 관련하여 교육적으로 유익한 논의를 유발시킨다 는 점에서 가치가 있다. 본 연구는 무게중심에 대한 오개념의 파악과 해소를 위한 수학적 분석을 제시했으며, 다각형의 무게중심을 구하는 학생들의 잘못된 전략을 분석하여 교육적인 시사점을 얻었다. 또한, 다각형 무게중심의 탐구과정에서 제기될 수 있는 논리적 문제를 밝히고 해결하였다.