Deductive and intuitive approaches to solving geometrical problems

Abstract

Approaches to the teaching and learning of a chosen topic in geometry can be located somewhere between what is characterised as the “intuitive” and the “formal”. There seems to be a number of ways of looking at the relationship between these two positions. Utilising an analysis of data from a study of students tackling problems using dynamic geometry software, this paper illustrates how a deductive and an intuitive approach can prove to be mutually reinforcing when solving geometrical problems.