While the classic brachistochrone problem is too complicated to solve in an introductory course, students should be able to understand the qualitative features of the problem. We asked the students a number of questions about this problem. For this talk,&nbsp; we will focus on the following question "Explain how it is possible for the mass to start from rest at different points along the cycloid and still reach the bottom at the same time."&nbsp; Their answers display a wide variety of misconceptions and we will highlight some specific answers during this talk.

Introductory Students' Qualitative Analysis of the Brachistochrone

D1.5 PER: Student Content Understanding, Problem-Solving and Reasoning

technical paper

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Drew Milsom

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Introductory Students' Qualitative Analysis of the Brachistochrone

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