FROM AREA TO NUMBER THEORY: A CASE STUDY

*Hellenic Secondary Education **University of Patras In this paper we examine the way two 10 graders cope with a tiling problem that involves elementary concepts of number theory (more specifically linear Diophantine equations) in the geometrical context of a rectangle’s area. The students’ problem solving process is considered from two perspectives: the interplay between different approaches relevant to the conceptual backdrop of the task and the range of executive control skills showed by the students. Finally the issue of the setting of modeling problem solving situations into number theory tasks is also commented.