Analysis of Mathematical Representation Ability of Grade VIII Senior High School

Mathematics recently have a substantial influence on other disciplines and have important role in various life. In other words, several of problems can be formed in the form of mathematics and it can be solved based on mathematics principles. Mathematics at school is expected to help the students to have the basic principles of mathematics in term of daily life. This qualitative research aims to describe the ability of mathematical representation of students in understanding the learning. The students will have a good understanding if they are able to represent their mathematical ideas. The ability of mathematical representation was analyzed from mathematics test result given to class VIII at one of Junior High School in Padang. The result of this research show that most of the students cannot, still, convey a mathematical way of thinking which is logically arranged well and interpreted the mathematical problems they encountered, so as to achieve the expected problem resolution.