Garis Bilangan sebagai Alat Visualisasi Konseptual dalam Operasi Hitung Bilangan Bulat

Abstract

Arithmetic operations on integers, particularly those involving negative numbers, are a fundamental mathematical concept that often lead to misconceptions among students. Procedural understanding (memorization of rules) often dominates conceptual understanding. This article outlines a didactic analysis of the use of the number line as the primary visual model for building conceptual understanding of integer arithmetic operations. The methods used are a literature review and a conceptual analysis of how the number line can represent four basic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The analysis shows that the number line consistently models arithmetic operations as movements (translations or jumps). Addition is interpreted as a forward shift from the initial position, subtraction as a backward shift, multiplication as repeated jumps, and division as the inverse process of multiplication (counting the number of jumps). It is concluded that the number line is not merely a teaching aid, but rather an essential mathematical model that bridges concrete arithmetic understanding to a more complex algebraic structure.