The use of bounding boxes aligned to the coordinate axes: an application of distance calculation in 2D and 3D digital games

Abstract

In contemporary times, the production of videos in the classroom is a resource used to enable different forms of mathematical expression in activities that differ qualitatively from the use of pencil and paper. Considering this scenario and to highlight how meanings relate in mathematical discourse, this article presents a semiotic reading of a video produced by a student from a Brazilian public university as an activity in the Analytic Geometry course. The research approach is qualitative, and the methodological procedures used in data production were: (i) transcription of the video to categorize it; (ii) separation of its elements to describe them; and (iii) recomposition of its elements to interpret meanings based on their relationships. The investigation, grounded in a multimodal perspective, sought to examine the metafunctions of language, mathematical symbolism, and visual display, observing verbal, visual, and sound aspects used by its producer. The results indicate connections between orality and animations, correspondence between algebraic expressions and graphical representations, as well as the intentional use of didactic-pedagogical mediation strategies to produce meaning in their discourse.