Method of determination of task complexity on «Algebra of logic»

There are two types of tasks for evaluation of students’ knowledge on algebra of logic. It consists in drawing up the truth table and logical expressions simplification. However, it is important to take into account the task complexity. Nowadays there is no objective method for determination of task complexity on algebra of logic. In practice, teachers use intuitive rules for task complexity evaluation, for example, the larger the number of variables and various operations the task indicates, the greater task complexity is. The article discusses the factors that can influence the degree of tasks complexity on algebra of logic, such as the number of variables and various operations in the task, as well as the presence of certain logic operations. The article gives the analysis of some practical tasks on algebra of logic used for students on “Applied Mathematics and Computer Science” in Murom Institute (branch) of Vladimir State University named after A.G. and N.G. Stoletovs (Murom, Russian Federation). The analysis helped to reveal the degree of these factors influence to the task complexity. The calculation results showed that there is the relationship between the task complexity and such factors as the number of characters in a task, the number of variables in a task, the number of operations in a task, the number of disjunction operations, number of Peirce function, the number of negation operations. All these factors were divided into two groups in accordance with the correlation of coefficient value. The factors in the first group have high correlation of coefficient value, so they have high degree of influence. The factors in the second group have low correlation of coefficient value, so they have low degree of influence. There are two corrections of coefficients which should be taken into account.

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