Representation systems and undergraduate proof production: a comment on Weber

Weber (2009) suggested that counterexamples can be generated by a syntactic proof production, apparently contradicting our earlier assertion (Alcock & Inglis, 2008). Here we point out that this ostensible difference is the result of Weber working with theoretical definitions that differ slightly from ours. We defend our approach by arguing that Weber’s relies upon an as yet unspecific metric for gauging the amount of work conducted in each representation system, and that it does not recognize an important asymmetry between the status of representation systems in the context of undergraduate mathematics.