Students' imitative and creative reasoning abilities in solving number patterns problems.

Mathematical reasoning is defined as deriving statements from an investigation's line of inquiry and developing arguments to arrive at and justify conclusions. It is a necessary mathematical ability for students. The purpose of this study is to examine how students use imitative and creative thinking to solve problems involving number patterns. Additionally, this research serves as a reference for teachers, who should be aware of this mode of reasoning and employ appropriate instructional strategies to assist students in developing their creative abilities. This is a descriptive qualitative research design. Thirty eighth-grade students from a junior high school in Jambi City, Indonesia, served as research subjects. Six students were classified as having memorized reasoning, 22 as having algorithmic reasoning, and two as having creative mathematical reasoning. Students who demonstrate creative mathematical reasoning category can demonstrate methods of reasoning that are novel, logical, and mathematical in nature. Meanwhile, students in the imitative category of memorized reasoning could only recall the answers to previous practice questions, whereas students in the algorithmic reasoning category could reason using the task's algorithm. The study's findings indicate that the majority of the students continue to use memorized and algorithmic reasoning. Mathematics teachers must constantly hone their ability to reason creatively during the learning process and create problem-solving activities for the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]