INTRODUCTION
Mathematics is a subject that is required to be studied and taught at every level
of education in Indonesia from elementary school (SD) to high school (SMA). In
learning mathematics, understanding the concept is one of the most important aspects.
This is because mathematical material is structured and interconnected between one
material and another. Students are required to be able to understand the relationship
between mathematical concepts. In other words, incomplete understanding of the
prerequisite concepts will cause difficulties for students in learning further concepts
which will have an impact on student learning outcomes.
As stated in the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of the Republic
of Indonesia Number 59 of 2014 explains that one of the goals of learning mathematics
in schools is so that students have the ability to understand mathematical concepts,
explain the relationship between concepts and apply concepts or algorithms, in a
flexible, accurate, efficient, and precise manner. solution to problem.
Based on the stated objectives of learning mathematics, it can be seen that the
ability to understand concepts is one of the fundamental goals in learning mathematics.
In this case, Nasution stated that if students understand a concept, then he will be able
to generalize it in various other situations (Nasution, 2000). According to (Mas’ud Zein
& Darto, 2017), understanding is the ability to capture the meaning of subject matter
which can be in the form of words, numbers, explaining cause and effect. According to
(Muhlisrarini, 2014), the concept is an abstract idea that allows people to classify
objects or events and determine whether the object or event is an example or not an
example of the abstract idea.
The indicators for understanding mathematical concepts in the 2013 curriculum
quoted from (Hendriana, Rohaeti, & Sumarmo, 2017), are: a) Restate the concepts that
have been studied, b) Classify objects based on whether or not the requirements that
make up the concept are met, c) Identify the properties of operations or concepts, d)
Apply concepts logically, e) provide examples or counter-examples of the concepts
being studied, f) Present concepts in various forms of mathematical representation
(tables, graphs, diagrams, sketches, mathematical models or methods). others), g)
Linking various concepts in mathematics and outside mathematics, h) Developing
necessary and or not sufficient conditions for a concept.
Based on the results of interviews with seventh grade teachers of SMP Islam
Nurul Huda Karadenan, most students cannot give good results in their learning, this
can be seen from the enthusiasm during learning in the classroom and from the
number of students who have not been able to find out what is the problem. In a
question, some students cannot solve a problem if the question is different from the