and might be considered from the five facets of dual dimensions.
The types of objects described, summarized in Fig. 1 (systems of practices, emerging entities, configurations or onto-semiotic networks, the contextual attributes, together with the notion of semiotic function as the basic relational entity) make up an operative response to the ontological problem of representation and meaning of mathematical knowledge.
3.6 Understanding and knowing
in the onto-semiotic approach There are two basic ways to conceive ‘‘understanding’’: as a mental process or as a competence (Font 2001), which correspond to divergent or even conflicting epistemological conceptions. Cognitive approaches in Mathematics Education view understanding as a mental process, while the pragmatic position of the onto-semiotic approach considers understanding as competence (a subject is said to understand a mathematical object when he/she uses it in a competent way in different practices).