This article, part of a much more ambitious research project, provides details of a study dealing with the concept of "limit" as found in the course of study for 17-18-year-old students of Mathematics for Social Scientists in the Spanish educational system (LOGSE). The first part of the general study reviews the literature related to the subject before going on to examine the syllabus and to analyse the textbooks available in Spain. This involved setting up a system of categories to be scrutinized.
The research project was carried out in the realm of advanced mathematical thinking. After stating the hypothesis on which this particular study is based, the authors go on to develop a qualitative methodology which, among other findings, permits him to identify a new conceptualisation of "functional limit", while at the same time following up how the concept "the limit of a function" affects the teaching-learning process.
Here the study is divided into three sections. The first establishes the meaning of Hepresentation" and how it relates to comprehension, while the second ponders the role of representations in present-day teaching. Finally we are given the results of the study carried out on representations of the functional limit, which highlights the fact that grasping the concept of "limit" encounters difficulties when the system of representation changes and that the use of different systems of representation facilitates the learning process.