1: George Polya is a Hungarian Mathematician who came up with the four unique steps to solve any kind

of a word problem in 1945. The very first one is that we need to understand the problem.

2: What does it mean by understand the problem?

1: Well, first, let's take a problem and kind of dissect it together.

"Kim's class voted on a location for a field trip. 3/8 of the class voted for the science museum. 9/32 of
the class voted for the zoo. What fraction of the class voted for the zoo?"

So, the first thing that we need to do is to understand the information that we need to know and
identify the problem being asked. So what is asked in the problem?

2: the fraction of the class who voted for the zoo.

Right. Does the problem provides any relevance in knowing their names?

2: No

1: Right. So we cross out those information not needed and circle the information that is important.

Like this one.

(Picture)

So what are those information that we need?

2: 3/8 of the class voted for the science museum

9/32 of the class voted for the water park

and the rest of the class votee for the zoo

1: Right. Now that we have understand the problem and have all the information needed, Polya's next
step is to plan. This is where we are going to use our strategies in solving the problem. Like, making a
diagram or drawing of the situation, coming up with an equation or formula, and many more. So what
plan are we going to apply in this problem?

2: I was thinking about drawing a picture because it was easier for me to do so. Like this one

(Drawing)

on the first portion is the class who voted for the science museum, the middle portion is the class who
voted for the water park, and as you can see we need to solve for the missing portion on the third which
is the class who voted for the zoo.
1: Yes. Now we are ready for the step three which is to solve. We already had understood the problem,
therefore, we are able to crossed out the information that we do not need and underlined the one
needed. Furthermore, we had already made a plan on how to solve it. Thus, we are now ready to solve.

2: (draw)

As we can see the whole rectangle represents the whole class. Therefore, let 1 be the whole class and
subtract it with the available fraction: 3/8 and 9/32. Since, the fraction for the class who voted for zoo is
missing, let x represent thereof. Thus, the problem is computed as follows:

x=1-3/8-9/32

We know that the whole number or 1 is equal to 32/32. Thus:

x=32/32-3/8-9/32

Afterwards, let us find the least common denominator for the three fractions, but first we need to find
the least common multiple for each fraction's denominator:

The least common multiple for each fraction's denominator is 4. Therefore, 4 is multiplied to the
numerator and denominator of 3/8.

(Draw)

We arrive with the fraction 12/32. Now, we can solve for the x or the missing fraction who voted for the
zoo:

x=32/32-12/32-9/32

x=11/32

Question: What fraction of the class voted for the zoo?

Answer: 11/32 of the class voted for the zoo

1: For Polya's fourth step is to check the answer.

The whole class is equal to 32/32. Let us check if the fraction of the class who voted for the science
museum 3/8 which has already been changed to 12/32, water park 9/32, and the zoo 11/32 is equal to
the whole class 32/32.

32/32=12/32+9/32+11/32

32/32=32/32

It is equal, thus, we are correct.

2: Just a quick recap to polya's four step of solving any word problem:
1st step: Understand the problem

2nd step: Devise a plan to solve the problem

3rd step: Carry out your plan to solve the problem

4rth step: Check your answer