Problem Solving

What is a Problem?
1. It is a question that motivates a person to search for a solution.
2. It implies that one wants or needs to solve the problem.
3. One has to search for a way to find a solution.

What is problem solving?

It is finding solutions and not just answers to problems.
SOLUTION = METHOD + ANSWER

Monty Hall Problem:

The grand prize in Let’s Make a Deal is behind one of three doors. Less desirable prizes (for instance, a goat and
a box of candy) are behind the other two doors. You select one of the doors, say door A.
Monty Hall reveals one of the less desirable prizes behind one of the other doors. You are then given the
opportunity either to stay with your original choice or to choose the remaining closed door.
What do you think? Do you have a better chance of winning the grand prize by switching to the other closed
door or staying with your original choice?

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning – is the process of reaching a general conclusion by examining specific examples. A conclusion
based on inductive reasoning is called a conjecture. A conjecture may or may not be correct.

EXAMPLE 1:
Use inductive reasoning to predict the next number in each of the following lists.
a) 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, ?
b) 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, ?

EXAMPLE 2:
Consider the following procedure: Pick a number. Multiply the number by 8, add 6 to the product, divide the sum by 2,
and subtract 3.
Complete the above procedure for several different numbers. Use inductive reasoning to make a conjecture about the
relationship between the size of the resulting number and the size of the original number.

EXAMPLE 3:
Length of pendulum, in Period of pendulum, in
units heartbeats
1 1
4 2
9 3
16 4
25 5
36 6

The period of a pendulum is the time it

takes for the pendulum to swing from 1
left to right and back to its original
position.
Deductive Reasoning – is the process of reaching a conclusion by applying general assumptions, procedures, or
principles.

EXAMPLE 4: Solve a Logic Puzzle

Each of four neighbors, Sean, Maria, Sarah, and Brian, has a different occupation (editor, banker, chef, or
dentist). From the following clues, determine the occupation of each neighbor.
1. Maria gets home from work after the banker but before the dentist.
2. Sarah, who is the last to get home from work, is not the editor.
3. The dentist and Sarah leave for work at the same time.
4. The banker lives next door to Brian.

A statement is a true statement provided it is true in all cases. If you can find one case in which a statement is
not true, called a counterexample, then the statement is a false statement.

EXAMPLE 5: Find a Counterexample

Verify that each of the following statements is a false statement by finding a counterexample.
For all number x :
1. |x|>0
2. x 2> x
3. √ x 2=x

Sequences

A sequence is an ordered list of numbers. Each number in a sequence is called a term of the sequence. The a n is
used to designate the nth term of a sequence.
A formula that can be used to generate all the terms of a sequence is called an nth −term formula.

EXAMPLE 1: Predict the Next Term

Use a difference table to predict the next term in the sequence.
2, 7, 24, 59, 118, 207, …

Problem Solving with Patterns

EXAMPLE 2: Find an nth-Term Formula
Assume the pattern shown by the square tiles in the following figures continues.
a. What is the n th-term formula for the number of tiles in the n th figure of the sequence?
b. How many tiles are in the eighth of the sequence?
c. Which figure will consist of exactly 320 tiles?

Fibonacci’s Rabbit Problem

At the beginning of a month, you are given a pair of newborn rabbits. After a month the rabbits have produce no
offspring; however, every month thereafter, the pair of rabbits produces another pair of rabbits. The offspring
reproduce in exactly the same manner. If none of the rabbits dies, how many pairs of rabbits will there be at the start of
each succeeding month?

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EXAMPLE 3: Find a Fibonacci Number

F 1=1, F 2=1, and F n=F n−1+ F n−2 for n ≥ 3.

Use the definition of Fibonacci numbers to find the seventh and eighth Fibonacci numbers.

EXAMPLE 4: Find a Fibonacci Number

Determine whether each of the following statements about Fibonacci numbers is true or false.
Note: the first 10 terms of the Fibonacci sequence are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and 55.
a. If n is even, then F n is an odd number.
b. 2 Fn −F n−2=F n+1 for n ≥ 3

Problem-Solving Strategies
One of the foremost recent mathematicians to make a study of problem solving was George Polya (1877-1985).
He was born in Hungary and moved to the United States in 1940. George Polya, a well-known Mathematician, defines
‘problem-solving’ as an act to:
• find a way out of difficulty
• find a way around an obstacle
• find a way where none is known,
• Attain a desired end that is not immediately attainable by direct means.

George Polya
1887-1985

The basic problem-solving strategy that Polya advocated consisted of the following four steps.
Polya’s Four-Step Problem-Solving Strategy
1) Understanding the problem.
 Understand the problem
 Determine the unknown
 Determine the given
 Identify the conditions
2) Devise a plan.
 Find the connection between the data and the unknown
 Choose an appropriate strategy that can be used to solve the problem
STRATEGIES:
 Making a table
 Making an illustration/drawing
 Eliminating possibilities
 Writing an equation/ using a variable

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  Solving a simpler problem
 Pigeonhole principle
 Making a model
 Breaking up the question
 Giving a counter example
 Trial and error / guess and check
 Work backwards
 Look for a pattern
 Examine a simpler or a special case of the problem to gain insight into the solution of the original
problem
 Examine related problems and determine if the same technique applied to them can be applied to the
current problem.
 Use direct and indirect reasoning.
3) Carry out the plan.
 Solve the problem by applying your plan or the strategy that you have chosen (see Step 2).
NOTE: you may need to use at least one strategy in finding the solution to the problem.
4) Review the solution.
 Examine the solution you have obtained.
 Check if your answer satisfies the problem.
 If possible, derive again the solution, but this time, use another method.
 If you will get the same, result then that means the solution that you got is correct.

Polya’s four steps are deceptively simple. To become a good problem solver, it helps to examine each of these steps and
determine what is involved.

EXAMPLE 1: Apply Polya’s Strategy

Consider the map shown in figure below. Allison wishes to walk along the streets from point A to point B. How
many direct routes can Allison take?

First Avenue
Cit A
y
Boulevard
Gateway

Godiva Borders
Board Walk

M Second Avenue
River Walk

Crest Boulevard
ap
Park Avenue

Subway

Starbucks Third Avenue

Fourth Avenue B

EXAMPLE 2: Apply Polya’s Strategy

In a basketball league consisting of 4 teams, each team plays each of the other teams exactly three times. How many
league games will be played?

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EXAMPLE 4: Apply Polya’s Strategy

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Determine the digit 100 places to the right of the decimal point in the decimal representation .
27

EXAMPLE 6: Apply Polya’s Strategy

Pedro is three years older than Maria. The sum of their ages in 5 years is 55, how old is Pedro and Maria now?

EXAMPLE 7: Solve a Deceptive Problem

A hat and a jacket together cost $100. The jacket costs $90 more than the hat. What are the cost of the hat and the cost
of the jacket?

Exercises Set:
A. Use inductive reasoning to predict the next number in each list.
1. 2,4,6,8,10,12, ?
2. 0,3,8,15,24,35,?
3. 1,8,27,64,125,?
4. ½,2/3,3/4,4/5,5/6,6/7,?
5. 2,5,10,17,26,?

B. Use the given nth term formula to compute the first four terms of the sequence.
−n
1. a n=2
2
n −1
2. a n=
n
2
3. b n=(−1 ) (n −n+7)

C. Use inductive reasoning to predict the next letter in the following list,
O,T,T,F,F,S,S,E

D. A Cryptarithm. The following Puzzle is a famous Cryptarithm.

SEND
+
MORE
MONEY

Each letter in the Cryptarithm represents one of the digits 0 through 9. The leading digits, represented by S and
M are not zero. Determine which digit is represented by each of the letters so that the addition is correct. Note: A letter
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that is used more than once, such as M, represents the same digit in each position in which it appears (Aufmann, et al.,
2015).