Polya’s Four Steps in Problem Solving

George Polya
• He is one of the foremost recent mathematicians to make a study of problem solving. He was
born in Hungary and moved to the United States in 1940. He is also known as “The Father of
Problem Solving”.

The George Polya’s Problem-Solving Method

Step 1. Understand the Problem
a. Are all words in a problem really understand and clear by the reader?
b. Do the reader really know what is being asked in a problem on how to find the exact answer?
c. Can a reader rephrase the problem by their own without deviating to its meaning?
d. If necessary, do the reader can really visualize the real picture of the problem by drawing the
diagram?
e. Are the information in the problem complete or is there any missing information in a problem
that could impossible to solve the problem?

Step 2. Devise a Plan

a. As much as possible, list down or identify all important information in the problem.
b. Sometimes, to be able to solve problem easily, you need to draw figures or diagram and
tables or charts.
c. Organized all information that are very essential to solve a problem.
d. You could work backwards so that you could get the main idea of the problem.
e. Look for a pattern and try to solve a similar but simpler problem.
f. Create a working equation that determines the given (constant) and variable.
g. You could use the experiment method and sometimes guessing is okay.

Step 3. Carry out the plan

a. Carefully and accurately working on the problem.
b. There must be a clear and essential information or data in the problem.
c. If the first plan did not materialize, make another plan. Do not afraid to make mistakes if the
first plan that you do would not materialize. There is a saying that “There is a second chance.”

Step 4. Look back or Review the Solution

a. Make it sure that your solution is very accurate and it jibed all important details of the
problem.
b. Interpret the solution in the context of the problem.
c. Try to ask yourself that the solutions you’ve made could also be used in other problems.

Strategies will help you to solve the problem easily. These are
the following strategies that you could be used:
1. Draw a picture, diagram, table or charts. Label these with correct information or data that you
could see in the problems. Sometimes, there are hidden information that is very much important
also to solve the problem. So, be cautious
2. Identify the known and unknown quantities. Choose appropriate variable in identifying
unknown quantities. For example, the unknown quantity is height. You could use “h” as your
variable.
 Polya’s Four Steps in Problem Solving
3. You have to be systematic.
4. Just like on what we have in devising a plan, look for a pattern and try to solve a similar but
simpler problem.
5. Sometimes, guessing is okay. There is no problem in guessing and it is not a bad idea to be
able to begin in solving a problem. In guessing, you could examine how closed is your guess
based on the given problem.

Example:
1. The sum of three consecutive positive integers is 165. What are these three numbers?
Step 1. Understand the problem
Step 2. Devise a plan
• Let x be the first number.
• x+1 be the second number
• x+2 be the third number
(x) + (x + 1) + (x + 2) = 165
Step 3. Carry out the plan
x + x + 1 + x + 2 = 165 x =54
3x + 3 = 165 x+1 = 55
3x = 165 – 3 x+2 =56
3x = 162
x = 54
x + x + 1 + x + 2 = 165
3x + 3 = 165
3x = 165 – 3
3x = 162
x = 54
Step 4. Look back and review the solution
54 + 55 + 56 =156