PROBLEM SOLVING

IN MATHEMATICS
 WHAT IS A PROBLEM?
• It is a question that motivates
a person to search for a
solution.
1. It implies that one wants
or needs to solve the
problem.
2. One has to search for a
way to find a solution.
What is problem
solving?
 PROBLEM SOLVING

It is finding solutions and not

just answers to problems.

SOLUTION = METHOD + ANSWER

 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
George Polya not immediately attainable
by direct means.
1887-1985
 WHY TEACH AND STUDY
PS?

1. Decision making
2. Benefits
1. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

⮚understand the problem

⮚ determine the unknown
⮚ determine the given
⮚ identify the conditions
2. DEVISING A PLAN
⮚ find the connection between the
data and the unknown
⮚ choose an appropriate strategy
that can be used to solve the
problem
⮚ STRATEGIES:
1. making a table
2. making an
illustration/drawing
2. DEVISING A PLAN
4. writing an equation/ using a
variable
5. Solving a simpler problem
6. Pigeonhole principle
7. Making a model
8. Breaking up the question
9. Giving a counter example
10. Trial and error / guess and
check
2. DEVISING A PLAN
11.Work backwards
12.Look for a pattern
13.Examine a simpler or a
special case of the
problem to gain insight
into the solution of the
original problem
14. Examine related problems
and determine if the same
technique applied to them
can be applied to the current
problem.
15. Use direct and indirect
reasoning.
3. CARRYING OUT THE
PLAN
⮚ solve the problem by
applying your plan or the
strategy that you have
chosen.
⮚ NOTE: you may need to
use at least one strategy
in finding the solution to
the problem.
4. LOOKING BACK
⮚ 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.
EXERCISES:
1. Because of the high cost of living, Rica, Ayesha,
and Fiel each hold down two jobs, but no two
have the same occupation. The occupations are
doctor, engineer, teacher, lawyer, writer and
painter. Given the following information,
determine the occupations of each individual.
⦿The doctor had lunch with the teacher.
⦿The teacher went fishing with Rica, who is not
a writer.
⦿The painter is related to the engineer.
⦿The doctor hired the painter to do a job.
⦿Tina lives next door to the writer.
⦿Fiel beat Ayesha and the painter at tennis.
⦿Fiel is not the doctor.
EXERCISES:
2. A fruit grower packs apples in boxes. Each
box contains at least 240 apples and at most
250 apples. How many boxes must be
selected to be certain that at least three
boxes contains the same number of apples?

3. You are at the side of a river. You have a

three-liter pitcher and a seven-liter pitcher.
The pitchers do not have markings to allow
measuring smaller quantities. You need two
liters of water. How can you measure two
liters?
EXERCISES:
4. Within each of the puzzles, every different
letter corresponds to a different digit. The
left most digits cannot be zero. Given that
each of the addition problem is correct, figure
out the numbers equivalent to each of the
given words.
a. SKIRT + TSHIRT = CLOTHES
b. SNAKE + SNAKE = RATTLE
C. EASTER + EGGS = SPRING
EXERCISES:
5. Joy lives in a street with house-numbers 8 up
to 100. Wally wants to know at which number
Joy lives. He asks her: "Is your number larger
than 50?“ Joy answers, but lies. Upon this, Wally
asks: "Is your number a multiple of 4?“ Joy
answers, but lies again. Then Wally asks: "Is your
number a square?“ Joy answers truthfully. Upon
this, Wally says: "I know your number if you tell
me whether the first digit is a 3.“ Joy answers,
but now we do not know whether she lies or
speaks the truth. Thereupon, Wally says at which
number he thinks Joy lives, but (of course) he is
wrong. What is Joy’s real house-number?
EXERCISES:
6. Every person at a party of twenty-eight
people said hi to each of the other people at
the party exactly once. How many "hi's" were
said at the party?

7. A well is 20 ft deep. A snail at the bottom

climbs up 4 ft each day and slips 2 ft each
night. How many days will it take the snail to
reach the top of the well?
EXERCISES:
8. Keziah and Fiona started a new job on
the same day. After they start work,
Keziah is to visit the home office every 15
days and Fiona is to visit the office every 18
days. How many days will it be before they
both visit the office the same?

9. How many chords are determined by

joining 2 dots on a circle if there are 100
dots? n dots?
EXERCISES:
10. A pup is worth a pooch and a
mutt, a pup and a pooch are worth
one bird dog, and two bird dogs are
worth three mutts. So , how many
pooches is a pup worth?
 The end! ☺
Thank you!

Prepared by:
Dr. Joel M. Jimera