PROBLEM SOLVING AND REASONING

A problem is a situation that confronts the

learner, that requires resolution, and for which
the path to the answer is not immediately
known.
Mathematical Problem Defined
A problem is a task for which:
 The person confronting it wants or
needs to find a solution.
 The person has no readily available
procedure for finding the solution.
 The person must make an attempt to
find a solution.
Problem solving is the process by which this new
situation is analysed and resolved. It begins with
an understanding of all the aspects of the problem
and ends when a satisfactory answer has been
found.

Problem solving is not just an exercise carried out

in the classroom, but a skill that is used
continually in business and daily life.
Common Problem-Solving
Strategies/Heuristics

Heuristics are procedures or strategies that do

not guarantee a solution to a problem but
provide a more highly probable method for
discovering the solution to a problem.
1. Working Backwards. This strategy is used to
solve problems that include a number of linked
factors or events, where some of the
information has not been provided, usually at
the beginning of the problem.
1.1. Jack is 35 years younger than Karen. Frank is
half of Jack’s age. Jennifer is 17 years older
than Frank. If Jennifer is 35 years old, how old
is Karen?
1.2. In a spelling competition all the competitors were on
stage together. After three minutes, a fifth of the
students had made mistakes and were excluded from
the competition. In the next five minutes half of those
remaining were eliminated by extremely difficult
words. Two minutes later four students were found
cheating and were sent home. After fifteen minutes of
the competition half of the remaining students had
made mistakes and left the stage. In the last few
minutes one more competitor made an unfortunate
mistake and one contestant was left as the winner of
the spelling competition. How many children originally
entered the competition?
1.3. In the first quarter of the year, you used ¼ of
your leave for a vacation trip in SG. After the
third quarter, you used another ½ of your
remaining leave because of family emergency. In
a company which you work 8 hours a day, there’s
a policy states that the 10 or less unused leave/s
will be monetized. As far as possible you wanted
not to use the 10 leaves. While scanning your
DTR, you saw 60 hours left as your leave. What
is the total leave that the company has given? Did
you achieve your goal of not using 10 leaves?
1.4. One night, the King could not sleep. He went to the
royal kitchen, where he found a bowl full of mangoes.
Being hungry, he took 1/6 of the mangoes in the bowl.
Later the same night, the Queen could not sleep, and
she was hungry. She found the mangoes and took 1/5 of
what the King had left in the bowl. Still later, the
youngest Prince awoke, went to the kitchen, and ate ¼
of the remaining mangoes. Even later, the second Prince
ate 1/3 of what his younger brother had left. Finally the
third Prince, the heir to the throne, ate ½ of what his
younger brothers had left, and then there were only
three mangoes left in the bowl. How many mangoes
were in the bowl when the King found them?
2. Guess and Check. Often referred to as “trial
and error”, it is important to recognize that an
error really isn’t a mistake at all. It helps to
guide the problem solver to the next attempt at
the answer.
2.1. Nadia takes a ribbon that is 48 inches long and
cuts it in two pieces. One piece is three times as
long as the other. How long is each piece?
2.2. Maria went to her grandfather’s farm. Her
grandfather has chicken and goats on his farm.
She asked him how many chickens and how many
goats hid farm has. Her told that his animals has
26 heads and 68 legs and from that information
she could calculate the number of chickens and
the number of goats. If you were Maria, how
would you solve the problem?
2.3. There are three numbers.  The first number is
twice the second number.  The third number is
twice the first number.  Their sum is 112.  What
are the numbers?
Real-world examples of trial-and-error
Here are the most common applications of trial-and-error that we
may use throughout our lives:
• Dating multiple boyfriends/girlfriends before finding the right
one.
• Trying out many jobs before choosing a career path to pursue.
• Spending time in different neighborhoods before choosing a new
place to live.
• Experimenting with different hobbies before discovering a
passion of yours.
• Listening to different types of music to find what you enjoy most.
• Eating different foods to see what fits best in your diet.
• Approaching a personal problem from multiple angles.
• Taking part in different sports and physical activities to see which
you like best.
3. Make a diagram. Drawing a diagram is the most
common problem solving strategy. Very often, a problem
solver needs to draw a diagram just to understand the
meaning of the problem. The diagram represents the
problem in a way we can see it, understand it and think
about while looking for the next step.
Examples

3.1 Vessel 1 will depart at 8 pm from Baybay to

Cebu trip. The vessel has a speed of 7kms per
hour. Another vessel 2 will depart at the same
place from Baybay to Cebu but 3 hours after
the first vessel left. If the speed of the vessel 2
is 10kms per hour, at what time will vessel 2
lapse vessel 1?
3.2. In 15-member barkada, seven of them are
addict in kdrama, ten of them likes Mathematics
and eight of them are sporty. Of these people,
five likes Math and addicted to kdrama, three of
them are sporty at the same time brainy in
Math, and four is into sports and kdrama. Two
people do all like the three. How many
members does like Math, Kdrama and sports
alone?
3.3. A frog fell down an abandoned well which
was 21 meters deep. The frog found it difficult
to jump up the mud coated walls. It started its
long jump up the well at six a.m. It took it 15
minutes to jump 3 meters because the walls
were slippery. At the end of every 15 minute
period it rested for 5 minutes while it sadly
slipped down one meter. It continued on the
same rate. At what time did it finally reach the
top of the well?
4. Make a list. Making a list is a systematic method of organizing
information in rows and/or columns. By putting given
information in an organized list, you can clearly analyze this
information and then solve the problem by completing the list. It
should be emphasized that one should make a systematic list. By
making a systematic list, one will see every possible combination.
Example

4.1. Sarah is on vacation and brought 3 pairs of

pants (blue, black, and white) and 3 shirts
(pink, yellow and green). How many different
outfit combinations can she make?
 4.2. This coming intramurals, all 8
departments participated in women’s
volleyball game 2019. If the rule is having
single elimination only, how many games
does the audience will expect to see for
women’s volleyball game 2019?
4.3. Lindsay is using the digits 5, 9, 7, and 3
to make as many four – digit numbers as she
can. How many different ways can she
arrange the digits?
4.4 Marcus is wrapping a birthday present
for his mother. There are red, blue, silver,
and white wrapping papers and four types of
white bows. From how many different
combinations of paper and ribbon can
Marcus choose?
5. Look for a pattern. This strategy entails looking for
patterns in the data in order to solve the problem, that is, the
solver looks for items of numbers that are repeated, or a
series of events that repeat. This can be used to solve many
math problems and can be used in combination with many
other strategies, including make a table, make a list, or
simplify the problem.
Examples

5.1. Ben decides to prepare for a marathon by

running ten minutes a day, six days a week.
Each week, he increases his time running by
two minutes. How many minutes will he run in
week 8?
5.2. The first week of chess club had 3
students. The second week had five
students. The third week had eight and the
fourth had twelve. If this pattern continues,
how many students will show up for the
eighth week?
6. Divide and Conquer. If a problem can’t be solved right away,
divide it into parts, and solve one part at a time. A problem
which at first seems difficult becomes easier if you divide it
into parts and solve one part at a time.
Example:

6. 1. Power set, denoted by P(A), is a set of all

subset of A. If A={1,3,5,7}, what is P(A)?

6.2. The teacher divided the students into group

of 3. Each group of 3 wrote a report that had 9
pictures in it. The students used 585 pictures
altogether. How many students were there in
all?
6.3. Ann is Isabelita’s second daughter and
Isabelita is Florencia’s daughter. If Zhavanna is
Catherine’s daugther where Catherine’s mother
is Florencia, what the relationship between
Zhavanna and Alyanna who’s grandmother is
Ann?
7. Solve a Simpler Problem. Sometimes you can find the
answer to a problem by solving another problem that has
simpler numbers or fewer cases. To use this strategy, first use
a simpler or more familiar case of the problems. Then use the
same concepts and relationships to solve the original problem.
Example

1. Seven workers can make 210 pairs of cup in

six days. How many workers are required to
make 450 pairs of cup in 10 days?

2. Two workers can make two chairs in two

days. How many chairs can eight workers
working at the same rate make in 20 days?
3. It costs Php 56 for a half pound of sliced
roast beef. The person behind the counter
slices 0.53 pound. What should it cost?
8. Adopting a Different Point of View. Sometimes, a problem
can be solved in a more efficient and interesting manner if we
approach it from different point of view.
Example:

1. Suppose we cut out two opposites corners of a

chessboard. If one domino can cover exactly
two squares of a chessboard, can we cover the
chessboard with 31 dominoes?
2. Place the numbers from 1 to 9 into the grid
below so that the sum of each row, column
and diagonal is the same.
3. In a room with 10 people, everyone
shakes hands with everybody else exactly
once. How many handshakes are there?
9. Act it out. Act out the problem by trying to do what the people or
things in a problem do. This strategy works because you are
actually doing the problem.
Example:
1. Five students are sitting in a row of chairs
along one side of the room. Jennifer sits
besides Alison but not beside Peta. Steven sits
in the second seat on the left. Alison sits
between (but not necessarily next to) David
and Peta. Steven sits beside David. Who sits in
the middle seat?
2. Three missionaries and three cannibals wish to
cross a river. There is a boat that can carry up to
three people, either missionaries or cannibals
can operate the boat. However it is never
permissible for the cannibals to outnumber the
missionaries either in the boat or on the shore.
How are the cannibals and missionaries going
to get to other side?
3. You and other nine in the group were
captured by aliens. The aliens decide they
will not eat you if you can figure out this
riddle.
You are placed in a single file line in size order so
each of you can see in front of you. You can’t
look behind you or step out of line without being
eaten. Each of you will have a dirty white or
white hat appointed randomly. You aren’t given
the total amount of either color. When the alien
says begin you must guess the color of your hat
starting from the back to the front. If at least
nine of you guess it correctly, you all get to go
free.
Can you come up with a plan that will save
everyone?