THE FOUR- STEP PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

DEVISING A PLAN

LOOKING BACK

( GEORGE POLYA )

CARRING OUT THE PLAN

As part of his work on problem solving, Polya developed a four-step problem-solving process similar to the following:

Understanding the Problem 1. Can you state the problem in your own words? 2. What are you trying to find or do? 3. What are the unknowns? 4. What information do you obtain from the problem? 5. What information, if any, is missing or not needed?

Devising a Plan The following list of strategies, although not exhaustive, is very useful: 1. Look for a pattern. 2. Examine related problems and determine if the same technique can be applied. 3. Examine a simpler or special case of the problem to gain insight into the solution of the original problem. 4. Make a table. 5. Make a diagram. 6. Write an equation. 7. Use a guess and check. 8. Work backward. 9. Identify a subgoal.

Carrying out the Plan 1. Implement the strategy in Step 2 and perform any necessary actions or computations. 2. Check each step of the plan as you proceed. This may be intuitive checking or a formal proof of each step. 3. Keep an accurate record of your work.

Looking Back 1. Check the results in the original problem. In some cases, this will require a proof. 2. Interpret the solution in terms of the original problem. Does your answer make sense? Is it reasonable? 3. Determine whether there is another method of finding the solution. 4. If possible, determine other related or more general problems for which the techniques will work. These and other general mathematics problem-solving strategies, or rules of thumb for successful problem solving, are called heuristics.

EXAMPLE OF STRATEGIES

GUESS AND CHECK Guessing often produces the wrong answer. But the strategy called "Guess and Check" often produces the right answer. It should probably be called "Guess and Check and Guess Again," because the process of checking the accuracy of each guess and then making another, more informed guess is an essential part of the strategy. For example, here is a problem: Busra went to her grandfather's farm. Her grandfather has chickens and goats on his farm. She asked him how many chickens and how many goats. Because her grandfather likes mathematical puzzles, he told her that his animals had 26 heads and 68 legs and from that information she could calculate the number of chickens and the number of goats. If you were Busra, how would you solve the problem?

To use the Guess and Check strategy, you think about the problem and start by making a guess. You expect your first guess to be wrong, but it will give you some information to help you make a better guess next time. You could start by guessing 13 chickens and 13 goats. It's a good idea to keep a record of your guesses, like this:

Guess

Chickens

Goats

Number of heads

Number of legs

13

13

26

78

You see that the number of legs you guessed is too high, because Busra's grandfather said that there are 68 legs. So you guess again-you have to add more chickens and subtract some goats.

Guess

Chickens

Goats

Number of heads

Number of legs

1 2

13 20

13 6

26 26

78 64

Now you have 64 legs and you need four more. But you can't add any more heads, since 26 is the correct number of heads. So you take away two chickens (two heads and four legs) and add two goats (two heads and eight legs).

Guess

Chickens

Goats

Number of heads

Number of legs

1 2 3

13 20 18

13 6 8

26 26 26

78 64 68

Now you have the correct answer: 18 chickens and 8 goats.

MAKE A TABLE EXAMPLE: You save $3 on Monday. Each day after that you save twice as much as you saved the day before. If this pattern continues, how much would you save on Friday? SOLUTION: 1) UNDERSTAND: You need to know that you save $3 on Monday. Then you need to know that you always save twice as much as you find the day before. 2) PLAN: How can you solve the problem? You can make a table like the one below. List the amount of money you save each day. Remember to double the number each day.

Day

Amount of Money Saved

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

$3 $6 $12 $24 $48

So,on Friday you could save $48.

DRAW A PICTURE 'Drawing' mean an attemption to reproduce on paper about something that related in problem solving . EXAMPLE: Laura has 3 green chips, 4 blue chips and 1 red chip in her bag. What fractional part of the bag of chips is green? SOLUTION:

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to find how many chips are in all. Then you need to find how many of the chips are green.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can draw a picture to show the information. Then you can use the picture to find the answer.

3) SOLVE:

Draw 8 chips.

3/8 of the chips are green. MAKE A LIST Actually, by making a list we could see what the questions want more clear than usually. EXAMPLE: Judy is taking pictures of Jim, Karen and Mike. She asks them, " How many different ways could you three children stand in a line?" SOLUTION: Strategy: 1) UNDERSTAND: What do you need to know? You need to know that any of the students can be first, second or third.

2) PLAN: How can you solve the problem? You can make a list to help you find all the different ways. Choose one student to be first, and another to be second. The last one will be third. 3) SOLVE: When you make your list, you will notice that there are 2 ways for Jim to be first, 2 ways for Karen to be first and 2 ways for Mike to be first. First Jim Jim Karen Karen Mike Mike Second Karen Mike Jim Mike Karen Jim Third Mike Karen Mike Jim Jim Karen

So, there are 6 ways that the children could stand in line.

MAKE A PATTERN Pattern helped us in calculating any math problem solving. This is such a basic solution in mathematics. EXAMPLE: Carol has written a number pattern that begins with 1, 3, 6, 10, 15. If she continues this pattern, what are the next four numbers in her pattern? SOLUTION:

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to find 4 numbers after 15.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can find a pattern. Look at the numbers. The new number depends upon the number before it.

3) SOLVE:

Look at the numbers in the pattern.

3 = 1 + 2 (starting number is 1, add 2 to make 3)

6 = 3 + 3 (starting number is 3, add 3 to make 6)

10 = 6 + 4 (starting number is 6, add 4 to make 10)

15 = 10 + 5 (starting number is 10, add 5 to make 15)

New numbers will be

15 + 6 = 21

21 + 7 = 28

28 + 8 = 36

36 + 9 = 45

DRAW A DIAGRAM The drawing consists of two or more circles, each representing a specific group. This process of visualizing logical relationships was devised by John Venn (1834-1923).

EXAMPLE: Twenty-four dogs are in a kennel. Twelve of the dogs are black, six of the dogs have short tails, and fifteen of the dogs have long hair. There is only one dog that is black with a short tail and long hair. Two of the dogs are black with short tails and do not have long hair. Two of the dogs have short tails and long hair but are not black. If all of the dogs in the kennel have at least one of the mentioned characteristics, how many dogs are black with long hair but do not have short tails? SOLUTION: Draw a Venn diagram to represent the situation described in the problem. Represent the number of dogs that you are looking for with x.

MAKE A VARIABLE Make a variables is used in solving complex questions like EXAMPLE: The Domain of a Function with Two Variables So far we have only looked at functions that take a single variable as input. Some functions on the Math IIC test take two variables, for example:

A two-variable function is really no different from the basic single-variable variety youve already seen. Essentially, the domain of this function is a set of ordered pairs of real numbers (s, t), rather than a set of single real numbers. Evaluating such a function follows the same process as the evaluation of a single-variable function. Just substitute for the variables in the equation and do the algebra. Try to find f(8, 14), using the definition of f(s, t) above.

SOLUTION:

ELIMINATE POSSIBILITIES EXAMPLE: You need 17 lbs. of fertilizer.What do you buy to obtain at least that amount at the lowest cost? To obtain the smallest amount equal or slightly exceeding 17 lbs. of fertilizer using 3-lb and 5-lb quantities we can list this possibilities:four 5-lb bags, three 5-lb bags and one 3-lb bag; two 5-lb bags , three 3-lb bags , one 5-lb bags and four 3-lb bags; or six 3-lb bags. SOLUTION:

5-lb bags 4 3 2 1

cost@$3.25 3-lb bags $13.00 $9.75 1 $6.50 3 $3.25 4 6

cost@$2.29 Total amount 20 lb. $2.29 18 lb. $6.87 19 lb. $9.16 17 lb. $13.74 18 lb.

Total cost $13.00 $12.04 $13.37 $12.41 $13.74

CERTIFICATION

We confess all this project is our own product except the summary and some information that I had explain each

Signature

Group member : Hasnun Amar B. Hassan.

Signature

: .............................................................

Group member: Mira Ashila Bt.Asmuni.

Signature

Group member: Nur Syamimi Binti. Kamarudin : 30

Tarikh

of March 2009

COLLABORATIONS FORM

NAME

: HASNUN AMAR B. HASSAN. MIRA ASHILA BT. ASMUNI. NUR SYAMIMI BINTI. KAMARUDIN.

GROUP SUBJECT LECTURER

: PPISMP - PJ / BI / BM : BASIC MATHEMATIC

SEMESTER

: 2

: EN. ABDUL GHAFFAR BIN JAFFAR

NO 1.

DATE 03/03/09

ACTIVITIES En. Abdul Ghaffar gave the assignment to the students.

NOTE

SIGNATURE

2.

7/03/09

Understanding what the questions want.

Make a discussion with the teamwork. Gave a work that need each of the teamwork should do.

3.

8/03/09

Analysis the what suppose to do to get a better marks from lecture.

4.

10/03/09

Searching the internet to get more information about non- routine problem.

Go to goggle web site.

5.

19/03/09

Find another material from books.

Mathematics form 5.-reference book.

6.

28/03/09

Compile all the materials together.

Rearrange them.

7.

29/03/09

Check the fully assignment .

Clear.

8.

30/03/09

Submit