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Section 1-3: Strategies For Problem Solving

A man put a pair of rabbits in a cage. During the first month the rabbits produced no offspring but each month thereafter produced one new pair. How many pairs of rabbits will there be at the end of five months? the first month, each pair produces no new rabbits. Each month thereafter each pair produces a new pair, except the new pair from the previous month.

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Patel Hiren
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Section 1-3: Strategies For Problem Solving

A man put a pair of rabbits in a cage. During the first month the rabbits produced no offspring but each month thereafter produced one new pair. How many pairs of rabbits will there be at the end of five months? the first month, each pair produces no new rabbits. Each month thereafter each pair produces a new pair, except the new pair from the previous month.

Uploaded by

Patel Hiren
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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5/11/2012

Chapter 1

Section 1-3
Strategies for Problem Solving

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Strategies for Problem Solving


A General Problem-Solving Method Using a Table or Chart Working Backward Using Trial and Error Guessing and Checking Considering a Similar Simpler Problem Drawing a Sketch Using Common Sense/Thinking about it
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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

5/11/2012

A General Problem-Solving Method


Polyas Four-Step Method
Step 1 Understand the problem. Read and analyze carefully. What are you to find? Step 2 Devise a plan. Systematically write out what you know. Step 3 Carry out the plan. Be persistent. Step 4 Look back and check. Make sure that your answer is reasonable and that youve answered the question.

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Example: Using a Table or Chart


A man put a pair of rabbits in a cage. During the first month the rabbits produced no offspring but each month thereafter produced one new pair of rabbits. If each new pair produced reproduces in the same manner (not in 1st month, 1 pair each month thereafter), how many pairs of rabbits will there be at the end of the 5th month?
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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

5/11/2012

Example: Solution
Step 1 Understand the problem. How many pairs of rabbits will there be at the end of five months? The first month, each pair produces no new rabbits, but each month thereafter each pair produces a new pair (except the new pair from the previous month). Step 2 Devise a plan. Construct a table to help with the pattern. (Write what you know.) Month Number of Number Number of Pairs at Start Produced Pairs at the End
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Example (solution continued)


Step 3 Carry out the plan. Month Number of Pairs at Start 1st 1 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 1 2 3 5 Pairs Produced 0 1 1 2 3 Number of Pairs at the End 1 2 3 5 8
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Only the old pair 2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved produces

5/11/2012

Example (solution continued)


Solution: There will be 8 pairs of rabbits.
Step 4 Look back and check. This can be checked by going back and making sure that it has been interpreted correctly. Double-check the arithmetic.

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Working Backward


Start with an unknown number. Triple it and then subtract 5. Now, take the new number and double it but then subtract 47. If you take this latest total and quadruple it you have 60. What was the original unknown number?

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5/11/2012

Example: Solution
Step 1 Understand the problem. We are looking for a number that goes through a series of changes to turn into 60. Step 2 Devise a plan. Work backwards to undo the changes. (End with 60, which was quadrupled). Step 3 Carry out the plan. The final amount was 60. Divide by 4 to undo quadruple = 15. Add 47 to get 62, then divide by 2 = 31. Add 5 to get 36 and divide by 3 = 12.
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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Solution
Solution
The original unknown number was 12.
Step 4 Look back and check. We can take 12 and run through the computations to get 60.

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

5/11/2012

Example: Using Trial and Error


The mathematician Augustus De Morgan lived his entire life in the nineteenth century. He made the following statement: I was x years old in the year x 2. In what year was he born?

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Solution
He lived in the nineteenth century, which means during the 1800s. Find a perfect square that is between 1800 and 1900. 42 2 = 1764 43 2 = 1849 44 2 = 1936 43 is the only natural number that works. De Morgan was 43 in 1849. Subtract 43 from 1849 to get that he was born in 1806.
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5/11/2012

Example: Guessing and Checking


Find a positive natural number that satisfies the equation below.

x2 4 x = x 8

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Example: Solution
Try this by guess and check: 42 If x = 4 : 4 4 = 4 8
92 If x = 9 : 4 9 =9 8 162 If x = 16 : 4 16 = 16 8
16 4(2) 4 8 81 4(3) 9 8 256 4(4) = 16 8

Solution x = 16 satisfies the equation.


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5/11/2012

Example: Considering a Simpler Problem


What is the ones (or units) digit in 3200?

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Solution
Step 1 Understand the problem. We are looking for the last digit if 3200 is multiplied out. Step 2 Devise a plan. Know: working with a series of multiplications by 3. Look for a pattern with multiplication by 3s. (What reasoning?) Step 3 Carry out the plan. 31 = 3, 32 = 9, 33 = 27, 34 = 81 35 = 243, 36 = 729, 37 = 2187, 38 = 6561, Notice that if the power is divisible by 4 then the units digit is a 1.
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5/11/2012

Example: Solution
Solution
The units digit in 3200 is 1 because the power, 200, is divisible by 4.
Step 4 Look back and check. We can try a few more powers of 3 to make sure that the pattern continues and also check the multiplication. We can also think about why this happens: 34 = 81. What is 81 raised to any exponent?
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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Drawing a Sketch


An array of nine dots is arranged in a 3 x 3 square as shown below. Join the dots with exactly four straight lines segments. You are not allowed to pick up your pencil from the paper and may not trace over a segment that has already been drawn.

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5/11/2012

Example: Solution
Through trial and error with different attempts such as

We find an answer is

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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

Example: Using Common Sense


Two currently minted Canadian coins together have a total value of $1.05. One is not a loonie. What are the two coins?

Solution
This involves a catch. The two coins are a loonie and a nickel. Note that one of the coins is not a loonie, it is a nickel. Its a matter of applying the precision of language properly.
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2008 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved

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