PROBLEM SOLVING

STRATEGIES
CHAPTER 3| PROBLEM SOLVING
Polya’s Problem-solving strategy
• History:
• Ancient Mathematicians such as Euclid and Pappus were
interested in solving mathematical problems and heuristics.
• Heuristics – the study of the methods and rules of discovery and
inventions.
• René Descartes (1596-1650) – he tried to develop a universal
problem-solving method, but he did not achieve his goal. He
did publish some of the ideas in Rules for Direction of Mind
and his better-known work Discourse de la Methode.
• George Polya (1887-1985) – the most recent mathematician to
make a study of problem solving. The basic problem solving
strategy that Polya advocated consisted of the following four
steps.
 Polya’s Four-Step Problem
Solving Strategy
1. Understanding the problem.
2. Devise a plan.
3. Carry out the plan.
4. Review the solution.
 Polya’s Four-Step Problem
Solving Strategy
1. Understanding the problem.
In understanding the problem, consider the following questions:
• Can you restate the problem in your own words?
• Can you determine what is known about these types of
problems?
• Is there missing information that, if known, would allow you to
solve the problem?
• Is there extraneous information that is not needed to solve
the problem?
• What is the goal?
 Polya’s Four-Step Problem
Solving Strategy
2. Devise a Plan.
Use variety of techniques when solving a problem.
Here are some frequently use procedures.
• Make a list of all know information.
• Make a list of information that is needed.
• Draw a diagram.
• Make an organized list that shows all possibilities.
• Make a table of chart.
• Work backwards.
• Try to solve a similar but simpler problem.
• Look for a pattern.
• Write equation. If necessary, define what each variable represents.
• Perform an experiment.
• Guess at a solution and then check your result.
 Polya’s Four-Step Problem
Solving Strategy
3. Carry Out the Plan.
• Work carefully.
• Keep an accurate and neat record of all your attempts.
• Realize that some of your initial plans will not work and that
you may have to devise another plan or modify your existing
plan.
 Polya’s Four-Step Problem
Solving Strategy
4. Review the Solution.
Check the solution.
• Ensure that the solution is consistent with the facts of the
problem.
• Interpret the solution in the context of the problem.
• Ask yourself whether there are generalizations of solution that
could apply to other problems.
 Example 1 Apply Polya’s
Strategy ( Make a table and look for patterns)

• A baseball team won two out of their last four games. In how
many different orders could they have two losses in four
games?
Solution:

Understand the Problem. There are many different orders. The team
may have won two straight games and lost the last two (WWLL). Or
maybe they lost the first two games and won the last two (LLWW). Of
course there are other possibilities, such as WLWL.

Devise a Plan. We will make an organized list of all the possible orders.
An organized list is a list that is produced using a system that each of
the difference orders will be listed once and only once.
 Example 1 Apply Polya’s
Strategy
• A baseball team won two out of their last four games. In how
many different orders could they have two losses in four
games?
Solution:
Carry out the Plan. Each entry in our list must contain two Ws and two
Ls. We will use a strategy that makes sure each order is considered,
with no duplications. One such strategy is to always write W unless
doing so will produce to may Ws or a duplicate of one of the previous
orders. If it is possible to write a W, then and only then do we write an
L. This strategy produces the six different orders:
1. WWLL
2. WLWL
3. WLLW
4. LWWL
5. LWLW
6. LLWW
 Example 1 Apply Polya’s
Strategy
• A baseball team won two out of their last four games. In how
many different orders could they have two losses in four
games?
Solution:

Review the Solution. We have made an organized list. The list has no
duplicates and the list considers all possibilities, so we are confident
that the are six different orders in which a baseball team can win
exactly two out of four games.
 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Solve similar but simpler problem)

• In a basketball league consisting of 10 teams, each team plays

each of the other teams exactly 3 times. How many league
games will be played?
Solution:
Devise a Plan. Try the strategy of working a similar but simpler
problem. Consider a league with only four teams (devote by A,
B, C, And D) in which each team plays each of the other teams
only once. The diagram illustrates that the games can be
represented by line segments that connect the points A, B, C,
and D.
A B
The possible pairings of a league
with only four teams

C D
 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Solve similar but simpler problem)

• In a basketball league consisting of 10 teams, each team plays

each of the other teams exactly 3 times. How many league
games will be played?
Solution:

Since each of the four teams will play a game against each of the other
three, we might conclude that this would result in 4 x 3 = 12 games.
However, the diagram shows only six line segments. It appears that our
procedure has counted each game twice. For instance, when team A
plays team B, team B also plays team A. To produce the correct result,
we must divide our previous result, 12, by 2. Hence, four teams can play
each other once in (4x3)/2 = 6 games.
 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Solve similar but simpler problem)

• In a basketball league consisting of 10 teams, each team plays

each of the other teams exactly 3 times. How many league
games will be played?
Solution:

Carry Out the Plan. Using the process developed above, we see that 10
teams can play each other once in a total of (10x9)/2 = 45 games. Since
each team plays each opponent exactly three times, the total number
of games is 45 x 3 = 135.
 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Solve similar but simpler problem)

• In a basketball league consisting of 10 teams, each team plays

each of the other teams exactly 3 times. How many league
games will be played?
Solution:

Review of the Solution. We could check our work by making a diagram

that includes all 10 teams represented by the labeled A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, I, and J.
AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, AH, AI, AJ
BC, BD, BE, BF, BG, BH, BI, BJ
CD, CE, CF, CG, CH, CI, CJ
DE, DF, DG, DH, DI, DJ
EF, EG, EH, EI EJ
FG, FH, FI, FJ
GH, GI, GJ
HI, HJ
IJ
 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Make a table and look for pattern)

• Determine the digit 100 places to the right of the decimal

representation 7/27.
Solution:

Understanding the Problem. Express the fraction 7/27 as a decimal and

look for a pattern that will enable us to determine the digit 100 places
to the right of the decimal point.

Faction to Decimal

7/27 = 0.259 … ?100th

 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Make a table and look for pattern)

• Determine the digit 100 places to the right of the decimal

representation 7/27.
Solution:

Devise a Plan. Dividing 7 with 27 by long division or by using a

calculator produces the decimal 0.259259259… . Since the decimal
representation repeats the digits 259 over and over forever, we know
that the digit located 100 places to the right of the decimal point is
either a 2, a 5, or a 9. A table may help us to see a pattern and enable
us to determine which one of these digits is in the 100th place.

Faction to Decimal

7/27 = 0.259 … ?100th

 Example 2 Apply Polya’s
Strategy (Make a table and look for pattern)

• Determine the digit 100 places to the right of the decimal

representation 7/27.
Solution:
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

Locaion Digit Locaion Digit Locaion Digit

1st 2 2nd 5 3rd 9

4th 2 5th 5 6th 9

7th 2 8th 5 9th 9

10th 2 11th 5 12th 9

13th 2 14th 5 15th 9

… … …

Carry out the Plan. Only in column 3 is each of the decimal digit
locations evenly divisible by 3. This pattern we can tell that the 99th
decimal digit must be 9. Since 2 follows a 9 in the pattern, the 100th
decimal digit must be a 2.
 Reference
• Mathematics in the Modern World
• Philippine Edition
• Chapter 3