Problem Solving

GEC 14
Mathematics in the Modern World

Department of Mathematics
College of Science
Bicol University

Polya’s Problem Solving Strategy

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Let’s Try This!

Three people check into a hotel. The clerk tells them that the bill for their stay is
−
P3000, so each person pays the clerk −
P1000. The clerk puts the money in the
cash register.
Later that night, the clerk realizes that he made a mistake and should have only
charged the three guests − P2500. He pulls − P500 in one hundred peso bills out of
the register and tells the bell boy to return the money to the guests.
On the way to the room, the bell boy realizes that he cannot split the money
evenly among the three people. As the guests don’t know that they were charged
the incorrect amount for their room, the bell boy decides to simply give them
−
P100 each and pocket the extra − P200 as a tip. Each guest gets −
P100 back, so
they each paid P900 for their room, totaling −
− P2700. The bell boy kept −P200, and
−
P2700 + − P200 = −P2900.
But the guests originally handed over −
P3000. What happened to the missing
−
P100?

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Steps in Problem Solving

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1. Understanding the Problem
• What is the unknown? What are the data? What is the condition?
• Is it possible to satisfy the condition? Is the condition sufficient to
determine the unknown? Or is it insufficient? Or redundant? Or
contradictory?
• Draw a figure. Introduce suitable notation.
• Separate the various parts of the condition. Can you write them down?

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2. Devising a Plan
• Find the connection between the data and the unknown. You may be
obligated to consider auxiliary problems if an immediate connection
cannot be found. You should obtain eventually a plan of the solution.
• Have you seen it before? Or have you seen the same problem in a
slightly different form?
• Do you know a related problem? Do you know a theorem that could
be useful?
• Look at the unknown! Try to think of a familiar problem having the
same or a similar unknown.
• Here is a problem related to yours and solved before. Could you use
it? Could you use its result? Could you use its method? Should you
introduce some auxiliary element in order to make its use possible?

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 • Could you restate the problem? Could you restate it still differently?
Go back to definitions.
• If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first some
related problem. Could you imagine a more accessible related
problem? Could you solve a part of the problem? Keep only a part of
the condition, drop the other part; how far is the unknown then
determined, how can it vary?
• Could you derive something useful from the data? Could you think of
other data appropriate to determine the unknown? Could you change
the unknown or data, or both if necessary, so that the new unknown
and the new data are nearer to each other?
• Did you use all the data? Did you use the whole condition? Have you
taken into account all essential notions involved in the problem?

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3. Carrying Out the Plan
• Carry out your plan of the solution, check each step. Can you see
clearly that the step is correct? Can you prove that it is correct?

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4. Looking Back or Reviewing the Solution
• Examine the solution obtained.
• Can you check the result? Can you check the argument?
• Can you derive the solution differently? Can you see it at a glance?
• Can you use the result, or the method, for some other problem?

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Strategies in Problem Solving

X Make a Table or an Organized List

X Draw a Diagram, Picture or a Model
X Guess and Check
X Logical Reasoning and Elimination
X Act out
X Find a Pattern
• Work Backward
• Simplify the Problem

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Example 1

A baseball team won two out of their last four games. In how many
different orders could they have two wins and 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
ensures that each of the different orders will be listed once and only
once.
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Example 1

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 a W unless doing so
will produce too many Ws or a duplicate of one of the previous orders. If it
is not possible to write a W, then and only then we write an L. This
strategy produces the six different orders shown below.
1. WWLL (Start with two wins)
2. WLWL (Start with one win)
3. WLLW
4. LWWL (Start with one loss)
5. LWLW
6. LLWW (Start with two losses)

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Example 1

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 there are six different orders in which a baseball team
can win exactly two out of four games.

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Example 2
The product of the ages, in years, of three teenagers is 4590. None of
the teens are the same age. What are the ages of the teenagers?
Solution:
Understand the Problem We need to determine three distinct
counting numbers, from the list 13, 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19,
that have a product of 4590.
Devise a plan Notice that 4590 ends in a zero. Hence, 4590 has a
factor of 2 and a factor of 5, which means that at least one of the
numbers we seek must be an even number and at least one number
must have 5 as a factor. The only number in our list that has 5 as a
factor is 15. Thus, 15 is one of the numbers, and at least one of the
other numbers must have an even number. At this point, we try to
solve by guessing and checking.
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Example 2

Carry Out the Plan

15 · 16 · 18 = 4320 No. This product is too small.

15 · 16 · 19 = 4560 No. This product is too small.
15 · 17 · 18 = 4590 Yes. This is the correct product.

The ages of the teenagers are 15, 17, and 18.

Review the Solution Because 15 · 17 · 18 = 4590 and each of the

ages represents the age of a teenager, we know our solution is correct.
None of the numbers 13, 14, 16, and 19 is a factor (divisor) of 4590,
so there are no other solutions.

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Example 3
Determine the digit 100 places to the right of the decimal point in the
7
decimal representation .
27
Solution:
7
Understand the Problem Express the fraction as a decimal and
27
look for a pattern that will enable us to determine the digit 100 places
to right of the decimal point.

Devise a plan Dividing 27 into 7 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.
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Example 3

Since the decimal digits repeat every three digits, we use a table with
three columns.

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

Location Digit Location Digit Location 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

And so on...

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Example 3

Carry Out the Plan Only in column 3 is each of the decimal digit
locations evenly divisible by 3. From this pattern we can tell that the 99th
decimal digit (because 99 is evenly divisible by 3) must be a 9. Since a 2
always follows a 9 in the pattern, the 100th decimal digit must be a 2.

Review the Solution The above table illustrates additional patterns. For
instance, if each of the location numbers in column 1 is divided by 3, a
remainder of 1 is produced. If each of the location numbers in column 2 is
divided by 3, a remainder of 2 is produced. Thus, we ca find the decimal
digit in any location by dividing the location number by 3 and examining
the remainder. For instance, to find the digit in the 3200th decimal place
7
27 , merely divide 3200 by 3 and examine the remainder, which is 2. Thus,
the digit 3200 places to right of the decimal point is a 5.

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Exercises

Use Polya’s four-step problem solving strategy and problem solving

procedures to solve each of the following problems.

1) There are 364 first year students in the Institute of Mathematics.

If there are 26 more females than males, how many females are
there?
2) What is the 44th decimal digit in the decimal representation of
1 1
? Note that = 0.09090909...
11 11
3) In how many ways can you answer a 5-question true-false test if
you can answer each question with either ”true” or ”false” ?

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Exercises

4) A room measures 12 feet by 15 feet. How many 3-foot by 3-foot

squares of carpet are needed to cover the floor of this room?

5) A palindromic number is a whole number that remains

unchanged when its digits are written in reverse order.
Find all palindromic numbers that have exactly
a. three digits and are the square of a natural number.
b. four digits and are the cube of a natural number.

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 Thank you!!! :)

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