GEC 05: Mathematics in the Modern World 1st Semester 2020-21

II. Problem Solving Strategies

1. Guess and test (Trial and error) – this is the most common method that students tend to
use when solving a given problem. This includes trying different possible answers to the
question and checking if it is correct and if not, then try another guess.

Example:
Place the digits 8, 9, 10, 12, & 13 in the circles so that the sum across and vertically equal to 31.

It is possible to systematically answer this

problem, but since we are dealing with just 5
numbers and addition is the only operation, it
will be faster and easier to just simply guess it.
Few trials will be enough to correctly answer
the problem. (Try it!)

2. Picture/Diagram/Experiment – this method is used by most people because it is much

easier to solve a problem if you can draw or picture it, or try it out yourselves, instead of
just imagining things.

Example:
Using only a 5L and an 11L can, how can you have exactly 7L of water?

This is one of the problems that were

presented in class during our group activities.
5L 11L And solving this easily would involve actually
experimenting on it, or drawing scenarios or
steps. (Try it!)

3. Working backwards – this is when we are given a problem wherein a final output is
given, and we are asked to find something at the beginning or somewhere at the middle.
Since the final output is provided, the best way is to start from there, then work
backwards, reversing all actions.

Example:
Mary is thinking of a number. If you double it, and subtract 7 you obtain 11. What is the
number?

Solution:
Since we are given the final answer which is 11, it is best to start from there, and then go
backwards. First, we see that 11 is obtained after subtracting 7 to the previous number. Since
we work backwards, instead of subtracting, we add. Thus, the previous number is 11 + 7 = 18.
From 18, we see that it is obtained by doubling the previous number. Thus, the previous
number is = 9. Therefore, 9 is Mary’s number. We can check it by substituting 9 to the
problem. We have 9, if we double it, we get 18, and subtracting 7 from 18, we get 11. So our
answer is correct.

4. Looking for patterns – this is used when we can find a pattern in a given problem or
sequence. (More examples are presented in Section IV.)

Example:
Fill the missing the number in the sequence 1, 4, 9, 16, ___, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, …

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GEC 05: Mathematics in the Modern World 1st Semester 2020-21

Solution:
In this sequence, we can observe that the given numbers are actually perfect squares, 1 =
1 , 4 = 2 , 9 = 3 , 16 = 4 and so as the others. Thus, we can conclude that the missing number
is actually 5 which is equal to 25.

5. Listing/tabular – this is often used when we are asked to answer problems where we
need to list down possibilities so we can look at it properly. Of course we can just use a
scratch paper and write things randomly but this is more organized and easier to look
at.

Example:
Let 𝐹(𝑛) denote the 𝑛𝑡ℎ term in the Fibonacci Sequence where 𝐹(1) = 1, 𝐹(2) = 1, 𝐹(3) = 2
and so on. Find the least value of 𝑛 such that 𝐹(𝑛) > 500.

Solution:
In this problem, we are asked to find the smallest 𝑛 so that 𝐹(𝑛) is greater than 500. One way to
do it is to make a table and list down the terms of the Fibonacci sequence with the
corresponding 𝑛.

𝒏 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
𝑭(𝒏) 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1597

In this table, all we do is to find the smallest 𝑛 so that 𝐹(𝑛) > 500. We see that 610, 987, 1597
are all greater than 500. Therefore, the possible values of 𝑛 that will give us these values are 15,
16, 17, and even greater. But, we are only asked to find the smallest. And the smallest here is 15.
So the answer is 15.

6. Algebraic equations – this method is used when it is not enough to simply look at the
problems, draw it, or guess. This happens when the given problem is too complex and
there are way too many possible answers, or the values are too big.

Example:
The sum of the two digits of a 2-digit number is 11. Reversing the digits increase the number by
45. What is the number?

Solution:
We use Polya’s strategy in solving this problem We enumerate the steps as follows:

Understand the problem – In this problem, we are asked to find a two digit number. It says that if
we add the two digits of this number, we get 11. (For example, 65 is possible because 6 + 5 =
11, but that’s not the only possible combination.) Next, it tells us that if reverse the numbers,
meaning if we interchange their positions, then the resulting number is 45 more than the
original (Well, if we reversed 65, it will be 56, so definitely it’s not the answer).

Translate – After understanding the problem, we now try to translate it to mathematical

sentences. First, how do we translate “The sum of the two digits of a 2-digit number is 11”?
Since we are dealing with two unknown values, we can use two variables to represent them, say
𝑥 is the first and 𝑦 is the second. Therefore,

𝑥 + 𝑦 = 11. (Equation 1)

But what is the number? Is it 𝑥𝑦? No. Because if it is 𝑥𝑦, you will be multiplying the two digits,
and that is not right (It is different when we are dealing with variables already). For example, if

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GEC 05: Mathematics in the Modern World 1st Semester 2020-21

you have 65, we know that to get 65 out of the digits 6 and 5, we have to multiply the tens digit
with 10 and add the ones digit. So 10(6) + 5 = 60 + 5 = 65.

Now, if we have the 𝑥 and 𝑦 as variables, then the number that we are looking for is

10𝑥 + 𝑦 (The unknown number)

But since we have two variables to solve, it is not enough that we only have one equation (The
second one is not an equation). Thus, we need another one. Going back to the problem, it tells us
that if we reversed the digits, we get a number that is 45 more than the original one. So we are
saying that if we have 10𝑦 + 𝑥 (we interchanged 𝑥 and 𝑦), then this will be equal to 45 + (10𝑥 +
𝑦). Thus we have the second equation

10𝑦 + 𝑥 = 45 + 10𝑥 + 𝑦 (Equation 2)

Solve – Since we have enough equations to solve for the unknown values, we can already solve
it.

𝑥 + 𝑦 = 11 → 𝑦 = 11 − 𝑥 Rewrite Equation 1.

10𝑦 + 𝑥 = 45 + 10𝑥 + 𝑦 Simplify Equation 2 by combining like terms

10𝑦 − 𝑦 + 𝑥 − 10𝑥 = 45 and leaving the variables in one side and the
9𝑦 − 9𝑥 = 45 constant in the other side of the equation.

9(11 − 𝑥) − 9𝑥 = 45 Since 𝑦 = 11 − 𝑥 from Equation 1, substitute

99 − 9𝑥 − 9𝑥 = 45 11 − 𝑥 to 𝑦 in Equation 2. Solve for 𝑥.
99 − 18𝑥 = 45
−18𝑥 = 45 − 99
−18𝑥 = −54
−18𝑥 −54
=
−18 −18
𝒙=𝟑

𝑦 = 11 − 3 Solve for 𝑦 using the computed value of 𝑥 and

𝒚=𝟖 Equation 1.

Therefore, we have 𝑥 = 3 and 𝑦 = 8, so our number is 38.

Check – We now try to check if our answer is correct. If we have 38, then the sum of its digits, 3
and 8 is obviously 11. Now, reversing the digits, we have 83. We can check that 83 = 38 + 45.
Therefore, 38 is correct.

7. Logical Reasoning – this deals with the way we analyse things, and how we come up
with solutions to our problems. This can go with every other method that was discussed
earlier, whichever is appropriate. There are two types of reasoning which will be
discussed in the next section.

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