POLYA’S

PROBLEM - SOLVING AND STRATEGIES

• Ancient mathematicians who were interested in

problem solving were Euclid, Rene Descartes, and
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz
• One of the foremost recent mathematicians to make
a study of problem solving is George Polya (1887-
1985) . He was born in Hungary and moved to the
United States in 1940.
POLYA’S STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING
Understand the
Problem

Devise a Plan

Carry out the Plan

Look Back
 Carry out the
Devise a Plan Look Back
Plan

• Do you understand all the words used in the problem?

• What are you asked to find or show?
• Can you restate the problem in your own words?
• Is there enough information to enable you to find a solution?
 Understand the Carry out
Look Back
Problem the Plan

q able to organize information or connect information to

a concept
q able to draw pictures, tables or charts out of the
information
q able to determine a formula or transform problems
into mathematical sentences
q able to look for patterns
q able to perform an experiment
 Understand the Devise a
Look Back
Problem Plan

q work carefully
q keep an accurate and neat record of all your
attempts.
q realize that some of your initial plans will not work
and that you may have to devise another plan or
modify your existing plan.
 Understand the Devise a Carry out
Problem Plan the Plan

Once you have found a solution, check the solution.

q ensure that the solution is consistent with the facts of

the problem.
q interpret the solution in the context of the problem.
7
Drawing a diagram/table
Consider the map shown below. Ellah wishes to walk along the
streets from point A to point B. How many direct routes can
Ellah take? First Avenue

Gateway Boulevard
A
Godiva Borders

Board Walk
C

Crest Boulevard
M River Walk Second Avenue
i
a

Park Avenue
t Subway
p
y Third Avenue
Starbucks

Fourth Avenue B
SOLUTION:
Understand the Problem
To solve the problem, we assume that on a direct route, Ellah always travels
along a street in a direction that gets her closer to point B.

Devise a Plan
We make a simple diagram where a number at each street intersection represents
the number of routes from point A to that particular intersection.
 Look for patterns. It appears
that the number of routes to
a particular intersection is
the sum of the number of
routes to the adjacent
⋇ intersection to its left and

This means that there are 2 the number of routes to the intersection
possible direct routes from directly above.
point A to that intersection.
Carry out the Plan
Using the pattern discovered above, we see that the number of routes from
point A to point B is ____.

Look Back at the Solution

Is the solution reasonable? Can you draw each

route?
THROUGH LISTING

A basketball 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. They may have won two straight
games and lost the last two; or lost the first two and won the last
two; and other possibilities.

Devise a Plan
We make an organized list of all the possible orders, ensuring that
each of the different orders will be listed once and only once.
Carry out the Plan
Each entry must contain two W’s (win) and two L’s (loss). We will use a strategy that
makes sure each order is considered with no duplications.
Try to list the different orders. How many orders are there?
DIFFERENT ORDERS: Look back at the solution
The list has no duplicates and the list has
1. WWLL considered all possibilities, so we are confident
2. WLWL that there are 6 orders in which a baseball team
3. WLLW can win exactly two out of four games.
4. LLWW
5. LWLW
6. LWWL
Trial and improvement
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 numbers 13 to
19 that have a product of 4590.

Devise a Plan
Notice that 4590 ends in 0, so it has a factor of 2 and a 5, which means, at
least one of the numbers we seek is an even number and must have 5 as a
factor.
Carry out the Plan
Through guessing and checking;
15 " 16 " 18 = 4320 (too small)
15 " 16 " 19 = 4560 (too small)
15 " 17 " 18 = 4590 (correct product)
The ages of the teenagers are 15, 17 and 18.
Look back at the solution
Because 15 " 17 " 18 = 4590 and each of the ages represents the
age of a teenager, we are sure that the solution is correct. None of
the numbers 13, 14, 16 and 19 is a factor of 4590, so there are no
other solutions.
USING AN EQUATION
A hat and a jacket together cost $100. The jacket costs $90 more
than the hat. What are the cost of the hat and the cost of the jacket?
SOLUTION:
Understand the Problem
What is asked? What are the given?
If we represent x to be the cost of the hat,
x + 90 to be the cost of the jacket
Total cost = $100
Devise a Plan
Form the working equation: x + (x + 90) = 100
Carry out the Plan
Manipulate the working equation:
x + (x + 90) = 100
2x + 90 = 100
2x = 10
x=5
Therefore, the hat costs $5 while the jacket costs $5 + $90 = $95.
Look back at the solution
The sum of the costs is $5 + $95 = $100, and the cost of the jacket is
$90 more than the cost of the hat. This check confirms that the hat
costs $5 and the jacket costs $95.
PATTERN SEARCHING
EXAMPLE 5:
Find the sum of the first 100 natural numbers represented by
1 + 2 + 3 + … + 98 + 99 + 100.
SOLUTION:
Understand the Problem
The sum of the first 100 natural numbers is represented by
1 + 2 + 3 + … + 98 + 99 + 100.
Devise a Plan
Carry out the Plan

Find the sum of the 50 pairs, each with a sum of 101, compute 50 x 101
and arrive at 5050 as the solution.

Look back at the solution

Because the addends in an addition problem can be placed in any
order without changing the sum, we are confident that we have the
correct solution. J