Problem solving and reasoning

Contents
A. Inductive and deductive reasoning
B. Problem solving strategies
C. Polya’s 4-steps in problem solving
D. Mathematical problems involving patterns
E. Recreational problems using mathematics

INTRODUCTION

Problem solving and reasoning are essential skills in our daily activities for critical
problems and important decisions needing logical reasoning and mathematical strategies are
usually encountered every day.

Some Mental Exercise

Consider the diagram on the right. Can you connect each small box on the top
with its same-letter mate on the bottom with paths that do not cross one
another, nor leave the boundaries of the large box?

Can you connect all nine points with an unbroken path of four straight lines?

A. INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Mathematical statements or propositions were presented in the past topic. These are
essential components of mathematical arguments. In order to prove that a proposition is true, one
has to make a valid argument or use valid reasoning to show that it is indeed true.

Reasoning is defined as the process of forming conclusions or inferences based on facts

or premises. We may not realize it, but every day in our life, we use two types of reasoning to
make decisions and solve problems: inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning is the process of forming a general conclusion based on observing
specific examples.
When you examine a list of numbers and try to predict what number comes next, you
usually look for some pattern. Again, you are using inductive reasoning.

Example 1 Use inductive reasoning to predict the next three numbers in the following lists.

a. 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, …
b. 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6, 4, 7, 5, …
 Inductive reasoning can also be used to make conjectures. A conjecture is a statement or
an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true. Based on some information or observation, a
conjecture can be deduced but needs proof in order to be validated.

For example, what can you deduce from the following sums?

ࠀༀ=ༀ

ࠀༀࠀ =

ࠀༀࠀ ࠀ䕅= 대

ࠀༀࠀ ࠀ䕅ࠀ =2

What is your conjecture?

Inductive reasoning is useful in finding patterns, not only of numbers and figures but also
those of nature and of our modern world.

Many mathematical properties result from conjectures which are established using proofs,
evidences and other validation procedures. However, some conjectures may be incorrect which is
why proofs are very important.

As an illustration, consider the following exercise.

Exercise 1 Draw a fairly large circle, and mark one point on the circumference. Note that there is
just one, undivided region enclosed by the circle.

a. Place a second point on the circle and draw the chord formed by the two points drawn.
How many regions are formed?
b. Place a third point on the circle and draw the chords connecting it to the other points.
How many regions are formed?
c. Place a fourth point on the circle and draw the chords connecting it to all the points
previously drawn on the circle. How many regions are formed? Based on the first four
numbers generated, what do you think is the first eight numbers generated if you continue
the process?
d. Place a fifth point on the circle in general position so that no chord joining it to other
points will pass through a point of intersection of other chords. Draw all the chords and
count the parts. Is this consistent with your conjecture in part (c)? If not, make a new
conjecture. Do you think your conjecture is true?
e. Place a sixth point in general position on the circle and draw all the chords. Is this
consistent with your conjecture in part (d)?

Discuss the results of this exercise in class.

A mathematical statement or proposition is true provided that it is true for all cases. If the
statement is not true for a particular case, called a counterexample, then the statement is false.

Exercise 2 Deduce whether the following statements are true or false. If false, provide a
counterexample.

a) The sum of any two odd numbers is even.

b) All prime numbers are odd.
 c) The sum of two irrational numbers is irrational.
d) For each , ꐀ.
e) For every real number , 2 .

Deductive reasoning is the process of reaching a conclusion by applying general assumptions,

procedures or principles.

In problem solving, once a problem has been described and analyzed, the solution to the
problem may involve a common method or known property.

For example, in solving the quadratic equation 2 ༀ ࠀ 2 = ꐀ , one can use the quadratic
formula. That is, we can find the value/s of using the quadratic formula where = ⸷ = ༀ and
= 2 which gives

2 ༀ ༀ ༀ 2 ༀ 2 ༀ ༀ
= = = =
2 2 2 2
Hence = 2 or = .
This may arise from the following problem:
Find a number whose square is thrice the number less 2.

Further reading
1. Intuition and proof
Link: https://flm-journal.org/Articles/3C2FDFF14268CD1E813E785AD584E4.pdf
2. Intuition/Proof/Certainty
Link: https://www.uni-siegen.de/fb6/phima/lehre/phima13/quellentexte/
seminar_-_hersh/hersh-chapter4.pdf

B. Polya’s 4-steps in Problem Solving

UNDERSTAND

PLAN
EXECUTE

CHECK

Example 2
A Mathematical Prodigy. Karl Friedrich Gauss was a famous mathematician who worked on
several mathematical disciplines including number theory and analysis. A story goes that when
Gauss entered elementary school, his teacher assigned the problem of finding the sum of the first
100 natural numbers. Surprisingly, he was able to determine the sum in just a few seconds.

Let us reconstruct his solution following Polya’s method:

Step 1: Understand | The sum of the first 100 natural numbers is represented by
ࠀ2ࠀༀࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ꐀꐀ

Step 2: Plan | Adding all natural numbers from 1 to 100 is time consuming, so Gauss considered
another method. He noticed that adding pairs of numbers on opposite ends of the expanded sum
results to the same number, which is 101. Thus, there are 50 pairs of numbers that sums up to
101.
Step 3: Execute | To find the total sum, Gauss computed the sum of 50 pairs, each with a sum of
101. That is, ꐀ ꐀ = ꐀ ꐀ.

Step 4: Check | This can be easily checked using a computing device. Intuitively, one can use the
fact that the addends can be placed in any order without changing the sum.

Example 3
The Age of Diophantus. Nothing is known about the personal life of the ancient Greek
mathematician Diophantus except for the information in the following epigram. “Diophantus
passed 1/6 of his life in childhood, 1/12 in youth, and 1/7 more as a bachelor. Five years after his
marriage was born a son who died four years before his father, at ½ his father’s final age.” How
old was Diophantus when he died?

Solution:

Step 1: Understand | We need to find the age of Diophantus when he died. We can represent
this age in years as .

Step 2: Plan | Based on the information provided in the epigram, we have the following diagram.

Using algebraic expressions, we have the following working equation:

= ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀༀ
대 2 䕅 2

Step 3: Execute | Simplifying the above equation, we have

= ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀༀ
대 2 䕅 2
ༀ 䕅 2 ༀ2 䕅
= ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ ࠀ = ࠀ
ༀ ༀ ༀ ༀ ༀ
䕅
=
ༀ

=
ༀ
= ༀ
Step 4: Check |

ༀ ࠀ ༀ ࠀ ༀ ࠀ ࠀ ༀ ࠀༀ= ༀࠀ䕅ࠀ 2ࠀ ࠀ ༀ2 ࠀ ༀ = ༀ
대 2 䕅 2

Alternatively, we can solve the problem by deducing that Diophantus’ age is divisible by 6,
12, 7 and 2 based on the information given. Can you solve the problem using this analogy
following Polya’s method?
Exercise 3 Form a group of three students and discuss a solution to the following problem. Can
you think of a solution without using a formula in physics?

Man vs. Train. A man is crossing a train trestle on foot. When he is 4/7 of the way across he sees
a train coming toward him head-on. He realizes that he has just enough time to run toward the
train and get off the trestle or to run away from the train and get off the trestle. If the man can run
20 kilometers per hour, how fast is the train going?

Illustration:

Example 5
The Three Prisoners. Three prisoners know that the jailer has three white hats and two red hats.
The jailer puts a hat on the head of each prisoner and says, “If you can deduce the color of your
own hat, you will be freed.” A prisoner can see the hats of the other two prisoners but not his own.
The first prisoner says, “I cannot tell the color of my hat.” Then the second prisoner says, “I
cannot tell the color of my hat.” The third prisoner, who is blind, is able to determine the color of
his hat and is freed. What is the color of the third prisoner’s hat, and how did he know?

Solution:

Step 1: Understand | Visualize the situation clearly. Imagine three prisoners, one of whom is
blind, each with a hat on his head which is either white or red.

Step 2: Plan | For each of the three prisoners, there are two choices of hats, red or white. This
gives 2ༀ = possible ways for the prisoners to wear the red or white hats. Make a table or a list
of all possible combinations. Thinking as the blind prisoner, eliminate cases based on the
statements of the first and second prisoner.

Step 3: Execute | The following table shows the eight possible cases, together with a possible
analogy by the blind prisoner.

1st prisoner 2nd prisoner Blind prisoner Analogy

1 red red red Impossible since there are
only 2 red hats
2 red red white
3 red white red Eliminated by the 2nd
prisoners’ statement
4 white red white
5 white red red Eliminated by the 1st
prisoners’ statement
6 red white white
7 white white red Eliminated by the 2nd
prisoners’ statement
8 white white white
The remaining cases require that the blind prisoner is wearing a white hat.

Step 4: Check | Review the arguments leading to the elimination of cases 3, 5 and 7.

C. Mathematical problems involving patterns

When we see a sequence of numbers or recurring figures, we often try to figure

out the number that comes next or find pattern in the construction.

Number Patterns

An ordered list of numbers is called a sequence. The numbers in a sequence (separated

by commas) are the terms of the sequence. The nth term of a sequence is denoted as .

For example, the sequence 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, … has the first term = 2 , second term
2 = and so on. Can you give the 13th term in the sequence?

In solving problems involving sequences, we often construct a difference table which

shows the differences between consecutive terms of the sequence as shown below.

Based on this, we can now generate the succeeding terms of the sequence. So can you
now give the 13th term? Can you formulate an expression for finding ?

EXERCISE 4 Use a difference table to determine the next term in each of the
following sequences. (Hint: You may need more rows for the difference table.)

1. 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, …
2. 5, 14, 27, 44, 65, …
3. 2, 7, 24, 59, 118, 207, …

Geometric Patterns

Polygonal or figurate numbers are numbers that can be represented by an

arrangement of equally spaced points that form polygons. The first number in any group of
polygonal number is always 1, or a point. The second number is equal to the number of
vertices of the polygon. The third number is made by extending two of the sides of the
polygon from the second polygonal number, completing the larger polygon and placing
vertices and other points where necessary.
 As an exercise, write each of the triangular numbers as a sum of consecutive natural
numbers. What do you observe? Can you derive a formula for getting the next term in the
sequence of triangular numbers?

What do you observe with the sequence of square numbers? If you add two consecutive
triangular numbers, what do you get?

Exercise 5 Draw the figure that comes next in each of the following sequence of square
tiles.

Can you give the nth-term formula for the number of square tiles in the nth figure?

Exercise 6 You save 25 centavos on day 1. On each of the following days you save, double the
amount of money you saved on the previous day. How much money will you have after:

a) 4 days b) 8 days c) 12 days

Enrichment The Tower of Hanoi is a puzzle invented by Edouard Lucas in 1883. The puzzle
consists of three pegs and a number of disks of distinct diameters stacked on one of the pegs
such that the largest disk is on the bottom, the next largest is placed on the largest disk, and so
on as shown in the figure below.

The object of the puzzle is to transfer the tower to one of the other pegs. The rule require that
only one disk be moved at a time and that a larger disk may not be placed on a smaller disk. All
pegs may be used.

Determine the minimum number of moves required to transfer all of the disks to another peg
for each of the following number of disks.
a) one disk b) two disks c) three disks d) four disks
e) five disks f) n disks
D. Recreational problems using mathematics
Recreational problems are concise intellectual challenges often associated with puzzles
which may or may not involve mathematical solutions but generally require critical thinking and
ingenious strategies. Like one of the most ancient puzzle, the Riddle of the Sphinx:

What creature walks on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the
evening?

The question involves numbers but the answer to the riddle does not require mathematical
computations.

Number Puzzles

Sudoku is a number game invented by Howard Garns in 1979 consisting of a 9x9

grid with 81 cells subdivided into nine 3x3 sub-squares called blocks. The rule is, the
counting numbers 1 to 9 should appear exactly once in each row, each column and
each block. The object of the game is to be able to fill all the cells given some initial
entries.

Solving a Sudoku puzzle does not require complex mathematical computations,

just simple logic.

Exercise 7 Solve the following Sudoku puzzle.

 A magic square of order n is an arrangement of numbers in a square such that
the sum of the n numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is the same number.
The magic square below has order 3, and the “magic” sum is 15.

4 9 2

3 5 7

8 1 6

Exercise 8 Complete the following magic squares

a) b)

1) Forty-one students each took an exam in math, biology and chemistry.

 12 students failed the math exam
 5 students failed the biology exam
 8 students failed the chemistry exam
 2 students failed both the algebra and the biology exam
 6 students failed both the algebra and the chemistry exam
 3 students failed both the biology and the chemistry exam
 1 student failed all three exams.

How many students passed all three exams?