Problem Solving
There is a stepwise strategy that will help you tackle any tough and complicated problem, as well as the simple ones. The first things that you should think about and write down are what you are given/what you know. Once you have determined where you are starting, find out and write down what you are being asked for/what you want to know. Finally, make a list of the information/tools that will get you from your starting point to what you are looking for. Here is a visual that may help you organize your information before crunching any numbers at all:
You may prefer to just make lists of this information, or you may have a better way of picturing this in your mind. However this makes the most sense to you, these are three very important steps before you put anything into your calculator. We will call these three steps, together, organization. The next step is to choose a method—how you are going to use your tools to answer the question. Third, the setup of the solution is very important. Here is where you put all of your information together and make sure that it all fits together to give you what you are looking for. At last, you can solve. So, as you go through this tutorial and the next time you are doing your homework, remember:
· Organize
· Choose a Method
· Setup
· Solve
Now, let’s use this strategy as we look at the proportion method.
