J.V. Jesus G.

Mallari ICT IV- Mirang

USEFUL PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES

• GUESS and CHECK Method (Trial and Error)

• Looking for a PATTERN
• DIVIDE and CONQUER (Solve SIMPLER PROBLEMS)
• WORKING BACKWARDS
• LOGICAL REASONING

GUESS and CHECK Method (Trial and Error)

"Guess and Check" is a problem-solving strategy that students can use to solve mathematical problems by
guessing the answer and then checking that the guess fits the conditions of the problem

Guess and check is often one of the first strategies that students learn when solving problems. This is a flexible
strategy that is often used as a starting point when solving a problem, and can be used as a safety net, when
no other strategy is immediately obvious.

The trial-and-error method is used to find at least one solution,

but only two trials and appropriate checks are shown.

Looking for a PATTERN

Finding a Pattern is a strategy in which students look for patterns in the data in order to solve the problem.
Students look for items or numbers that are repeated, or a series of events that repeat. The following problem
can be solved by finding a pattern:

WORKING BACKWARDS

The best strategy to attempt after considering the forward method is the strategy of working backwards. This
strategy is implemented to solve many daily real-life encounters relevant to traffic accidents and crime scenes
investigations.

When you have solved a problem try the strategy working backwards. It works best after solving a division
problem. It's a way of making sure that you are right. First, you take the answer you got and the
divisor and multiply them together. Then add the remainder if there is one. Then you will have the
correct answer if you did your multiplication right.

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DIVIDE and CONQUER (Solve SIMPLER PROBLEMS)

Many useful algorithms are recursive in structure: to solve a given problem, they call themselves recursively
one or more times to deal with closely related sub problems. These algorithms typically follow a divide-and-
conquer approach: they break the problem into several sub problems that are similar to the original problem
but smaller in size, solve the sub problems recursively, and then combine these solutions to create a solution
to the original problem.

The divide-and-conquer paradigm involves three steps at each level of the recursion:
Divide the problem into a number of sub problems.
Conquer the sub problems by solving them recursively. If the sub problem sizes are small enough, however, just
solve the sub problems in a straightforward manner.
Combine the solutions to the sub problems into the solution for the original problem.

LOGICAL REASONING

When you are solving a problem you can use a strategy that is called LOGICAL REASONING. Logical thinking
exercises help kids learn the process of elimination or deductive thinking. Most problems give a
variety of conditions and you must use an "if"-"then" approach. It's important that you read the
whole problem, and choose the best hint or clue before starting to solve the problem. When
practicing logic with reasoning making a chart or drawing a picture are good strategies. Now
here is an everyday problem to solve using Logical Reasoning.

While knowledge of some formal logic principles can be helpful on some Logical Reasoning
questions, you certainly don't
need prior training in formal logic in order to succeed on the LR section. Rather, your
success will be dictated almost entirely
by your ability to read effectively and critically. Much of this book will be dedicated to
building your reading skills in the
context of LR questions.

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 Examples:

GUESS and CHECK Method (Trial and Error)

1) Amy and Judy sold 12 show tickets altogether. Amy sold 2 more tickets than Judy. How many tickets
did each girl sell?
2) In the equation 5x + 8 = 33, what will be the value of x?
a. 3 c. 5
b. 6 d. 4
3) Sum of two numbers = 23

Difference of the numbers = 9

Find the numbers.

What is the product?

4) 9x + 25 = 53
5) ?sin30=2
6) ?cos30= √3 / 4
7) Which of the following is not multiple of 11?
a. 759 c. 1111
b. 221 d. 451
8) The value of x in the equation 3x +5 = 7x – 7
a. 3 c. 0.5
b. 0 d. 7
9) What is y if 12y – 6 + 3 = 33
a. 1 c. 3
b. 2 d. 4
10) what is x and y if 2x – 3y = 2
a. 4 , 2 c. 3, 3
b. 5, 2 d. 4, 3

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Looking for a PATTERN

1) 12, 16, 11, 15...__ What are the next 3 nos.?

2) Sequence: 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, what are the next 2 nos.?

3) Sequence: 2, 4, 8, 16, 36, what are the next 3 nos.?

4) Sequence: 7, 10, 5, 8, 3 what are the 2 next nos.?

5) Sequence: 15, 10, 14, 9, 13, 8, what are the next 3 nos.?

6) Sequence: 3, 9, 27, 81… what are the next 2 nos.?

7) Sequence: 52, 40, 45, 33, 38.... What are the next 3 nos.?

8) Sequence: 9, 18, 12, 21, 15…. What are the next 5 nos.?

9) Sequence: 99, 92, 94, 87, 89….. What are the next 7 nos.?

10) Sequence: 15, 20, 17, 22, 19… what are the next 7 nos.?

WORKING BACKWARDS

1) My teacher requires me to submit my extra curricular summary sheet at 7:00am. What time
should I go to school if it will take 30mins to prepare, 20mins to wait a vehicle, and 20mins to
commute.

2) We made our video production entitled EL FILIBUSTERISMO in our PC. While working, the
memory of the computer becomes full. Now, the remaining memory is just 50MB. What is the
total size occupied by the file if the total amount of memory before doing the production is
1000MB

3) A group of 54 students (IV Mirang) went to the Modern museum to see the modern
technology of the century. The museum collected Php 702.00 from the students. How much
was the admission for each student?

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4) Mrs. Mirang requires me to pass a beading project. I used 2500 blue, 750 green, 1000 red,
2000 black. I finished my project for about an hour and there are 1200 beads left. How many
beads did I use in doing my project?

5) J.V. downloaded four songs on MP3 files from the Internet. The file
sizes were 3.2 MB, 4.6 MB, 2.7 MB, and 8.1 MB (MB _ megabyte).
After the downloads, the disk where she stored the files held 26.3 MB
of data. How much data was on the disk before the downloads?

6) Paul has 23 outfielders and 19 pitchers in his baseball card collection. If he has a total of 95
cards, how many are not outfielders or pitchers?

7) I will apply for a summer job tomorrow at 8:00am What time should I go to the office if my
preparation will take for about 45mins, my transportation will take for about 25mins?

8) I am saving some softwares on my 2GB flash drive and suddenly after copying the softwares,
the memory of my USB is not enough to copy the last software. The memory of the softwares
were 400MB, 500MB and 300MB and the total memory of my flash drive is 1.60GB. What is the
total memory of my USB before copying the software?

9) I bough 2 dozens of eggs worth Php 160.00. What is the cost of each egg?

10) My mother told me to go to my brother’s house later at 7:00pm. If I should do first my

home work that will take for about 50mins and the transportation that will take for about
10mins, what time should I do my home work in order for me to reach my brother’s house at
7:00pm?

LOGICAL REASONING

1)

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2)

3) What will be the missing no?

1, 3, 5, 7, ?, 11…….

4) What will be the missing no?

3, 7, 11, 15, 19, ?, 27,…..

5) What will be the missing no?

10, 8, 6, ?, 2, 0

6)
POST STOP STEP ? SPET SETP PETS STEP

7)
CBA XYZ DEF ? ZYX WVU ABC FED

8)
ROAM + DOOR- HOME + SMOTH APART ATMOS PERMA
DOT MAT TAPERS ? ER MENT PHERE NENT

9)
2 4 3 ? 1 9 2 4

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10) F
1 C 5
6 L O V E
A 3 ?

DIVIDE and CONQUER (Solve SIMPLER PROBLEMS)

1. 5(30 / 5) – 2(3 + 6)

2. 3(12 + 17) + 2(2 + 4)2

3. 4 [6(12 / 3) + 7(2)2]

4. 2(123 +21 – 56) + 45

5. 32(150 / 15) + (17 - 12)2

6. 60(20 / 4) – ½ (8 + 8)2

7. 2(20 + 6) + 3[4(2)2 - 6]

8. ½ (100 + 350) + 22(300 - 250)

9. 32(2 + 2)2 + 5[4(6 + 3)2]

10. 5[7(4 + 3) + 9(93 + 16) - 162]