SMK (P) SULTAN IBRAHIM JOHOR BAHRU

MATHEMATICS PROJECT ACADEMIC WRITING TASK SEMESTER 2 (JANUARY -MAY) 2011 MATHEMATICS INVOLVING PROBLEM SOLVING By

NAME : ANALINGAM CLASS : YEAR IC/NO : :

SHALENI A/P UPPER SIX SCIENCE 2011 920526-01-5824

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, Shaleni Analingam would like to regard my thanks to many parties who helped my in successfully finishing this academic writing. First of all, I would like to convey my thanks to my mother who gave moral support to me to finish this project. She helped me to find some references to aid my academic writing Secondly, I would like to thanks my project advisor and also my chemistry teacher, Miss . Norly who assist and guided me in completing this academic writing. Next, I would also like to say my thanks to the principal of SMK (P) SULTAN IBRAHIM, Pn. Hajah Norizah binti Abdul Manap to give us an opportunity to complete this academic writing. Lastly, I would like regard my thanks to my friends whom helped me in finding some references together to finish the chemistry academic writing task that were given to us.

THANK YOU.

INDEX ISSUE PAGE

AKNOWELEDGEMENT TITLE INTRODUCTION CONTENT CONCLUSION REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills. Problem solving occurs when an organism or an artificial intelligence system needs to move from a given state to a desired goal state. Everyone must have felt at least once in his or her life how wonderful it would be if we could solve a problem at hand preferably without much difficulty or even with some difficulties. Unfortunately the problem solving is an art at this point and there are no universal approaches one can take to solving problems. Basically one must explore possible avenues to a solution one by one until one comes across a right path to a solution. Thus generally speaking, there is guessing and hence an element of luck involved in problem solving. However, in general, as one gains experience in solving problems, one develops one's own techniques and strategies, though they are often intangible. Thus the guessing is not an arbitrary guessing but an educated one.

PROBLEM SOLVING MODEL Principles of Community Development

Promote active and representative citizen participation so that community members can meaningfully influence decisions that affect their situation.

Engage community members in problem diagnosis so that those affected may adequately understand the causes of their situation.

Help community members understand the economic, social, political, environmental, and psychological impact associated with alternative solutions to the problem.

Assist community members in designing and implementing a plan to solve agreed upon problems by emphasizing shared leadership and active citizen participation.

Seek alternatives to any effort that is likely to adversely affect the disadvantaged segments of a community.

Actively work to increase leadership capacity, skills, confidence, and aspirations in the community development process.

POLYAS FOUR PRINCIPLES

First principle: Understand the problem "Understand the problem" is often neglected as being obvious and is not even mentioned in many mathematics classes. Yet students are often stymied in their efforts to solve it, simply because they don't understand it fully, or even in part. In order to remedy this oversight, Plya taught teachers how to prompt each student with appropriate questions, depending on the situation, such as: What are you asked to find or show? Can you restate the problem in your own words? Can you think of a picture or a diagram that might help you

understand the problem?

Is there enough information to enable you to find a solution? Do you understand all the words used in stating the problem? Do you need to ask a question to get the answer?

The teacher is to select the question with the appropriate level of difficulty for each student to ascertain if each student understands at their own level, moving up or down the list to prompt each student, until each one can respond with something constructive.

Second principle: Devise a plan Plya mentions that there are many reasonable ways to solve problems. The skill at choosing an appropriate strategy is best learned by solving many problems. You will find choosing a strategy increasingly easy. A partial list of strategies is included: Guess and check Make an orderly list Eliminate possibilities Use symmetry Consider special cases Use direct reasoning Solve an equation

Also suggested: Look for a pattern

Draw a picture Solve a simpler problem Use a model Work backward Use a formula Be creative Use your head

Third principle: Carry out the plan This step is usually easier than devising the plan. In general, all you need is care and patience, given that you have the necessary skills. Persist with the plan that you have chosen. If it continues not to work discard it and choose another. Don't be misled; this is how mathematics is done, even by professionals.

Fourth principle: Review/extend Plya mentions that much can be gained by taking the time to reflect and look back at what you have done, what worked and what didn't. Doing this will enable you to predict what strategy to use to solve future problems, if these relate to the original problem.

EXAMPLES OF PROBLEM SOLVING USING POLYAS FOUR PRINCIPLE

DERIVATIVES OF TRIGONOMIC FUNCTIONS . Derivatives of the Sine, Cosine and Tangent Functions It can be shown from first principles that:

In words, we would say: The derivative of sin x is cos x, The derivative of cos x is sin x (note the negative sign!) and The derivative of tan x is sec2x. Now, if u = f(x) is a function of x, then by using the chain rule, we have:

Example 1:

Find the derivative of y = sin(x2 + 3).

Answer

First, let: u = x2 + 3 and so y = sin u. We have:

IMPORTANT: cos x2 + 3 does not equal cos(x2 + 3). The brackets make a big difference. Many students have trouble with this. Here are the graphs of y = cos x2 + 3 (in green) and y = cos(x2 + 3) (shown in blue). The first one, y = cos x2 + 3, or y = (cos x2) + 3, means take the curve y = cos x2 and move it up by 3 units.

The second one, y = cos(x2 + 3), means find the value (x2 + 3) first, then find the cosine of the result. They are quite different!

Example 2: Find the derivative of y = cos 3x4.

Answer

Let u = 3x4 and so y = cos u. Then

EXAMPLE 3:

Find the derivative of y = cos32x

Answer

This example has a function of a function of a function. Let u = 2x and v = cos 2x So we can write y = v3 and v = cos u

EXAMPLE 4 :

Find the derivative of y = 3 sin 4x + 5 cos 2x3

Answer

In the final term, put u = 2x3.

We have:

Applications: Derivatives of Trigonometric Functions

We can now use derivatives of trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions to solve various types of problems. Examples 1. Find the equation of the normal to the curve of at x = 3.

Answer

When x = 3, this expression is equal to: 0.153846 So the slope of the tangent at x = 3 is 0.153846. The slope of the normal at x = 3 is given by:

So the equation of the normal is given by: (When x = 3, y = 0.9828) y 0.9828 = -6.5(x 3) or y = -6.5x + 20.483

2. The apparent power Pa of an electric circuit whose power is P and whose impedance phase angle is , is given by Pa= P sec . Given that P is constant at 12 W, find the time rate of change of Pa if is changing at the rate of 0.050 rad/min, when = 40.0.

Answer

Using chain rule, we have:

Now Pa = P sec = 12 sec (since P = 12 W)

We are told

So

When = 40 , this expression is equal to: 0.657 W/min

3. A machine is programmed to move an etching tool such that the position of the tool is given by x = 2 cos 3t and y = cos 2t, where the dimensions are in cm and time is in s. Find the velocity of the tool for t = 4.1 s.

Answer

At t = 4.1, vx = 1.579 and vy = -1.88 So

For velocity, we need to also indicate direction.

So as we are in the 4th quadrant, the required angle is 310 4. The television screen at a sports arena is vertical and 2.4 m high. The lower edge is 8.5 m above an observer's eye level. If the best view of the screen is obtained when the angle subtended by the screen at eye level is a maximum, how far from directly below the screen must the observer be?

Answer

(Diagam not to scale)

We define 1 and 2 as shown in the diagram. So = 2 - 1. [See diagram] Let x be the distance from directly under the screen to the observer. To maximise , we will need to find

and then set it to 0. We note that

This gives:

Now since = 2 - 1,

We have a function of a function in each term. Now, in the first term, if we let

then

Similarly for the second term, we will have:

So we have:

Next, we multiply the x2 in the denominator (bottom) of the first fraction by the denominators of the 2 fractions in brackets, giving:

To find when this equals 0, we need only determine when the numerator (the top) is 0.

That is -2.4x2 + 222.36 = 0 This occurs when x = 9.63 (we take positive case only) So the observer must be 9.63 m from directly below the screen to get the best view

CONCLUSION

Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills. Problem solving occurs when an organism or an artificial intelligence system needs to move from a given state to a desired goal state.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_solving (21/04/2011) http://www.education.com/reference/article/problem-solvingstrategies-algorithms/ (19/04/2011)

http://www.ced.msu.edu/probsolvingmodel2.html (11/04/2011)

http://www.pitt.edu/~groups/probsolv.html (11/04/2011) http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/polya.html (15/04/2011)