How we are going to solve problems.

Hello

 

Today we are going to talk about problems solving, as Kerry Cherry defined in her blog.

 

"Problem-solving refers to the mental process that people go through to discover, analyze and solve problems. This involves all of the steps in the problem process, including the discovery of the problem, the decision to tackle the issue, understanding the problem, researching the available options and taking actions to achieve your goals. Before problem-solving can occur, it is important to first understand the exact nature of the problem itself. If your understanding of the issue if faulty, your attempts to resolve it will also be incorrect or flawed"

 

There is a lot of options or procedure to solve a problems, one more complex than others. One of this options in an algorithm for solving problems

 

What is an algorithm?

"An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that will always produce a correct solution"

 

Now is time to start talking about our algorithm

 

1.       Read the problem carefully

2.       Detect and extract the datum (the information that the problem provide)

3.       Write the word DATA

4.       Under the word DATA write each one of the datum of the problem

5.       Read the problem again

6.       Detect and extract each one of the unknowns (the information that you need to find)

7.       Write a Question Mark “?”

8.       Under the Question Mark write each one on the unknowns

9.       Write the word Formula

10.   Under the word Formula write the formula(s) you need to use to solve the problem

11.   Write the word Procedure

12.   Under the word Procedure solve the problem writing each one of the step for get the final answer.

13.   Write the word Answer

14.   Under the word Answer write your answer(s) to the problem in a complete phrase.

Important: Each one of the magnitudes has a specific unit; you need to write the unit for each one of the magnitudes during the entire algorithm.

 

Let see an example

Problem

Tom takes 50 s for travel from home to school that is located 68 m from his home. What is Tom average speed?

• step 1 to 4

Read the problem, Detect the datum 

Tom takes 50 s for travel from home to school that is located 68 m from his home. What is Tom average speed?

take 50 s, refering to time represented with a t

school that is located 68m from his home, refering to distance represented with a d

DATA

d=68m

t= 50s

• step 5 to 8

Tom takes 50 s for travel from home to school that is located 68 m from his home. What is Tom average speed?

Tom average spped, represented with and S is the unkonw parameter

?

S=?

 

• step 9 to 10

 

 

 

 

Formula for calculate average spped is S=d/t

 

Formula

S=d/t

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

step 11 to 12

 

Procedure

 

S=d/t

 

S=68m/50s

S= 1.36m/s

 

step 13 to 14

 

Answer

 

Tom´s average speed is 1.36m/s