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G. Pólya, How To Solve It: If You Can't Solve A Problem, Then There Is An Easier Problem You Can Solve: Find It

This document summarizes George Pólya's approach to problem solving from his book "How to Solve It". Pólya outlines a 4 step process: 1) Understand the problem, 2) Devise a plan, 3) Carry out the plan, 4) Look back and check the solution. He provides guidance for each step, such as drawing diagrams, looking for related problems, checking each step of the solution, and generalizing the problem. Pólya was a prominent mathematician who worked in many areas and developed this approach to teaching effective problem solving.

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104 views1 page

G. Pólya, How To Solve It: If You Can't Solve A Problem, Then There Is An Easier Problem You Can Solve: Find It

This document summarizes George Pólya's approach to problem solving from his book "How to Solve It". Pólya outlines a 4 step process: 1) Understand the problem, 2) Devise a plan, 3) Carry out the plan, 4) Look back and check the solution. He provides guidance for each step, such as drawing diagrams, looking for related problems, checking each step of the solution, and generalizing the problem. Pólya was a prominent mathematician who worked in many areas and developed this approach to teaching effective problem solving.

Uploaded by

signalhuckster
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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G.

Plya, How to Solve It


If you can't solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it.
Summary taken from G. Polya, "How to Solve It", 2nd ed., Princeton University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-
691-08097-6.
1. UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
o First. You have to understand the problem.
o What is the unknown? What are the data? What is the condition?
o Is it possible to satisfy the condition? Is the condition sufficient to determine the
unknown? Or is it insufficient? Or redundant? Or contradictory?
o Draw a figure. Introduce suitable notation.
o Separate the various parts of the condition. Can you write them down?
2. DEVISING A PLAN
o Second. Find the connection between the data and the unknown. You may be obliged to
consider auxiliary problems if an immediate connection cannot be found. You should
obtain eventually a plan of the solution.
o Have you seen it before? Or have you seen the same problem in a slightly different form?
o Do you know a related problem? Do you know a theorem that could be useful?
o Look at the unknown! And try to think of a familiar problem having the same or a similar
unknown.
o Here is a problem related to yours and solved before. Could you use it? Could you use its
result? Could you use its method? Should you introduce some auxiliary element in order
to make its use possible?
o Could you restate the problem? Could you restate it still differently? Go back to
definitions.
o If you cannot solve the proposed problem try to solve first some related problem. Could
you imagine a more accessible related problem? A more general problem? A more
special problem? An analogous problem? Could you solve a part of the problem? Keep
only a part of the condition, drop the other part; how far is the unknown then determined,
how can it vary? Could you derive something useful from the data? Could you think of
other data appropriate to determine the unknown? Could you change the unknown or
data, or both if necessary, so that the new unknown and the new data are nearer to each
other?
o Did you use all the data? Did you use the whole condition? Have you taken into account
all essential notions involved in the problem?
3. CARRYING OUT THE PLAN
o Third. Carry out your plan.
o Carrying out your plan of the solution, check each step. Can you see clearly that the step
is correct? Can you prove that it is correct?
4. Looking Back
o Fourth. Examine the solution obtained.
o Can you check the result? Can you check the argument?
o Can you derive the solution differently? Can you see it at a glance?
o Can you use the result, or the method, for some other problem?
5. Addendum [not in Polyas book, but worth considering for teaching and studies]
o Finally. Think about how one might generalize the problem.
George Plya (18871985) worked in probability, analysis, number theory, geometry, combinatorics and mathematical physics
while at the University of Budapest, Brown University, and Stanford University.

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