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Polyas Examples

Mr. Jones has a total of 25 chickens and cows on his farm. By making a table and tracking the number of chicken feet (2 feet each) and cow feet (4 feet each), and ensuring the total feet equals the given 76 feet, the solution is 12 chickens and 13 cows. The key steps are to understand the problem, devise a plan such as making a table, carry out the plan by testing different number combinations until the totals match, and then look back to check the solution.

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Tenorio Maryrose
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73 views2 pages

Polyas Examples

Mr. Jones has a total of 25 chickens and cows on his farm. By making a table and tracking the number of chicken feet (2 feet each) and cow feet (4 feet each), and ensuring the total feet equals the given 76 feet, the solution is 12 chickens and 13 cows. The key steps are to understand the problem, devise a plan such as making a table, carry out the plan by testing different number combinations until the totals match, and then look back to check the solution.

Uploaded by

Tenorio Maryrose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Polya’s 4 step examples

1. Mr. Jones has a total of 25 chickens and cows on his farm. How many of each does he have if all
together there are 76 feet?
Step 1: Understanding the problem
We are given in the problem that there are 25 chickens and cows.
All together there are 76 feet.
Chickens have 2 feet and cows have 4 feet.
We are trying to determine how many cows and how many chickens Mr. Jones has on his farm.
Step 2: Devise a plan
Going to use Guess and test along with making a tab
Many times the strategy below is used with guess and test.
Make a table and look for a pattern:
Procedure: Make a table reflecting the data in the problem. If done in an orderly way, such a table will
often reveal patterns and relationships that suggest how the problem can be solved.
Step 3: Carry out the plan:
Chickens Cows Number of chicken feet Number of cow feet Total number of feet
20 5 40 20 60
21 4 42 16 58
Notice we are going in the wrong direction! The total number of feet is decreasing!
19 6 38 24 62
Better! The total number of feet are increasing!
15 10 30 40 70
12 13 24 52
76
Step 4: Looking back:
Check: 12 + 13 = 25 heads
24 + 52 = 76 feet.
We have found the solution to this problem. I could use this strategy when there are a limited number of
possible answers and when two items are the same but they have one characteristic that is different.
2. Twice the difference of a number and 1 is 4 more than that number. Find the number.
Step 1: Understand the problem.
Make sure that you read the question carefully several times.
Since we are looking for a number, we will let
x = a number
Step 2: Devise a plan (translate).
example

Step 3: Carry out the plan (solve).


example

*Remove ( ) by using dist. prop.


*Get all the x terms on one side
*Inv. of sub. 2 is add 2
Step 4: Look back (check and interpret).
If you take twice the difference of 6 and 1, that is the same as 4 more than 6, so this does check.
FINAL ANSWER: The number is 6.

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