PROBLEM SOLVING: BASIC SKILLS

1
 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY
A ‘PROBLEM’?
• Consider the action of making a cup of instant coffee. If you analyse
the processes you need to go through, they are quite complicated.
Just the list of items you need is quite long: a cup, a teaspoon, a jar of
coffee, a kettle, water, and milk and sugar if you take them. Having
found all these items, you fill the kettle and boil it; use the teaspoon
to put coffee into the cup; pour the boiling water into the cup, just to
the right level; stir; add milk and sugar; then put all the things you
used away again. In fact one could break this down even more: we
didn’t really go into very great detail on, for example, how you boil
the kettle.
• Although this is complicated, it is an everyday task that you do
without thinking.
• However, if you encounter something new, which may be no more
complicated, the processes required to achieve the task may need
considerable thought and planning.
• Most of such planning is a matter of proceeding in a logical manner,
but it can also require mathematical tasks, often very simple, such
as choosing which stamps to put on a letter. This thought and
planning is what constitutes problem solving.
AGREE OR DISAGREE?

“Some kinds of assessments are no

longer relevant to contemporary
workplaces which are immersed in
digital technologies.”

Bearman, Nieminen, and Ajjawi, 2022

 PROBLEM SOLVING

• With some problems the method of finding an answer might be

quite clear. With others there may be no systematic method and
you might have to use trial and error from the start.
• Some will require a combination of both methods or can be solved
in more than one way.
• ‘Problem solving’ as tested in thinking skills examinations does not
ask for formal proofs, but rather asks for a solution, which may be a
calculated value or a way of doing something.
 PROBLEM SOLVING

• There are three clearly defined processes that we may use when
solving problems:
•• Identifying which pieces of data are relevant when faced with a
mass of data, most of which is irrelevant.
•• combining pieces of information that may not appear to be
related to give new information.
•• relating one set of information to another in a different form –
this involves using experience: relating new problems to ones we
have previously solved.
 PROBLEM SOLVING

• When solving problems, either in the real world or

in examinations, you are given, or have, or can find,
information in various forms – text, numbers, graphs
or pictures – and need to use these to come up
with a further piece of information which will be the
solution to the problem.
ACTIVITY

• Luke has a meeting in a town 50 miles away at 3 p.m. tomorrow. He

is planning to travel from the town where he lives to the town
where the meeting is by train, walking to and from the station at
both ends.
• List the pieces of information Luke needs in order to decide what
time he must leave home.
• Then work out how you would proceed to plan his journey from
these pieces of information.
 HOW DO WE SOLVE PROBLEMS?
• We have seen that a problem consists of a set of information and a
question to answer. In order to solve the problem we must use the
information in a certain way. The way in which we use it may be
quite straightforward – it may for example be simply a matter of
searching a table for a piece of data that matches given conditions.
In other cases, instead of searching for a piece of data, we may have
to search for a method of solution. The important thing in either
case will be to have a strategy that will lead to the solution.
• Many publications give (in various forms) the procedure:
Data Process Solution
ACTIVITY
• Julia has been staying in a hotel on a business trip. When she checks out,
the hotel’s computer isn’t working, so the receptionist makes a bill by
hand from the receipts, totalling $471. Julia thinks she has been
overcharged, so she checks the itemised bill carefully.
• Room: 4 nights at $76.00 per night
• Breakfast: 4 at $10.00 each
• Dinners: 3 at $18.00 each
• Telephone: 10 units at $1.70 per unit
• Bar: various drinks totalling $23.00
• Laundry: 3 blouses at $5.00 each
• It appears that the receptionist miscounted one of the items when
adding up the total. Which item has Julia been charged too much for?
 SELECTING AND USING
INFORMATION
• In one very simple form, problem solving involves
understanding and making use of information.
• To solve a problem, I needs to select the correct pieces of
information and to use them in an appropriate manner.
• Information can come in a great variety of forms and, if you
want to be good at using it,
• you will need to practice extracting data from a range of
sources.
• Here are some forms that sets of information can take:
•• Tables: these could include summaries of surveys, specification sheets or
transport timetables.
•• Graphs: these are used in science and business to provide information in such a
way that it can be absorbed quickly and easily. For example, a graph may show
variables such as temperature over time; financial data may be shown in bar charts.
•• Words: numerical, spatial, logical and many other types of information can be
summarized or described in words.
•• Pictorial: pictures, for example in the form of engineers’ or architects’ drawings,
can be used not only to show what something looks like, but also to give information
about relative sizes and positions.
•• Diagrammatic: diagrams come in a wide range of forms: flow charts, maps,
schedules, decision trees and many other types can summaries numerical and spatial
information.
 PROCESSING DATA
• The problems covered here involve using the data in the correct
way to find the solution to the problem.
ACTIVITY
• Luiz and Bianca are brother and sister and go to the same school. Luiz
walks to school using a footpath, a distance of 900 m, and he walks at 1.5
m/s. Bianca cycles to school along the roads, a distance of 1.5 km, and
she cycles at 5 m/s. They both plan on arriving at school by 8.55 a.m.
Who leaves home first and by how much?
• A Bianca,by 5 minutes
• B Luiz,by 5 minutes
• C They leave at the same time
• D Bianca,by 10 minutes
• E Luiz,by 10 minutes
 FINDING METHODS OF SOLUTION

• The way of proceeding to an answer in some problems may not be

clear:
• a either because it is necessary to find an intermediate solution first,
• b or because we need to work simultaneously forward from the data
(to identify what can be calculated) and backwards from the required
answer (to identify what needs to be calculated).
 FINDING METHODS OF SOLUTION
• One strategy that can help to solve problems when you are not clear
how to proceed is to analyse the problem:
•• organise the information you are given
•• write down or underline those pieces of information which you
feel are important
•• simplify (reject unimportant information)
• • look at the question and decide what pieces of information could
lead to the answer
•• make a sketch, list or table.
 FINDING METHODS OF SOLUTION
• Sometimes, intermediate answers are necessary in order to proceed
to the complete solution.
• The solution of a problem can be like an argument that first leads to
one conclusion, which then, possibly using further information,
proceeds to the final conclusion.
ACTIVITY
• Petra’s electricity supply company charges her a fixed monthly sum
plus a rate per unit for electricity used. In the most expensive
quarter last year (January to March), she used 2000 units and her
bill was $250.
• In the least expensive quarter (July to September), she used 600
units and her bill was $138. She is now adding extra insulation to
her home which is expected to reduce her overall electricity
consumption by 25%. What can she expect her January to March
bill to be next year (if there are no increases in overall tariffs)?