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PROBLEM SOLVING AND REASONING

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this Chapter, you must be able to:
1. Use different types of reasoning to justify statements and arguments made about mathematics and
mathematical concepts;
2. Solve problems involving patterns and recreational problems following Polya’s Four steps; and
3. Organize one’s methods and approaches for proving and solving problems.

REASONING
• Reasoning is the practice of stating ideas clearly and precisely to arrive at a conclusion.
• Mathematics is not just about numbers; much of it is problem solving and reasoning. Problem solving
and reasoning are basically inseparable. The art of reasoning is very important in Mathematics. This is
the skill needed in exemplifying the critical thinking and problem-solving ability. Logic and reasoning are
very useful tools in decision making. People also do deductive reasoning extensively to show that certain
conjectures are true as these follow the rules of logic. A conjecture is a conclusion made from observing
data.

Kinds of Reasoning (Zuela, et. Al, 2009)

1. INTUITION is similar to guessing. It is also called reasoning by guessing or reasoning by common sense.
It requires less mental activity. It is something that is known without proof of evidence.

Examples:
1. In comparing two fractions, with the same numerator, one said he can subtract numerator from the
denominator and the smaller difference is larger fraction.
2. After the first meeting in her Statistics class, Mariah says, “I think I will like Statistics.”

2. ANALOGY is a form of reasoning in which other similarities are inferred from a particular similarity
between two or things. It is reasoning by comparison.

Examples:
1. Tree is to leaf as flower is to petal.
2. hammer : nail :: comb : hair
3. Finding a Good Man is Like Finding a Needled in a Haystack. –Dusty Springfield

3. INDUCTIVE REASONING is is the process of gathering specific information, usually through

observation and measurement and then making a conjecture based on the gathered information.

Examples:
Find the sum.
1=1
1+3=4
1+3+5=9
1+2+5+7=16
1+3+5+7+9 = ____
1+3+5+…+ (2n-1) = ____
n numbers
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4. DEDUCTIVE REASONING is the process of showing that certain statements follow logically
from agreed upon assumptions and proven facts.
Examples:
1. Suppose that the given statement is true. Use deductive reasoning to give another statement that must be
also true.
All birds can fly.
Tweetie is a bird.
Solution: Tweetie can fly.

2. Every filipino of age 18 and above can vote. Juan del Prado is a Filipino of age 24. Therefore, Juan del
Prado can vote.

Note: Deductive Reasoning is used in formal geometric proofs and often resorted to in proving theorems
and corollaries in Geometry.

Polya’s 4-Steps in Problem Solving

George Polya has had an important influence on problem solving in mathematics education. He stated that
good problem solvers tend to forget the details and tend to focus on the structure of the problem, while poor
problem solvers focus on the opposite.

Polya created his famous four-step process for problem solving, which is used all over to aid people
in problem solving:
Step 1: Understand the problem.
Step 2: Devise a plan (translate).
Step 3: Carry out the plan (solve).
Step 4: Look back (check and interpret).

Example No. 1:
A police station has 25 vehicles of motorcycles and cars. The total number of wheels is 70. Find the
number of motorcycles and cars the station has.

Step 1: Understand the problem

Given: 25 vehicles
70 wheels
Required: The number of cars and the number of motorcycles.

Step 2: Devise a plan.

Let x = number of cars
y = the number of motorcycles.
and x + y = 25 vehicles
4 wheels (x = cars) + 2 wheels (y = motorcycles) = 70 wheels
So, x + y = 25 vehicles and 4x + 2y = 70 wheels are the two equations formed base on the
problem.
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Step 3: Carry out the plan.

(1) x + y = 25
(2) 4x + 2y = 70, solving two equations with two unknown using process of elimination:
(1) -2(x + y = 25) → -2x – 2y = -50
(2) 4x + 2y = 70 → 4x + 2y = 70
______________
2x + 0 = 20
2x = 20
2 2
x = 10,
Since x denotes the number of cars, so, there are 10 cars. However, solving for y as the number of
motorcycles is as follows:
Since x + y = 25 then 10 + y = 25, y = 25 -10, finally y – 15, so there are 15 vehicles in
the police station.

Step 4: Look back.

Therefore, there are 10 cars with 4 wheels and 15 motorcycles with 2 wheels. The total number of
wheels is 70.

The following problem-solving strategies can be used:

1. SEARCHING FOR PATTERNS
- The ability to recognize patterns is one important problem solving skill. It enables a person to
see order or regularity in what takes place in our surroundings and so be able to make sense of
what is going on.
Example No. 2:
-
Find the next number in the sequence.
a. 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, …

Step
- 1: Understand the problem
Given: a. 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, …
- Required: The next number in the sequence.

Step 2: Devise a plan.

a. First term →5
Second term →9=5+4
Third term → 13 = 9 + 4
Fourth term → 17 = 13 + 4
Fifth term → 21 = 17 + 4
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Step 3: Carry out the plan.

Sequence:
5 9 13 17 21 25. There is a common difference of 4.

4 4 4 4 4
Therefore, the next number in the sequence is 29.

Step 4: Look back.

Answer: 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29.

2. WORKING BACKWARD
- A strategy that starts at the end of the problem and works backward.

Example No. 3:
Anne has a certain amount of money in her bank account on Friday morning. During the day she wrote a
check for Php 24.50, made an ATM withdrawal of Php 80 and deposited a check for 235. At the end of
the day, she saw that her balance was Php 451.25. How much money did she have in the bank ate the
beginning of the day?

Step 1: Understand the problem

Given: Php 24.50 check, ATM withdrawal Php 80, check deposit Php 235.
Required: Money she had in the bank at the beginning of the day.

Step 2: Devise a plan.

Start with Php 451.25. Subtract Php 235, add Php 80, and then add Php 24.50.

Step 3: Carry out the plan.

So, 451.25 – 235 + 80 + 24.50 = Php 320.75

Step 4: Look back.

Php 320.75 she had in the bank at the beginning of the day.

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3. DRAWING PICTURES AND DIAGRAMS

- A problem can be solved by means of a figure, a diagram, or a graph. It helps you visualize a
problem, makes it easier for you to determine the relevant data and observe important
connections and relationships.
Example No. 4:
Two cars left, at 8:00 AM, from the same point, one traveling East at 50 mph and the other travelling
South at 60 mph. At what time will they be 300 miles apart?
East

y
D

South

Step 1: Understand the problem

Given: 8:00 AM, Car 1 with 50 mph East, Car 2 with 60 mph South, 300 miles apart
Required: The time when they will be 300 miles apart.

Step 2: Devise a plan.

x = 50t and y = 60t

Since the two directions are at right angle, Pythagorean theorem can be used to find distance D
between the two cars as follows:
D = √(𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 )

Step 3: Carry out the plan.

We now find the time at which D = 300 miles by solving

√(𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 ) = 300
Square both sides and substitute x and y by 50t and 60t respectively to obtain the equation
(50t)2 + (60t)2 = 3002
Solve the above equations to obtain
t = 3.84 hours (rounded to two decimal places) or 3 hours and 51 minutes (to the nearest minute).

Step 4: Look back.

The two cars will be 300 miles apart at 8:00 AM + 3 h 51 ‘ = 11:51 AM.

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4. MAKING LIST AND TABLES

- The method “Make a Table” is helpful when solving problems involving numerical
relationships. When data is organized in a table, it is easier to recognize patterns and
relationship between numbers.

Example No. 5:
An algebra test consists of ten multiple choice questions. Ten points are given for each correct answer and
three points are deducted for each incorrect answer. If Joshua did all questions and scored 48, how many
incorrect answers did he have?

Step 1: Understand the problem

Given: 10 questions answered, score = 48, 10 points for each correct answer, 3 points deducted for
each incorrect answer.
Required: the number of correct answers.

Step 2: Devise a plan.

The number of correct answers (x) + number of incorrect answers (y) = 10

Score: 10 (x) – 3 (y)

Step 3: Carry out the plan.

Number of correct Number of incorrect Score = 10x – 3y

(x) (y)
10 0 100
9 1 87
8 2 74
7 3 61
6 4 48
5 5 35
4 6 22
3 7 9
From the table you can see that Joshua, who scored 48, must have had 6 correct answers and 4
incorrect answers.

Step 4: Look back.

For Joshua, x = 6 and y = 4, so, 6+4 = 10 items. Therefore, 10 x 6 – (3 x4) = 60 – 12 = 48

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Activity No. 7 (Polya’s 4 step in Problem Solving)

Directions:
Solve for the following problems using the 4 Steps of George Polya.
1. X, Y, Z collect stamps. They exchange stamps among themselves according to the following
scheme: X gives Y as many stamps as Y has and Z as many stamps as Z has. After that, Y gives X
and Z as many stamps each then has, and then Z gives X and Y as many stamps as each has. If each
finally has 64 stamps, with how many stamps does X start?
2. Many rode his bicycle 6 km east, 4 km west, and then 5 km east. How far is he from his starting
point?
3. T, U, W, X, Y and Z are points on a circle. Each of these points is connected to each other by a
line segment. How many line segments are there?
Find the next term in the following sequences:
4. 10, 10, 12, 16, 22, 30, …
5. 1, 7, 17, 31, 49, 71, …

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