How to Solve It

"Understand the problem" is often neglected as being obvious and is not even mentioned in many mathematics classes. Yet students are often stymied in their efforts to solve it, simply because they don't understand it fully, or even in part. In order to remedy this oversight, Pólya taught teachers how to prompt each student with appropriate questions,[7] depending on the situation, such as:

• What are you asked to find or show?[8]
• Can you restate the problem in your own words?
• Can you think of a picture or a diagram that might help you understand the problem?
• Is there enough information to enable you to find a solution?
• Do you understand all the words used in stating the problem?
• Do you need to ask a question to get the answer?

The teacher is to select the question with the appropriate level of difficulty for each student to ascertain if each student understands at their own level, moving up or down the list to prompt each student, until each one can respond with something constructive.

Pólya mentions that there are many reasonable ways to solve problems.[3] The skill at choosing an appropriate strategy is best learned by solving many problems. You will find choosing a strategy increasingly easy. A partial list of strategies is included:

• Guess and check[9]
• Make an orderly list[10]
• Eliminate possibilities[11]
• Use symmetry[12]
• Consider special cases[13]
• Use direct reasoning
• Solve an equation[14]

Also suggested:

• Look for a pattern[15]
• Draw a picture[16]
• Solve a simpler problem[17]
• Use a model[18]
• Work backward[19]
• Use a formula[20]
• Be creative[21]
• Applying these rules to devise a plan takes your own skill and judgement.[22]

Pólya lays a big emphasis on the teachers' behavior. A teacher should support students with devising their own plan with a question method that goes from the most general questions to more particular questions, with the goal that the last step to having a plan is made by the student. He maintains that just showing students a plan, no matter how good it is, does not help them.

This step is usually easier than devising the plan.[23] In general, all you need is care and patience, given that you have the necessary skills. Persist with the plan that you have chosen. If it continues not to work, discard it and choose another. Don't be misled; this is how mathematics is done, even by professionals. [3]

Pólya mentions that much can be gained by taking the time to reflect and look back at what you have done, what worked and what did not, and with thinking about other problems where this could be useful.[24][25] Doing this will enable you to predict what strategy to use to solve future problems, if these relate to the original problem.