Values of Problem Solving

Additional Problem Solving Examples

 Patience
 Perseverance
 Accuracy
 Objectivity
 Seeking help from others
 Be independent
There was a jar of chocolate chip cookies on the
table. James and Monica were very hungry
because they hadn’t had anything to each since
breakfast. So they ate half of the cookies. Then
Victor came along and noticed the cookies. He
ate a third of what was left in the jar. Sharon,
who was waiting round nearby, decided to take a
fourth of the cookies left in the jar. Then Tiffany
came rushing up and took one cookies to munch
on in her class. When Valerie looked at the
cookie jar, she saw there were two cookies left.
How many cookies were in the jar to begin with?
 Conjecture : There were 12 cookies in the jar

(polya’s problem solving strategies)

Every GOOP is a GORP, Half of all GORGS are
GORPS. Half of all GORPS are GOOPS. There
are 40 GORGS and 30 GOOPS. No GORG is a
GOOP. How many GORPS are neither GOOPS
nor GORGS?
Conjecture : There are 10 Gorps which are
neither goop nor gorgs.

 (deductive reasoning- principles of set)

Solve the following cryptarithms. In each
problem, letter represent a single digit only.

a. (HE)2 = SHE

b. WRONG
+ WRONG
RIGHT
A. H = 2, E=5 S=6

B. W = 2 R=5 O=1
N =9 G=3 I=0
H =8 T=6
An egg vendor broke all the eggs that he was
delivering to a local store. He could not
remember how many eggs there were in all.
However, he did remember that when he tried
to pack them into 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 he had
one left over each time. When he packed
them into packages of 7, he had none left
over. What is the smallest number of eggs he
could have had in the shipment?
The lowest possible eggs that can placed in the
shipment is 301.
It is now 10:45 am, what time will it be in
143,999, 999,995 minutes from now?
ANSWER :
THE SAME TIME AFTER 100,000,000 DAYS.
Mang Ruben has only an 11-liter can and a
5-liter can. How can he measure out exactly
8.5 liters of water?
Father is thrice as old as is son. Ten years
from now, the father’s age is two more than
twice of the son’s age. How old are they
now?
Answer :
Son = 12 years old
Father = 36 years old
 Each of the four friends Donna, Sarah, Nikkie and
Xhanelle, has a different pet (fish, cat, dog, and
snake). From the following clues, determine the
pet of each individual.

1. Sarah is older than her friend who owns the cat

and younger that her friend who owns the dog.
2. Nikkie and her friend who owns the snake are
both of the same age and they are the youngest
member in the group.
3. Dona is the older than her friend who owns
fish.
Answer:
Sarah – fish
Donna – dog
Nikkie – cat
Xhanelle - snake
 Inductive and deductive Reasoning : The Tower of Hanoi

The tower of Hanoi is a logical puzzle, frequently

studied in cognitive psychology and used as a
test of problem –solving ability. Consisting of 3
pegs, on one of which are placed a number of
discs of varying diameter, the largest at the
bottom and the smallest at the top. The problem
is to move the tower of disks over to one of the
other pegs in the smallest number of moves,
moving one disc at a time and using the third
peg as a temporary way station as required,
never placing a larger disc on top of a smaller
one. Use 3 disks, 4 disks and 5 disks.
 When giving problem solving take into
consideration the knowledge and skills of the
students who will do the solution.
 Worksheets on problem solving.