Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/14/2015 - 09:15
Forums:
When I get stuck on a problem I always ask myself a series of questions to try to get myself unstuck:
What do I know? (and write it down)
Can I draw a diagram?
Is this like a problem I've already solved?
Is there any information in the problem that I haven't used yet?
Does anyone else have any good problem solving tips?
Sum Comfort
Great advice, I definitely find it useful just to start writing down what I know and seeing where it takes me.
I find the tips from Colin Beveridge's Sum Comfort really useful too: http://www.flyingcoloursmaths.co.uk/sum-comfort/
e.g. writing down what you want to find out as well as what you know, rewording the question and checking if there is information you haven't used.
looking at more basic
looking at more basic examples of the problem may help eg. if curve sketching and you get stuck put in values and see what you get if you know what all the cases are you can actually just pick numbers that lie in those cases and just sketch each of those.It is very important to look back and think what did I do before? and how can that help me? as STEP problems often follow on from the previous parts of the question(eg. this can be key for differential equations to think why the equation simplified down to something you could solve).
If you get stuck
if you reach a point where you have no idea what to do, its usually best to take a STEP back and have another look from the start.
see what i did there? *high fives myself*
Coming back later
I find that working on another problem for a while then coming back often helps me get unstuck - I guess my subconscious keeps mulling over the one I'm stuck on even while I'm doing something else