CRC How To Solve A Problem 1032203617
CRC How To Solve A Problem 1032203617
CRC How To Solve A Problem 1032203617
academic spectrum. For example, he presents the rationale for using logic, not rote
memorization, to solve problems, and he discusses the importance of getting the
most from a textbook. Students will find the information in this book invaluable!”
—Professor Saundra McGuire, author of Teach Yourself How to Learn
Kelling J. Donald
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Names: Donald, Kelling J., author.
Title: How to solve a problem : insights for critical thinking, problem-solving, and success
in college / Kelling J. Donald.
Description: Boca Raton : CRC Press 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Subjects: LCSH: Critical thinking—Study and teaching (Higher) | Problem solving—Study
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Dedication
for
My Foreparents
who, in solving problems threatening basic survival,
afford my generation the space, access, and resources
to voluntarily tackle other types of problems
and
My Teachers
Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Author Biography xix
1 On Encountering a Problem 1
What Is a Problem? 1
The Right to Propose a Problem 2
The Implicit Faculty Commitment 3
The Responsibility of the Problem Solver 4
The Student’s Personal Commitment 4
Preparing for Problems 5
Patience, Persistence, and Problem-Solving 6
Knowing ≤ (The Battle)/2 7
To Take on a Problem 9
What’s Really a Blessing? 13
ix
x Contents
Preparing Papers 88
Writing Abstracts 89
Preparing Posters 91
Preparing Talks 95
xiii
xiv Preface
NOTES
1 For a strident argument on the place of rote learning in chemistry
see: Battino, R. On the Importance of Rote Learning J. Chem. Ed.
1992, 69, 135–137.
2 Elby, A. Another Reason that Physics Students Learn by Rote Phys.
Educ. Res. Am. J. Phys. Suppl. 1999, 67, S52–S57.
Acknowledgments
Kelling J. Donald
Richmond, VA
August 2022
NOTE
1 To the point and well-intended, if also gory, “There are many
ways to skin a cat” is one of my early lessons in problem-solving
from high school. I associate the quote most closely with Julyne
McKenzie-Innis’ physics classes, but it proved useful for other
subjects and is relevant to many aspects of life. The point of that
maxim: a problem can have many valid routes to a solution.
Author Biography
xix
Chapter ON E
On Encountering
a Problem
What Is a Problem?
Many different kinds of things are called problems. For this
engagement, we are considering challenges that invite you to
demonstrate and apply knowledge in an academic discipline.
The focus here is intellectual problem-solving, be it for real-
world applications or for classroom assessments of learning.
We consider problems in science and mathematics primarily,
but the key principles are applicable to other disciplines as well.
Problems usually present themselves by blessing you with
a body of information that you are called on to fashion into
a valid solution. The challenge comes when you are asked to
outline coherently such a solution, especially if conditions are
threatening to thwart your efforts or close your window of
opportunity. That thwarting may come in the form of a time-
keeper in an exam or the limits of your own patience. Scientific
problems in the undergraduate classroom, however, are usually
friendlier than we might think when we see them for the first
time. That is because instructors typically ensure that questions
on classroom activity sheets, tests, and exams come with routes
to successful resolutions that are (or should be) well within the
grasp of students, even if those routes are not obvious. In some
cases, a student may even find valid approaches or solutions
that the instructor did not quite anticipate.
Consider the following problem:
you know the barriers that specialized terms (the insider lan-
guage) can present even for people who both speak English. The
word ‘frequency,’ for instance, might bring very different ideas
to the minds of physicists and statisticians.
Thus, the earliest courses in many disciplines will usually
expose students to exciting ideas in the field while also intro-
ducing them to the language of that discipline. So, again, know-
ing is definitely part of the battle, and we learn the language by
exposure to the subject and practice. But knowledge must often
be weaved into solutions to problems by clear, creative, and
systematic thinking, and that – applying critical thinking and
logical analysis – is the rest, and often the larger part, of the
battle. Consider, for example, the following directive:
FIGURE 1.1 Examples of isomers: Four structural isomers of C4H8. These four compounds
are said to be isomers of each other because they have the same number of atoms of each
element (i.e. they have the same chemical formula, C4H8) but different arrangements of those
atoms.
On Encountering a Problem 9
To Take on a Problem
In this section, I offer three pieces of advice for your consider-
ation on the process of solving problems.
• Study Strategies
John has twelve red balls, Jill has two blue balls and one red
one, and Jake has three green balls and two red ones. How
many balls will John have left, if he gives one ball to Jill and to
Jake for each non-red ball that they have?
Carrying out such steps at the outset, while you are reading
the question, lays the foundation for success even before you
engage fully with the question.
For the question above, ‘counting your blessings’ might
mean writing down the following in your own words:
NOTE: John gives up one ball for each ‘none red’; How
many left??
our solution for the question. We will focus for now, however,
on process rather than specific answers so the rest of this solu-
tion is given in notes at the end of the chapter.6,7
That’s what your page might look like before you really start
processing the data. Remember that these opening scribblings
are primarily for harnessing what you know directly from the
question and from general knowledge of the topic. They do
not have to be very formal (it’s fine to use a simple arrow ‘→’
for instance rather than anything as pedantic or elaborate as
contain
‘ ⇒ ’), but make your scribblings as clear as you can since
they might help the grader to see how and what you were
thinking, even if your eventual answer is incorrect. Notice that
I start out by making a note of what the key goal or target is for
the overall question. Sometimes we get so engrossed in solving
part of a problem that we forget to respond to a separate part
of that same problem. So, making a note at the outset of all
16 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
NOTES
1 The ‘trial and error’ strategy (the ‘guess and check’ method) is a
rather unreliable partner in problem-solving because, for one, it can
be quite time-consuming. If we start, for instance, with a guess that
is far away from a valid solution, or if our guess is changed too
incrementally, we can spend a lot of time guessing. We would take
On Encountering a Problem 17
These laws are only two of several such statements that you
will learn or hear about as a science student. You will find that
understanding the origins or at least the basic logic of these
ideas, rather than just knowing them as rules, will allow you to
solve problems with greater confidence and ease. You will find
too that in many cases a law in one discipline is just an alterna-
tive way of expressing an idea that is framed in other terms in
another discipline. The law of mass conservation may appeal to
accountants and economists, for example, since the same notion –
if we have $10 and lose $6, we will only have $4 left – allows
them to successfully balance books and assess budgets, but we
should only apply laws to new disciplines after careful thought.
The zeroth law clearly parallels the axiom in mathematics that
‘If A = B and B = C, then A = C’ (i.e., “Things which are equal
to the same thing are also equal to one another”), which is one
of the ‘Common Notions’ in Euclid’s Elements.4 But that notion
The Logic of the Problem 21
such laws) can be consistent with, give reasons for, and allow
for predictions about phenomena, they are claims about those
phenomena, and not causes of them.
Civil War and you select 1914 as the year of Lincoln’s assas-
sination, that’s a bad sign.
Sometimes it is clear that an answer does not work logically,
such as a negative number of rabbits, or if the number of tires
used plus the number of tires remaining is different from the
total number of tires with which you started.
Sometimes flaws in your answer will be apparent, but only if
you are very familiar with the content of the course. If you have
a good idea from laboratory experiments for what 18 grams
of water looks like and you recall that 18 grams of water is
very roughly 1 mole of water molecules, which is 6.022 × 1023
water molecules, and each water molecule contains two H
atoms and an O atom, and those are made up of electrons pro-
tons, and neutrons, then clearly a single electron could not have
a mass of 2 kilograms.
There is sometimes the temptation, in working on an assign-
ment or exam, to simply find an answer quickly and move on
to another question, but it helps to ask at the end of a problem
if the answer that you landed on is at least logical and reason-
able based on everything else that you know. At the very least,
that might allow you to leave a meaningful note to the profes-
sor, “This answer makes no sense, but I’m not sure what I did
wrong.” Such a note will earn you perhaps no extra point on a
test, but it will show that you appreciate the logic structure of
the subject. And that says a lot.
Find the speed in m/s units of a huge blue truck that covers
3.6 km in two mins.
Counting Blessings
Goal: need speed in m/s units??
The student could make the following observations:
(1) Truck is irrelevant, huge blue or otherwise!
(2) Distance: 3 km = 3.6 × 1000 m = 3,600 m.
(3) Time: 2 minutes = 2 × 60 seconds = 120 seconds.
[Unwritten Reflection: What is speed? I do not know,
but I have values in meters and seconds and the answer
should be in meters/seconds, so I will just divide and hope
for the best.]
Counting Blessings
Kinetic energy, EK, is just another form of energy. The
SI unit of energy is joule, and
In base units, 1 joule = 1 kg·m2·s−2.
mass = 10 kg; momentum, p, = 50 kg·m·s−1.
[Unwritten Reflection (or addition to working): The unit
of energy is kg·m2·s−2, and the only way to get ‘m2·s−2’ from
mass and momentum is to square momentum. That would
give p2 = 2500 kg2·m2·s−2, but now we have kg and kg2 from
the units of mass and p2, respectively, and the only way to get
kg from that is to divide p2 by mass.]
NOTES
1 Terms like principles, rules, and laws are sometimes used loosely and
interchangeably, but laws, briefly defined, are summary statements of
experimental observations accepted universally as true. Theorems –
you will find many of these in mathematics – are claims that have been
proven based on simpler claims that are taken to be self-evidently
true (i.e., axioms) or other already proven theorems.
The Logic of the Problem 31
Solutions in Words
Answering Short
Answer Questions
Both formats are asking essentially the same thing, even though
we do not include the units ‘books’ in the second format. And
we can answer the question in more or less verbose ways
as well.
practice. After all, even for regular prose, we all had to famil-
iarize ourselves early on in language learning with other sym-
bols (punctuation marks) that we take for granted now when
we read, such as those here between – and including – these
parentheses (‘’., – ;?: – ! “”). We are so comfortable with these
symbols that we usually feel no anxiety at all when we see them
in a paragraph that we must read and understand. Why are we
so comfortable with them? We have spent years using them
and – the great benefits of childhood education – those symbols
were introduced to us before we learned to be overly anxious
about symbolic reasoning and learning in general.
In mathematical representations, the use of symbols has the
special advantage of making our arguments somewhat more
accessible across language barriers, even if sometimes dif-
ferent symbols are used for numbers or certain mathematical
operations across languages. Keep in mind too that this reli-
ance on symbols is not unique to the natural sciences and math-
ematics. Special symbols are used to good effect to summarize
information and to provide instructions in music (♯♭♫), and in
any number of other areas of life.
NOTES
1 The three dots in the arrangement ‘∴’ is shorthand for ‘therefore.’
It is used in constructing logical arguments in various areas across
the sciences and mathematics.
2 For an example of how academics have sought to capitalize on this
evident parallel between equations and text see: Roy, S.; Upadhyay,
S.; Roth, D. EQUATION PARSING: Mapping Sentences to Ground‑
ed Equations arXiv:1609.08824v1. 2016.
Chapter F OUR
Title Page
– The title of the book and names of the authors
Table of Contents
– Chapter titles, insights into what each chapter has to offer,
the order in which the subject is covered, and the relevant
page numbers.
Preface and Acknowledgments
Contents (Book Chapters) – Individual chapters of the
book.
– It is common for each chapter in science textbooks to end
with practice problems specific to the material covered in
that chapter, some questions drawing too on knowledge from
preceding chapters.
Appendices – Additional supporting information.
– An appendix might provide some helpful technical notes,
a more advanced treatment of a particular topic, addi-
tional evidence or supporting materials for claims made
in the book, or tables of scientific constants or chemical
data.
Answers to All or Selected Chapter Problems
Glossary – Key terms and their definitions.
Index – List of words (significant topics, names, important
ideas, etc.) mentioned in chapters in the book.
M aking Te x tbook s Pay 41
NOTES
1 Mpemba, E. B.; Osborne, D. G. “Cool?” Phys. Educ. 1969, 4,
172–175. (See also an interview with Mpemba and Osborne here:
https://youtu.be/dOAUdJR0SIo; Last accessed July 30, 2022.)
2 Marking, underlining, and highlighting can help with relocating
points of interest in texts, even if the efficacy of such practices
as study aids has been debated. Two academic papers, examples
of articles that consider the question, are the following: (a) Yue,
C. L.; Storm, B. C.; Kornell, N.; Bjork, E. L. Highlighting and Its
Relation to Distributed Study and Students’ Metacognitive Beliefs
Educ Psychol Rev 2015, 27, 69–78. (b) Lindner, R.; Gordon, W.;
Harris, B. Highlighting Text as a Study Strategy: Beyond Atten-
tional Focusing. Presented at: Annual Meeting of American Educa‑
tional Research Association New York, NY, April 8–12, 1996, p. 9.
A copy of the paper is available at the ERIC website with ERIC #:
ED401320. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED401320.
3 “The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it” is
a quote from a commentary on communication and selling failures
and the need for listening by American businesses: Fortune, 1950,
September, 77–83; 167–178 (quote on p. 174)). Similar perspec-
tives apply, I think, to and have been articulated on knowledge and
understanding. What we think we know and understand is often
(much) more than we know or understand. An aside: the Fortune
magazine article was unattributed, but a book on the subject and
under the same title, by William H. Whyte, then an Associate Editor
at Fortune, appeared in 1952.
4 Quite often, the actual answers to all or selected questions from
chapters in science textbooks are provided at the back of the book.
The working, however, is typically not provided there. Some text-
books have separate accompanying solutions manuals that show
step-by-step procedures (the working, as we call it) for solving
44 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
problems that are included in the textbook. The suggestion here too
is that you should attempt the problem seriously first before con-
sulting the solutions manual, or other people.
5 The so-called Dunning-Kruger effect comes to mind: Kruger, J.;
Dunning, D. Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in
Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-
assessments J. Person. Soc. Psychol. 1999, 77, 1121–1134. The
authors – two researchers in social psychology – found from a
series of studies that (in a positive rendition that makes contact with
our discussion), as we become more skilled in an area, our abilities
to recognize our weaknesses also increase.
Chapter FIV E
Solutions in Numbers
Basic Mathematical Procedures
from high school and build with them a platform for the ongo-
ing expansion in college of your analytical and mathematical
skills.
That is, the order of the numbers does not matter for a series
of additions or multiplications:
2 + (3 + 4) = 2 + 7 = 9; and (2 + 3) + 4 = 5 + 4 = 9.
2 × (3 × 4) = 2 × 12 = 24 and (2 × 3) × 4 = 6 × 4 = 24
a(b + c) = ab + ac.
Solutions in Numbers 47
c2 = a2 + b2,
where a and b are the lengths of the other two sides of the
triangle.1
If we consider the angle θa in Figure 5.1, we can define the
following functions:
cos θa = sin θb, and sin θa = cos θb, and tan θa = 1 / tan θb.
FIGURE 5.1 A right-angled and an arbitrary triangle (left, and right, respectively), with
geometrical parameters labelled.
48 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
a b c
Sine rule: = =
sin sin sin
cos2θ + sin2θ = 1.
Solution
Counting Blessings
Write down any helpful piece of information from the ques‑
tion and any relevant bit of knowledge that you bring to the
problem that might be useful in finding a solution.
This is what we know: We are told that cos2θ + sin2θ = 1,
and we have definitions of sec θ and tan θ in terms of
cos θ and sin θ. Namely,
1 / cos θ = sec θ ⇒ 1 / cos2θ = sec2θ, and tan θ = sin θ / cos θ
⇒ tan2θ = sin2θ / cos2θ
Solution
For the right triangle, sin θc = sin 90 = 1
a c a c
So = given us = and transposing
sin n sin a 1
a
yields, as expected: sin a = .
c
Solutions in Numbers 51
b c
And we can show similarly that =
sin sin
b
a right triangle, si b =
c
Solution
We want to show that the general cosine rule is consistent
with the result cos θa = b / c for right triangles. We could start
with any version of the rule, and a 2 = b 2 + c 2 2bc cos a,
which already has cos θa in it, seems the natural choice, but
a quick diversion allows us to accomplish two objectives in
this single solution.
Consider for a moment this c2 = a2 + b2 – 2ab ⋅ cos θc
version of the cosine rule. We know that cos 90o = 0. So,
the cosine rule simplifies readily, for any right triangle, to:
c2 = a2 + b2
which might looks a bit ghastly, but they say the darkest part of
the night is just before dawn – and here it comes, because that
substitution gives us, cos a = (a2– b2 – a2 – b2) / 2bc, which we
can rewrite as cos a = (a2– a2 – 2b2) / 2bc and thus, cos a =
(−2b2) / −2bc. And you may have noticed already that cos a =
(−2b2) / −2bc simplifies even further to
cos a = b / c,
which was our goal! So, there we have it!
And we can show similarly, for the same triangle, that
cos b = a / c.
****
Exercise: You can get to the same result by a somewhat
different procedure if you start with one of the other two
versions of the cosine rule, but I leave that exercise for you
to take on, if you wish.
FIGURE 5.2 Model illustrating the usefulness of trigonometric thinking, and how it
finds relevance in practical situations.
x a xb x( a + b )
(x )
b
a
= x ab
1 1 x2 − x1 x −x
− = =− 1 2
x1 x2 x1 x2 x1 x2
( a b) ( a − b) = a 2 − b 2
(a b) (a + b) = (a + b) 2 = a 2 + 2ab + b 2
(a b) (a − b) = (a − b) 2 = a 2 − 2ab + b 2
54 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
n ! n (n 1) (n 2). . . (1).
0! = 1
n
ai = a1 + a2 . . . + an
i =1
n
ai a1 a2 . . . an
i =1
1 1 1 1 1
= + + + + . . . = 2.71828. . .
n =0
n ! 0 ! 1! 2 ! 3!
FIGURE 5.3 Graph of y = 20ex and its tangent line (y = 401.7x – 803.4) when x = 3. At
that point on the exponential curve, y = 20ex = 401.7 and the gradient is also 401.7.
data that is still quite useful but employs a narrower and more
manageable range of values.3
log(a) + log(b) = log(a ⋅ b). This is true for all logarithms, so:
And similarly:
FIGURE 5.4 Sample plots of four straight-line equations. Notice that, on the left, each
function is the negative of the other. On the right, cases where m = 0 and b = 0 are shown.
58 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
(
ln( A) = ln Ao e − kt ) ( )
ln( A) = ln ( Ao ) + ln e − kt
ln( A) = ln ( Ao ) − kt . 1n e
And once we plot ln(A) vs. t and get our straight line, all that
will remain is to read the value of ln(Ao) from the y-intercept
(and solve for Ao, since eln( Ao ) = Ao ) and obtain the value of −k
(and get k, thus) from the slope.
Why would we wish to make the effort to determine the values
of Ao and k? As we mentioned, exponential equations are ubiqui-
tous in the sciences. We just mentioned radioactive decay, and, as
another example, an equation of the form A = A0e−kt arises as well
in chemical kinetics. In that case, Ao would be the concentration
of a certain reactant at the very start of a reaction (a fixed value)
and A is the concentration of the reactant at any given time, t,
as the reaction progresses. As we just saw, it’s relatively cheap
to determine the values of Ao and k using the linear form of the
exponential equation, but the rewards are tremendous, since the
values of both Ao and k are very useful pieces of information for
chemists seeking to understand reactions.6
Quadratic Equations
Another common class of mathematical functions that you are
likely to meet again is the quadratic equation: y = ax2 + bx + c.
Just as straight-line equations (y = mx + b) have their own
inherent features, such as having a positive slope if b is positive
Solutions in Numbers 59
FIGURE 5.5 A few quadratic functions (y = ax2 + bx + c) with positive and negative ‘a’
values. The curves have the same xextremum value but different numbers of x-intercepts (i.e.,
solutions for 0 = ax2 + bx + c) – two solutions (top graphs), one solution (bottom left), and
none – that is, no real roots (bottom right).
60 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
( )
1/ 2
x = −b ± b 2 − 4ac / 2a Quadratic Formula
FIGURE 5.6 Graphs illustrating the influence of changes in the three constants (a [left],
b [center], and c [right]) on quadratic equations. The function y = 2x2 + 4x – 4 (bold unbroken
curve) is common to all three panels.
Solutions in Numbers 61
FIGURE 5.7 Sample scatter plots fitted to an exponential function (a), and a straight line
(b). The two plots are related; (a) is the exponential form, A = Aoe–qx, and (b) is the linear
form, ln A = ln Ao – qx.
62 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
Simultaneous Equations
Although modern computational tools can generate the equa-
tion for a line once the data are available, it is useful to know
that we can ascertain the full equation for any straight line, for
example, if we know as little as two data points that fall exactly
on that line. How would we do that? It turns out that once you
know the form of the equation, in this case that it is a straight-
line equation with the general form y = mx + b, and you know
that the data points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) are both common to that
straight line, we can capitalize on that shared feature of the two
data points – that they both have m and b in common – to deter-
mine the values of m and b. Put another way: If y1 = mx1 + b
is true, then y2 = mx2 + b must also simultaneously be true. So,
we have two equations and two unknowns, which means we can
find a solution for m and c. Indeed, the function does not need to
be a straight-line equation at all. The key criterion is that we have
as many data points as we have unknowns that we want to find.
Broadly speaking, simultaneous equations are functions
that must all be valid at the same time.
12 = K + 0.5K = 1.5 K
So, K = 12/1.5 = 8. And, since 0.5 = I/K, we can write
I = 0.5K = 0.58 = 4. So, K = 8 and I = 4.
Solutions in Numbers 63
Similarly, if we know two data points (t1, A1) and (t2, A2) for a
function of the form A = Ao e − kt , or the log form, ln(A) = ln(Ao)
– kt, we will be able to determine values for Ao and k as follows
using simultaneous equations. We will show the solution for
the exponential case first and then the linear form.
−kt −kt
A1 = Ao e 1 and A2 = Ao e 2 ,
A
so Ao = − kt1 , and substituting into the equation for A2 gives,
e 1
A
A2 = − kt1 e − kt2 such that A2 / A1 e + kt1 e − kt2 and simplify-
e 1
ing this expression gives A2 / A1 = e( 1 2 ) = e ( 1 2 ). And we
+ kt − kt k t −t
can now solve for k by finding the natural log of both sides of
the equation:
ln ( A2 / A1 )
ln ( A2 / A1 ) = k ( t1 − t2 ) from which we find k = .
( t1 − t2 )
Once we have found k in this way, we can use our earlier
equation for either A1 or A 2 (see above) to find the value
of Ao.
A1
This is, Ao = − kt .
e 1
A
And Ao = − kt2 should give the same value.
e 2
Option 2 – The Straight Line Form: In(A) = In(Ao) – kt
If the data points (t1, A1) and (t2, A2) both obey the same func-
tion ln (A) = ln (Ao) – kt then we can write,
and by substitution into our equation above for ln (Ao), that is:
ln ( Ao ) = ln ( A1 ) + kt1
we can find the value of ln (Ao) first and then calculate Ao, since,
ln ( A )
as we saw above, Ao = e o .
You can decide for yourself which of the two options that we
just considered for finding Ao and k is better. The goal here was
to illustrate how to solve simultaneous equations for two differ-
ent types of functions. The first pair of simultaneous equations
were exponential functions, and the second pair were their cor-
responding linear forms, and we showed, using two data points
((t1, A1) and (t2, A2)), that both approaches enable us to access the
constants, Ao and k.
f = 5 g − 13 ⇒ f = 2.
Exercise:
( i) Going back to the type of problem that triggered our
discussion of simultaneous equations, find values for m
Solutions in Numbers 65
A Word on Matrices
Consider the two linear simultaneous equations that we just
discussed in the worked example:
3 f + 4 g = 18
f − 5 g = −13
f
3 4 = 18
g
The rules for matrix multiplication are that, going from left
to right, we multiply terms in rows with corresponding terms in
the columns and add the resulting expressions. In this case, that
would give, as we expected, 3·f + 4·g = 18. One consequence
of this way of writing down an equation is that the first matrix
must have as many columns as the second one has rows. For a
pair of simultaneous equations, this happens automatically. For
the two equations that we wrote down at the start of this sec-
tion, for example, the corresponding matrix form is,
3 4 f 18
= .
1 −5 g −13
66 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
f 18
And we can abbreviate that expression as M = .
g −13
But our real objective is to find f and g. So, how do we do
that using matrices? I thought you’d never ask!
To solve for f and g, matrix algebra affords us a few options.
One approach that we might follow is called Cramer’s rule.
To do so, we have to define what we refer to as a square matrix
and introduce the concept of the determinant – a value that is
characteristic of a given square matrix.
A square matrix is a matrix that has the same number of
a b
rows and columns, such as the following n × n cases, 1 1
a b c a2 b2
1 1 1
18 4 3 18
−13 −5 −38 1 −13 −57
=f = = 2 and =g = = 3
3 4 −19 3 4 −19
1 −5 1 −5
Solutions in Numbers 67
C = 2r.
68 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
FIGURE 5.8 Key parameters for some basic shapes you will encounter.
A = r2.
NOTES
1 In some disciplines, such as mathematics, and for various topics
across the natural sciences, angles are often expressed in radi-
an units. Let’s say you have a circle of radius r. If you traverse
a distance equal to exactly r on the perimeter of that circle, the
corresponding sector angle (defined by the center of the circle,
and the points on the perimeter where you started and where you
stopped) is 1 radian. If you traversed instead exactly halfway
around the circle, the corresponding angle (which is 180°)
is ∼3.1416 radians – more exactly, π radians. So, 180° = π radians,
90° is π/2 radians, and so on. An advantage of radian units is that
it directly links angle to the corresponding distance traveled (in
radians or ‘radius’ units) on the circumference of the circle of that
72 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
Practical Solutions
Science in the Laboratory
Once the laboratory activities get underway for the day, you
should – a reminder here – see the experience as another chance
to learn more about this intriguing universe in which we live.
Focus on the joy of being able to test and to (dis)prove ideas that
you only heard about before. Embrace the active learning expe-
rience. Do not be overly stressed about handling new equip-
ment, or by the thought that you might not know everything
you will need to know to complete the experiment successfully
that day. If you can manage it, relax, be positive, follow the
experimental procedures in an orderly and safe way, and dive
in – keeping the laboratory rules in mind: not eating, drinking,
or playing in the laboratory, handling chemicals and equipment
safely and with appropriate personal protective equipment, and
so on (see Appendix III on safe problem-solving).
Take good notes during the experiment on what you are
doing and observing. You do not need to rewrite the procedure
for the experiment unless you are asked specifically to do so,
but you might write down, for example, that you or the team
you are working with, “Completed step #1 as directed success-
fully.” Be sure to record as well any significant exception or
deviation from the originally prescribed procedure issued for
the experiment. Make a note, for instance, of the fact that, “Step
#2 took three times as long as the directions said it should,
even though we did not deviate from the procedure.” And
you are free to add, “We are not sure at all what happened –
should check with the lab T.A.” Such a note might remind you,
later on, to send a message to the teaching assistant (T.A.) about
your observation, and to mention in your final report too per-
haps that the directions might be understating the time required
for Step #2.
You will usually be expected indeed to write a report after
you leave the laboratory, a document that will include an anal-
ysis of the results you obtained during the experiment. That
report may eventually be submitted for grading and the profes-
sor should get the graded outcome back to you as soon as possi-
ble. Once your laboratory report has been graded and returned,
be sure to check for successes and any mistakes or errors that
you made. This step is very important for laboratory experi-
ments, because some skills, such as stoichiometric calculations
in chemistry, or making accurate volume and other physical
measurements, and the preparation of aqueous solutions will
be called on repeatedly in future experiments. So, if you can
find ways to improve on your laboratory skills early on (hence
the need for early feedback), those lessons and improvements
will be gifts that will keep on giving.
78 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
An Appreciation of Errors
You are likely to have detailed discussions early on in your
undergraduate laboratory courses about error analysis –
uncertainties and errors (random and systematic), accuracy and
precision, error propagation, least squares fitting, and so on.
And the treatment of those topics will become more quantitative
and rigorous as you progress in college. A discussion of error
analysis is not attempted here, but let us close this section with
a few comments on how to think, in broad terms, about sources
82 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
Ethical Engagement
Going back to an issue we hinted at previously. What would you
do if you made a potentially devastating mistake that could cost
you a good grade or you got some results from your experiment
or assignment that are wildly different from what you expect or
think the professor expects? What should you do? In all cases,
it is required of scientists to preserve the highest ethical stan-
dards in conducting and reporting their work. Take responsi-
bility for your mistakes, and report results that are faithful to
what you observed or calculated. Do not invent or falsify data
to suit (presumed) expectations or for any other reason. Do not
plagiarize. And guard against other temptations (or efforts by
peers) to deceive or delude instructors or any other audience
about the nature or quality of your study and its results. If your
solution did not undergo a color change, do not claim or pretend
that it did. Put another way, if your professor made a mistake
and gave you the wrong solutions such that no color change
should have occurred, do you want to be one of those students
who claim to have seen a change because they knew that was
the expected result? You will naturally be worried that the
laboratory instructor, for example, will be disappointed or dis-
pleased and deliver a disastrous grade upon reading the report,
but you might be surprised how impressed the professor will
be if you assess the situation honestly and plainly. You might
even say, “My lab partner and I expected a color change based
on our understanding of the experiment, but we did not observe
any. We cannot find any good reason for that outcome, and
would be happy to discuss it with you in case we overlooked
something or there is some other explanation.” There is no way
to guarantee what kind of grade you will receive if you really
did make a momentous mistake, but a clear conscience and an
intact reputation for integrity are infinitely more valuable than
an illicit ‘A+.’ In general, for all of your academic activities – in
the teaching and research laboratory or otherwise – it is criti-
cal that you maintain the highest personal standards of aca-
demic (and ultimately professional) conduct and be honest and
responsible in executing and presenting your work.
Your professor has an ethical obligation to you as well. If
you have reasonable concerns about or potential difficulties
with any aspect of the laboratory experience, such as allergies
Pr ac tic al Solutions 85
NOTES
1 You will find that scientists will disagree even on what the scientific
method is. That “There is indeed no such thing as ‘the’ scientific
method” is a claim from one commentator: The Limits of Science,
Peter Medawar, Oxford University Press, 1984 (see pp. 50–52).
The presumption that the ‘scientific method’ is a road map to sure
success, “a kind of calculus of discovery” is a presumption chal-
lenged in that short book.
2 A technical treatment of the development and nature of science is
offered by The Natures of Science, Neville McMorris, Fairleigh
Dickinson Univ Press, 1989.
3 Even if constructing and stating a hypothesis is not always neces-
sary, this article, written by ecologists but of broader interest, argues
for its usefulness in many cases, and even the value of considering
multiple hypotheses: Betts, M. G.; Hadley, A. S.; Frey, D.W., et al.
When Are Hypotheses Useful in Ecology and Evolution? Ecol.
Evol. 2021, 11, 5762–5776.
4 A mountain in Antarctica has been named ‘Mount Hypothesis’ as a
tribute to the historic role of the hypothesis in the scientific method:
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica of the Scientific Committee
on Antarctic Research – Place ID: 20160; Name ID: 139232.
5 These are errors that arise because of the position of the reader rela-
tive to the instrument. To read the volume of a liquid in a measuring
cylinder or burette, for example, you should have your eyes level
with the center of the meniscus. That usually means to the bottom
of the concave meniscus. In cases where the meniscus is convex
(e.g., liquid mercury) such that the center of the meniscus is above
the liquid-container interface, the reading is taken from the top of
the meniscus. Similarly, we should read analog clocks face on, not
from the left or the right, to minimize errors.
Chapter S E V E N
Preparing Papers
Reading good books by good writers and engaging with your
friends in mutual, honest, and helpful criticism of each other’s
writing can strengthen your writing. When you are preparing a
paper for a specific assignment, make sure that you are clear on
the topic and the requirements for the paper. What are the spac-
ing and margin requirements? How many pages are allowed?
Do you need a dedicated citation section at the end or should
you use footnotes? And so on. If in doubt, always assume that
you should include references in some way. This will help you
to avoid, too, any hint of plagiarism. Other questions: How
should references and notes be formatted? Are there limita-
tions and style preferences for figure and table captions? Is an
abstract required? For papers in college, anything that is not
specifically required by your professor can be decided at your
reasonable discretion in line with norms from previous papers
that you have written for that or similar types of courses, but
you can also double-check with your professor. If you decide
on your own to do something odd or exceptional – like put-
ting only the word ‘simple’ (in red, in the center) on the second
page of what should be a three-page essay on the philosophy of
simplicity – you should know, at least, that you are rolling the
dice on your grade for that paper. Even with high levels of cre-
ativity, it is usually important that you stay centered on the
topic at hand and honor the goals of the assignment. All of the
style and innovation that one can infuse into a paper or project
will not help usually if you fail to meaningfully address the
actual learning goals, themes, or topic of the assignment.
Different types of essays will require somewhat different
styles. An argument against sending animals on test flights to
Mars, for example, would call for a different tone (and a dif-
ferent structure too, possibly), from that of an essay on the
impact of the industrial revolution on family life in England.
There are many resources available online and through your
college’s writing center on writing well – on the use of lan-
guage, basics of argumentation, the mechanics of effective
essays, and so forth – and you should feel free to draw guid-
ance from those sources. As for materials relevant to the actual
topic under consideration, you are free, too, to draw, within
the parameters of the assignment, on hard copy or electronic
resources, such as dictionaries, thesauri, reference books, news
Spre ading the Word 89
Writing Abstracts
Many college papers that you will write will be conventional
essays followed perhaps by bibliographies or references. Many
academic papers in science and other disciplines will require
an abstract, too, that will precede the full essay or scientific
report. The abstract is an ‘introductory summary’ of your
paper that has a word limit in many science journals of about
200 to 250 words. It’s ‘introductory’ because it comes at the
beginning of the paper, is usually the first part of a paper that
someone will read, and it is your chance to welcome the reader
90 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
Preparing Posters
Some of your college courses may require you to prepare a
poster on the outcomes of an individual or group project, and
undergraduate research students often prepare reports on their
work in poster formats as well for special research sympo-
sia. Such presentations often precede any publication of their
results as peer-reviewed papers in academic journals. So,
poster sessions tend to be the first opportunities that success-
ful research students have to share their work with the wider
academic community and the public.
Keys to preparing a good poster and presenting it well: gain-
ing a deep understanding of your results, designing an appeal-
ing and readable poster, and having a coherent message that
you can deliver clearly and succinctly. Unless your research
group has a rigid format for undergraduate posters, you will
have some real autonomy over the appearance of your poster.
I include here two model poster layouts (Figure 7.1). The
poster design at the top in that figure is more traditional.
The second one, which I composed just for this purpose, may
be too scandalous for some and quite appealing for others. The
options are infinite; the choice is often yours. Whatever your
preference in style, however, convey your information clearly
92 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
FIGURE 7.1 Model poster formats: a rather traditional format at the top and an alternative
at the bottom.
Spre ading the Word 93
Preparing Talks
An oral presentation supported by slides or demonstrations is
an excellent way to report the results of a study or research
project, or to share a new idea. The information that you will
be presenting may have been generated by others and you are
simply reporting it, or it may be the result of data mining or
original research that you completed alone or as part of a team.
One can give a talk on almost anything, but the key to a suc-
cessful presentation is to be persuaded that the material that
you are presenting is interesting and important (to you at least,
and hopefully to the audience as well). If you are persuaded
that the issues to be discussed in your talk are important, you
should reflect that fact in your preparation to deliver the talk
(making time to envision and develop the talk, assembling
materials or samples that you might want to show to the audi-
ence, and practicing the delivery of the talk). The quality of
your presentation – for example, voice volume and control, eye
96 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM
NOTES
1 The Elements of Style William Strunk Jr., E. B. White, Pearson; 4th
Edition, 1999.
2 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, William
Zinsser, Harper Perennial; 30th Anniversary. Edition. 2016.
3 This is a fictional bug, to be sure. So too is the abstract. It’s con�-
structed to illustrate the basic form and general elements of an
abstract. What you include in your abstract will be dictated ulti-
mately by the nature of your study and the key message that you
wish to deliver with your report.
4 Depending on the nature of the presentation and the context, the
poster might even be shown on a screen – an option for small class
presentations, for example.
Chapter E IGHT
Persisting against
Problems
Get a Calendar
Electronically or on paper, schedule the things that you need to
do, such as attending your classes and fulfilling other academic
commitments, studying, watching or playing a game, and so
on. You do not have to be rigid when unexpected demands
arise, but you should have a plan. Do not live to indulge the
next arbitrary whim of a friend, or worse, others with no inter-
est at all in your success.
advice that will make you proud of your choices a decade from
now. Good friendships are blessings that you should count
as you assess the resources available to you, as you confront
problems in college beyond your academic commitments. You
should value and nurture fellowship with those who strengthen
you as a student and as a person more broadly.
Be Good to Others
You cannot be everyone’s best and closest friend (and you
should not try to be), but as much as you can, be kind to others
with whom you will live, learn, study, and serve in the college
community. Here you might consider others who are less well-
off, less popular, and less represented than you are, be they
fellow students or service staff, for example. An attitude of
gratitude is a big plus as you live in a community, even if not in
communion, with others.
Celebrate
Find sober and healthy ways to affirm and rejoice in your suc-
cesses. You made the Dean’s list, published your first article
in the student newspaper, completed a project, delivered a pre-
sentation at a conference, and got the campus job or internship
you wanted. Relish the victories. Acknowledge and celebrate
them, even in small ways such as making a note of them in
your journal, if you have one, or sharing the news with friends.
Mark the moments. This applies to completing a demanding
academic assignment, winning a class debate, getting into
graduate school, and every other reason to rejoice. In a quiet
college exam room with other students, a smile and mumbling
“Yes! Awesome!” might be enough merriment for crushing a
big question during a test. If it’s winning a coveted scholarship
or a campus student award, you might call your grandmother,
share the news, catch up with a few close friends, and celebrate.
There will be points now and again in the problem-solving pro-
cess when despondence sets in, when a question seems intractable,
a paper seems unwritable, and experiments for a laboratory course
or undergraduate research project seem unworkable. And you will
get beyond those points, but marking current victories can energize
you for times like those when you take on your next big challenge.
NOTES
1 Mathematics for Human Fluorishing, Su, F. (with reflections by
Christopher Jackson), Yale University Press, 2021. See chapter 8:
struggle.
2 Clance, P. R.; Imes, S. A. The Impostor Phenomenon in High
Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention Psy‑
chother: Theory. Res. Pract. 1978, 15, 241–247.
3 Langford, J.; Clance, P. R. The Impostor Phenomenon: Recent
Research Findings Regarding Dynamics, Personality and Family
Patterns and their Implications for Treatment Psychother: Theory.
Res. Pract. Train. 1993, 30, 495–501.
4 Food, Sleep, Exercise: Why You Seriously Need All 3 to Be Successful
Power, R. Success Magazine. July 19, 2017: www.success.com/food-
sleep-exercise-why-you-seriously-need-all-3-to-be-successful/
Last accessed February 2, 2022.
Appendix I
Additional Notes on Matrices and Matrix Algebra
1 0
I= .
0 1
We can confirm as follows that this matrix has the same effect
as unity in basic multiplication. This example will help us as
well to see more clearly how matrix multiplication works.
1 0 3 4 3 4
= .
0 1 1 −5 1 −5
1× 3 + 0 × 1 1× 4 + 0 × −5 3 4
that is, = .
× + × × 4 + 1× −5 1 −5
1 0 3 4
= M -1
0 1 1 −5
3 4
where M−1 is the inverse of the matrix M = .
1 −5
107
108 Appendix I
1
M −1 Adj(M )
|M|
d −b
M ( a d c b)
−c a
3 4
So, for the matrix that we introduced above, ,
1 −5
Where | M | a d c b = (3 × (−5) − 1× 4) = −19 and
−5 −4
Adj(M ) =
−1 3
We find that:
1 −5 −4 5 / 19 4 / 19
M −1 = = .
−19 −1 3 1 / 19 (−3) / 19
5 / 19 4 / 19
M −1 = : The inverse matrix for our problem.
1 / 19 (−3) / 19
Appendix I 109
3 4
To confirm that the latter matrix really is the inverse of ,
let’s test it directly. 1 −5
5 4
3 4 19 19
M M −1
1 −5 1 3
−
19 19
( 3 × 5 + 1× 4 ) ( 3 × 4 + 4 × −3)
19 19
=
(1× 5 + −5 ×1) 1× 4 + − 3 × −5
19 19
19 / 19 0 / 19 1 0
= = .
0 / 19 19 / 19 0 1
Solutions
So, we did it! We found the inverse. But our goal was to solve
for f and g; how does all of this interesting analysis help?
3 4 f 18
Well, we had the equation 1 −5 g = −13 in our ear-
lier work to solve the simultaneous equations, 3f + 4g = 18 and
f − 5g = −13. 3 4
And, using the definition M = , we can rewrite the
1 −5
f 18
matrix equation as M = and multiplying both sides
g −13
by the inverse matrix, M-1, gives
f 18 1 0 f 18
M −1 M M −1 = M −1
g −13 0 1 g −13
f 18
= M−1
g −13
3 4 5 / 19 4 / 19
1 −5 , which is 1 / 19 −3 / 19
(5 × 18 + 4 × −13)
f −1 18 5 / 19 4 / 19 18 19
= =
g −13 1 / 19 −3 / 19 −13 (1× 18 + −3 × −13)
19
110 Appendix I
38 / 19 2
= = .
57 / 19 3
f 2
So, = ,
g 3
“Go down the road, turn left at the shop, but not the first shop,
the second shop with the blue roof, then go farther down the
road to the old oak tree with the big limb hanging down, close
to where the lady has her beauty supply store, and the auto
shop is two buildings down from there on the same road. It’s
off the road a bit and a little hard to see while driving, but if
you reach the school with the pretty bird drawn on the red gate
you have gone too far.”
111
112 Appendix II
FIGURE AII.1 Model of x, y, and z axes, with the origin at (0, 0, 0) identified. Three unit
vectors are depicted for each orthogonal direction.
1 a 0 0 0 0
a 0 = 0 , b 1 = b and c 0 = 0 .
0 0 0 0 1 c
Moreover, we can represent any vector in three-dimensional
space (that is any vector with x, y, z components only) as a sum
of products of these three unit vectors.
a
That is, we can rewrite any vector b as the sum:
c
a 1 0 0
b = a 0 + b 1 + c 0 . (A linear combination of the
c 0 0 1 unit vectors)
TERMINOLOGY – BASIS
The set of three unit vectors for three-dimensions is
called a basis or basis set for the three-dimensional vec-
tor space because of certain characteristics that the set of
unit vectors possess:
(i) we cannot generate any one of the three vectors
from a sum of any multiple of the other two. For
1 0
0 by adding 1 and
0 0 0
0 linear combination
1
0 0 1
a 1 +b 0 0 for
0 1 0
any choice of a and b.
(ii) as we just showed, a sum of the three vectors, each
multiplied by constants as necessary (a linear com-
bination of the three unit vectors), is all that we
need to generate ANY vector imaginable in the
three-dimensional space.
114 Appendix II
a a a+a
--- → --- →
AB + AC = b + b = b + b .
c c c+c
-- → -- →
FIGURE AII.2 Illustrations of (a) the sum and (b) the difference of vectors AB and AC .
We exclude a third axis here for clarity and we do not specify coordinates for any position
on the graphs.
--- →
not recognize it immediately, but BD is, in fact, the same mag-
--- →
nitude and direction as AC . So, traveling from A to D by going
first from A to B and then (in accordance with the direction and
--- →
distance prescribed by AC ) moving on from B to D is indeed
--- → --- →
the result of the sum, AB + AC .
Subtraction of those two vectors,
a a−a
--- → --- → --- → --- →
AB − AC = AB + (− AC ) = b = b−b ,
c c−c
→
gives, as we can also show, a vector equivalent to CB in Figure
AII.2a. Why though is the arrow pointing from C to B, and not
in the opposite direction? Well, it become a bit clearer from
Figure AII.2b where we strip things down a bit and actually
--- → --- → --- →
carry out the subtraction AB − AC graphically. The vector AB
--- →
takes us from point A to point B. The vector ‘− AC ’ (see Figure
AII.2b) would move us to point E such that the net result of the
--- →
subtraction is AE . That illustration (Figure AII.2b) should con-
--- → --- →
vince you that CB, being parallel to AE , provided us with the
--- → --- →
correct magnitude and direction of the resultant of AB − AC .
Of course, if we had values for the angle, θ, and vector
lengths, we could draw our parallelograms, as we did in Figure
AII.2, or apply the cosine rule, and actually compute magni-
--- → --- → --- → --- →
tudes for resultant vectors for AB + AC and for AB − AC .
116 Appendix II
a a 0
--- → --- →
AB + (− AB ) = b − b = 0
c c 0
a a 0
--- → --- → --- → --- →
AB − AB = AB + (− AB ) = b − b = 0
c c 0
FIGURE AII.5 Model structures of BeF2 and CaF2 showing bond dipoles (Not drawn to
scale). The bond dipoles are in black and the net dipole for CaF2, which runs through the
center of the molecule, is in blue.
FIGURE AII.6 Qualitative representations of the bonds (full arrows), and lone pairs (dashed
arrows) contributing to the net dipole (larger blue arrows) – not drawn to scale – of sample
molecules. The terms used in chemistry to describe the shapes of the molecules are indicated
below each structure. The trigonal pyramidal geometry is abbreviated ‘Trig. Pyramidal’ in the
figure. The chemical formula of each molecule is, from left to right: SO2, NH3, CBr4, BrCl5,
and SF6. The central atom is underlined here in each case.
Appendix II 121
FIGURE AII.7 Model structures for CFBr3 (left) and CF2Br2 (right).
NOTES
1 Our dipole moment vectors run from positive to negative (+ → –).
The reverse direction is used by some for dipole moment vectors
(there are old disagreements on this), but the magnitude of the net
dipole moment is independent of that choice, as long as one sticks
to their chosen convention.
2 Wharton, L.; Berg, R. A.; Klemperer, W. Geometry of the Alkaline-
Earth Dihalides J. Chem. Phys. 1963, 39, 2023–2031.
3 It can be difficult to recognize the three-dimensional arrangements
of the atoms in two-dimensions on the page. The arrangements are
as follows: SO2 is bent or V shaped with a lone pair (not shown)
pointing up; NH3 is pyramidal, with the N and its lone pair shifted
out of the plane of the three terminal H atoms; CBr4 is tetrahedral
(like methane, CH4), with the C sitting inside a tetrahedron with Br
atoms at each vertex; BrCl5 is a square pyramid – the Br is in the
middle of a square base, with the fifth Cl atom above Br. A lone
pair (not shown) pointing down, away from that axial Cl atom, has
an impact on the size and direction of the BrCl5 dipole moment. SF6
is octahedral. The F atoms point to the vertices of an octahedron.
Appendix III
Safe Problem-Solving
123
124 Appendix III
NOTES
1 See, for example: Howson, B. RAMPing up Safety Education: The
Time Is Now Chem. Eng. News. 2016, 94(18), 35.
2 Kemsley, J. 10 Years Later, Where Are We? Chemists Discuss Their
Efforts Chem. Eng. News. 2019, 97(1), 16–23. [Ten years after She-
harbano (Sheri) Sangji’s death from an accident in a chemistry lab-
oratory at The University of California, Los Angeles, various stake-
holders reflect on safety in the field. Contributors to sections in the
126 Appendix III
A atomic, 8, 17n4, 29
three dot, 37n1
abstract writing, 89–90 aspiring, 71, 106
academic assemble, 10
activities, 84 assign (value), 20
assignment, 105 assignment
commitment, 103, 116 engagement, 84, 88, 105
discipline, 1–2, 4, 7, 69–71 preparation, 76, 79, 88
excellence, 4 short-cuts, avoid, 24
growth, 104 assume, 6, 25, 37, 49, 88
outcomes, 102
assumption, 90, 101–102
research, 21
atoms
skills, 5
formations, 8, 24, 29–30
success, 102
identical, 117
accommodation, 3, 85, 95
reactive, 20, 22
accomplishment, 51, 102
attractive (challenges), 2
action plan, 5, 123
audience, 84, 96–97
active participation, 9, 21, 77, 79, 103
actively study, 10
ad hoc, 71 B
advisor, 3, 93–94
best option, 17
algebra, 45
linear, 67, 114 best-fit, 61
matrix, 66–67 bias, 69, 76
analog clock, 85n5 bravery, 2
analogy, 36, 46, 55, 104 brevity, 33, 90–92
analysis building
data, 61, 75, 77, 80 blocks, 17n4, see also atoms
error, 81 rapport, 78
logical, 8, 13, 22, 27, 36 as structure, 52, 71
scientific, 57
anxiety, 6, 11–12, 35, 96, 101 C
appreciation, 3, 10, 39, 70, 81
approach calculation, 24, 29, 77, 83, see also solution
alternative, 2, 49, 58, 67 calculus, 45, 69
personal, 81, 93, 99 captions, 88, 93
arena, 96, 106 cause, 21, 36
argumentation, 3, 88 challenges
arguments, 34–35, 88 problem-solving, 1–2, 5, 79
arrangements taking on new, 81, 94, 102, 105
127
128 Inde x
P research, 94
scientific, 76
partnership, 3, 79
patience, 6, 81
peer support, 4, 9, 71, 89, 94, 102–103 R
perimeter, 67–68, 70–71 radioactive, 57–58
persistence, 4, 6, 69 radius, 67–68, 70, 71n1
persisting, 101 reaction, 15
plagiarize, 84, 88–89 chemical, 16, 19–20, 22, 31n2
plan, 5, 97–98, 103 reading skills, 2–3, 9, 29, 40, 42, 79, 88
position, 14, 87, 111–112 reason, 84, 90, 101, 105
possibilities (unknown), 83 reasonable, 13, 23–24, 84, 88, 96
posters (preparing), 91 recognize, 16, 57
powers, 56 rectangles, 68
practice reminder, 45, 77
problems, 40, 42 requirement, 87
questions, 9, 42, 65, 81 research
preparation, effective, 5, 7, 42, 80, 95–96 academic, 21, 76, 84, 91, 93, 98–99
preparedness, 2, 9, 101 opportunities, 1, 69, 95, 105
presentation, 3, 39, 95–99 publications, 89
prisms, 68 responses, 2, 35, 37
problem results
blessings of, 12 experimental, 83
defined as, 1 key, 91, 95, 98
logic, 19 scientific, 47, 77, 82
preparation, 5 reverse, 49
preparation for, 5
propose, 3
solver/solving, 4, 6–7, 9, 14 S
study strategies, 9 scientific
taking on, 9 laws, 21
test taking, 11 methods, 21, 75–76, 85n1
problem-solving report, 89–91
intellectual, 1 results, 47, 77, 82
logic, 22 rules, 21
mentor, 81 service, 85, 104, 106
skills, 48 shapes, 67, 70
steps, 6–7, 28, 103–106 simple
professor equations, 28
academic ability, 7, 27 functions, 67
rapport building, 10–11, 35, 81, 101 molecule, 29, 43
responsibilities of, 2–4, 69, 84m 88–89 steps, 2, 16
properties, 54–55, 58 simplify, 22, 50, 55
proportionality, 67 Sine Rule, 50
proposition (problem), 2, 8 skills, 35, 43, 50, 69
Pythagoras’ theorem, 51 academic, 5, 10, 35, 69, 102
communication, 87
Q mathematical, 46, 79
solution
quadratic basic math, 45
curve, 59–60 colorless, 80
equation, 14, 58–60 counting blessings, 49–50
formula, 2, 13, 60 logical, 28–29
function, 60 possible, 2, 7, 12–13, 25, 81
questions practical, 75
practice, 42, 65 sphere, 68
132 Inde x