CRC How To Solve A Problem 1032203617

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 153

“Donald provides a treasure trove of information applicable to students across the

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

“Quantitative problem-solving skills are essential for success in introductory science


courses. Prof. Donald’s text offers a helpful guide for first year undergraduate students
on the necessary basic mathematics and general strategies, as well as explaining how
students can more effectively study and communicate their scientific results.”
—Professor Joshua Schrier, Fordham University, New York
How to Solve a Problem
This concise and accessible resource offers new college students, especially those
in science degree programs, guidance on engaging successfully with the classroom
experience and skillfully tackling technical or scientific questions. The author
provides insights on identifying, from the outset, individual markers for what
success in college will look like for students, how to think about the engagement with
professors as a partnership, and how to function effectively in that partnership toward
achieving their pre-defined goals or markers of success. It is an ideal companion for
science degree prospects and first-generation students seeking insight into the college
experience.

• Offers transferable problem-solving ideas and skills applicable for other


disciplines and future careers.
• Provides new students with support and inspiration for their college
experience.
• Includes guidance for successful interactions with professors, peers,
professionals, and others.
• Encourages thoughtful determination of desired outcomes from the
college experience and shaping one’s actions toward accomplishing those
objectives.
How to Solve a Problem
Insights for Critical Thinking,
Problem-Solving, and Success in College

Kelling J. Donald
Designed cover image: © Shutterstock
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487–2742
and by CRC Press
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2023 Kelling J. Donald
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences
of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of
all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission
to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been
acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted,
reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access www.
copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive,
Danvers, MA 01923, 978–750–8400. For works that are not available on CCC please contact
[email protected]
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
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.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022046403 (print) | LCCN 2022046404 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032203614
 (paperback) | ISBN 9781032203683 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003263340 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Critical thinking—Study and teaching (Higher) | Problem solving—Study
 and teaching (Higher) | Science—Study and teaching (Higher) | Study skills. | College
 student orientation.
Classification: LCC LB2395.35 .D66 2023 (print) | LCC LB2395.35 (ebook) |
 DDC 370.15/2—dc23/eng/20221123
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046403
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022046404
ISBN: 978-1-032-20368-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-20361-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-26334-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003263340
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
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

2 The Logic of the Problem: Good Thinking


and Its Rewards 19

Subject-Independent Logic (Subject-Specific Laws) 19


Scientific Laws ‘Do’ Nothing 21
General Logical Ideas in Science 22
The Logic of Limiting Factors 22
The Logic of Amounts 23

ix
x Contents

Units – The Basics 24


Units and Meaning 25
Logic above Memorization 27
Reading a Chemical Formula – Not Only
for Chemists 29

3 Solutions in Words: Answering Short


Answer Questions 33

Symbols and Words 33


Short Answers in Words 35

4 Making Textbooks Pay 39

5 Solutions in Numbers: Basic Mathematical


Procedures45

Some Mathematical Reminders 46


(1) Algebraic Manipulations and Some Useful
Math Relations 46
(2) Trigonometric Ideas 47
Beyond Triangles 48
(3) Other Interesting Relationships
and Definitions 53
Helpful Definitions and Quantities 54
More Emphasis on Logarithms and Powers 56
Linear (Straight-Line) Equations 56
Quadratic Equations 58
Graphical Representations of Experimental Data 61
Simultaneous Equations 62
Option 1 – The Exponential Form: A = Ao e-kt 63
Option 2 – The Straight Line Form:
ln(A) = ln(Ao) – kt63
An Extra Example 64
A Word on Matrices 65
On the Shapes of Things 67
Circles, Cylinders, and Spheres 67
Triangles and (Triangular) Prisms 68
Rectangles and Cuboids 68
Layer upon Layer 69
A Fun Illustration from Shapes 70
Stay the Course 71
Contents xi

6 Practical Solutions: Science in the Laboratory 75

Why Experiments Matter 75


Approaching Laboratory Activities 79
Insist on High Standards of Logic
and Reasoning 80
Be Willing to Think Independently
and Take on New Challenges 81
An Appreciation of Errors 81
Another Suggestion to Keep in Mind 83
The Unknown Possibilities 83
Ethical Engagement 84

7 Spreading the Word 87

Preparing Papers 88
Writing Abstracts 89
Preparing Posters 91
Preparing Talks 95

8 Persisting against Problems 101

Mindset and Anxiety about Belonging 101


Thoughts on Managing the Demands 103
Avoid Overcommitment 103
Get a Calendar 103
Sleep – Eat Well – Exercise 103
Nurture Good Friendships 103
Be Good to Others 104
Remember Why You Are in College 104
Be Gracious and Forgiving 105
Celebrate105
On to the Next Problem 105

Appendix I Additional Notes on Matrices


and Matrix Algebra 107
Appendix II  Thinking about Vectors: Basic Notes 111
Appendix III  Safe Problem-Solving 123
Index127
Preface

If a student makes it into a freshman college classroom, the


assumption is that the student can succeed academically. As
each course gets underway, it falls to the instructor to teach
well and to support the student in learning well. It falls to the
institution to provide opportunities and resources, and to create
a context that encourages and facilitates success, but it falls to
those in the arena – the instructor and the student – to make use
of those opportunities and resources, in line with our respec-
tive roles, to achieve desirable academic outcomes.
For professors in that instructor-student partnership, one of
the perennial questions is how to provide students with the rel-
evant support that they need to prosper in a given course or in
their work on a particular project. One reason that the question
is always under consideration is that there is no single eternal
answer, no universal salve that works equally well all the time
for every single course. The best approach that an instructor
can take, therefore, is to consider each context and identify,
based on the pedagogical literature, experience, and insight,
relevant and practical strategies to help students succeed.
And what of the student’s position in that partnership? Each
course and each professor is different, and students work out
quite quickly that different approaches are needed in different
cases to achieve successful outcomes. Courses may have, for
example, different structures, unique stipulations (for types of
assignments or modes of completing and submitting them), or
even different ways to gain or improve grades (if attendance or
participation are mandated or not), and so on. Then there is the

xiii
xiv Preface

actual work of learning and performing in the course itself. So,


students too must consider how best to position themselves to
succeed in each course. And, thankfully, students will gener-
ally do all of that and more, if they feel and in fact are sup-
ported in that effort.
These notes address particular areas of the academic demand
on students in the college classroom: problem-solving, critical
thinking, and general aspects of generating and reporting sci-
entific results. After over a decade of teaching, advising, and
mentoring undergraduates in traditional courses and scientific
research, I found that I had accumulated pieces of notes here
and there from interactions with students on how to think about
and tackle one chemistry question or another. These came
sometimes from informal conversations on topics in introduc-
tory or physical chemistry, discussions during laboratory ses-
sions, office hour help sessions for problem sets, or reviews of
practice exams. Thinking about some of those encounters, a
few general themes seemed to emerge, and I thought it would
be helpful to assemble those notes and any helpful perspective
or strategy that I have considered or shared over the years all
in one place where students could encounter and revisit them
as needed. In many of those interactions, for example, I noticed
that it was often a single missing piece of insight that caused a
problem to seem intractable to students, a lack of confidence in
pushing a problem to its logical end (yielding sometimes at the
penultimate step), or the need for a more orderly and systematic
approach to solving problems. Being unprepared in the regular
sense – not attending classes, not reading notes or textbooks –
was typically not the reason for the problem-solving difficul-
ties mentioned above. This book is a response to those observa-
tions and to many mentoring conversations that I have had with
students in teaching and research settings.
Students from myriad high school backgrounds converge
in our increasingly diverse college classrooms. They are all
called on to perform at high levels academically from the out-
set, and some are inevitably more prepared than others based
on the quality of their high school experiences. The hope is that
these notes will be useful in supporting students across that
spectrum, including students who feel underprepared, to orient
themselves to ways of thinking about and encountering, with
confidence, the culture and academic demands of the college
environment.
Each chapter in the book may be read independently, though
some basic ideas do carry over from one chapter to the next.
We sometimes develop mental barriers to written technical
Preface xv

questions based on how we perceive them (as too long, or hav-


ing a lot of jargon or symbols, etc.) before we settle in to read
or start to strategize to solve them. In the earliest chapters, the
book offers some suggestions for making the most of the infor-
mation provided directly and indirectly by a problem itself. The
reliance on the thread of logic in a question, even in cases where
the full path to a solution is not immediately clear, is encour-
aged, and hints are provided for handling questions that require
transparent explanations in prose or ‘short answer’ form rather
than in a stream of equations. Textbooks are severely under-
utilized if we consult them only when the professor mandates
certain chapter or page numbers, and ‘Making Textbooks
Pay’ encourages students to reconsider what textbooks offer –
whether they are free electronic versions or costly tomes.
Questions that rely heavily on mathematical skills can be
major sources of problem-solving challenges for students in
the introductory college science classroom. Memorization and
studying to the test, which may have been reliable strategies for
some high school classes, are approaches that will rarely work
to achieve the highest levels of success in college courses. In
such cases, the imperative will be to understand core principles
and concepts and to apply them in solving a variety of prob-
lems. A relatively long section is dedicated to solving math-
ematical problems. It weaves problem-solving strategies into
a conversation on critical thinking that runs throughout the
book, and the chapter integrates an overview of key topics in
mathematics that are likely to appear and reappear for science
students everywhere. Even for students who take mandatory
mathematical courses before launching into biology, chemis-
try, or physics degree programs, for example, this overview
may serve as a handy reference, offering helpful reminders of
useful mathematical concepts and insights into other skills and
practices that are vital in college. A brief affirmation of the
experimental nature of science, the various approaches to shar-
ing the result of scientific investigations, and some additional
thoughts on problem-solving are included in later chapters.
This work is intended for students, yet it is not a textbook
and definitely not a review of the contemporary literature on
academic skills. The focus is on how to think about problems,
even as factual scientific and mathematical information is pro-
vided along the way. Ideally, it will yield, especially for stu-
dents near the start of the freshman year, some perspectives
and strategies to strengthen their growing problem-solving
skills and maturing habits of mind as they move toward their
desired academic outcomes.
xvi Preface

The reliance on rote learning over critical thinking, the pro-


grammatic plugging of values into formulas, and the mechani-
cal application of prescribed procedures to a problem without
understanding, are strategies that can lead to some success in
high school classrooms and even in college. But that general
approach may build ceilings for future learning and can close
off pathways of thought that would allow students to apply old
knowledge more readily to new problems. Yet, it’s not a choice
between one and the other. Memorization has its place – some
things have to be remembered,1 like the names and order of the
planets. There is, after all, no real reason why the planet Mars
could not have been called Bubble-Gum! But beyond a knowl-
edge of the facts about Mars, understanding why it rotates and
revolves frees the learner to think more meaningfully about
other less familiar objects that rotate or revolve in similar
or different, faster or slower ways, and to draw on transfer-
able insights (from an understanding of Mars) to answer new
questions.
To be sure, the extent to which understanding is accom-
plished beyond rote learning in the college classroom is not only
a function of student interest and engagement. It is influenced
strongly by the goals of the course and the teaching strategies
employed, including the kinds of assessments used.2 If students
can succeed with rote memorization and verbatim regurgita-
tion only, many will. But myriad tools have been developed
to help instructors find creative and active ways to teach and
construct effective assessment tools that require students to do
more than echo their course notes. The goal here is to support
new undergraduate students in their growth as problem solvers,
especially those who enter college full of intellectual energy
and skill, but with minimal insight (without training from col-
lege graduates in their families, high school mentors, or others)
into the habits of mind and practices that lend themselves to
success in college science.

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

The development of my own thinking on problem-solving and


some of the ideas shared here have been influenced by the many
undergraduates that I have taught in traditional classrooms and in
research settings, and by colleagues with whom I have discussed
teaching and learning (in learning communities and in hallways
or other informal settings) over the years – at the University of
Richmond (where I continue to teach with and learn from col-
leagues in the Gottwald Center for the Sciences), and before that
in temporary teaching positions in the (pre-medical) foundation
program at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, and at
the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Jamaica.
I advise problem solvers to count their blessings. The bless-
ings that I’ve received in my own intellectual formation are prob-
ably too many to count but I will mention some. My mathematics
and science teachers at St. Catherine High School were crucial in
shaping my early approaches to problem-solving.1 I am grateful
as well to my many excellent undergraduate instructors at the
University of the West Indies, Mona, where academic interest
was transformed into intellectual independence, and to my grad-
uate and postdoctoral research mentors, from whom I learned
many lessons about tackling problems – from planning and per-
sistence to celebrating progress, and so much more.
As part of the first-generation in my family to enter col-
lege and graduate school, I am grateful to my parents and gen-
erations before them, who – by confronting and solving more
existential problems – opened up new paths for us to choose
to solve (against lower barriers, and with greater comfort and
selectivity) different classes of problems.
xvii
xviii Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Jim Davis, John Gupton, Dwayne Henry,


Ovidiu Lipan, Saundra McGuire, Joshua Schrier, and Ziad
Shafi for reading sections or full drafts of this work and for
their generous feedback and helpful suggestions.

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

Kelling J. Donald  is a professor of chemistry, currently


Clarence E. Denoon Jr. Chair in the Natural Sciences, and
Associate Dean in the School of Arts and Sciences at the
University of Richmond (UR). A theoretical chemist by train-
ing, he teaches students across the undergraduate chemistry
curriculum, in introductory and physical chemistry courses,
and he mentors undergraduates in research, employing theo-
retical and computational approaches to address problems
in structure, bonding, and reactivity in chemistry. Among
other acknowledgments of his work with undergraduates, he
has received the Distinguished Educator award from UR and
the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille
and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Born in Jamaica, he lives in
Richmond, Virginia.

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:

Find the value of x for which 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6.

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 -1 1


2 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

There are many possible initial responses to this problem – cry-


ing (in your heart or literally), dread, interest, or joy and elation –
depending on your levels of focus, engagement, bravery, confi-
dence, and preparedness. How does joy become an option? Well,
you might notice immediately that, since x2 = 1 when x = 1, 2x2 +
4x – 6 = 6 – 6 = 0 as required. So, hurray! x = 1 has to be an answer!
That strategy is a mature application of the rebel among solu-
tion strategies – the guess and check method. The method works
by simply testing possible options and using previous tries to
inform future guesses. Clearly, x = 0 would not work since if x = 0
in the equation 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6 we get 0 ≠ –6, which is wrong.
So, what of x = 1 as a possible solution? Let’s see: Is 0 = (2 × 12) +
(4 × 1) – 6? Well, it is indeed (2 × 12) + (4 × 1) – 6 = 6 – 6 = 0.
So we have a solution, x = 1! In this case, therefore, a close
look at the problem or a conscious application of a so-called ‘trial
and error’ or ‘guess and check’ strategy1 could lead to a solution.
There are definitely more structured approaches, such as the
quadratic formula, x = [–b ± (b2–4ac)0.5]/ 2a, (where, for the
equation 2x2 + 4x – 6 = 0, a = 2, b = 4, and c = –6), and that
formula would yield two solutions (x = 1, and x = –3). Yet, how
wonderful is it that just a close reading of the question could
get you halfway there, with no memorized strategy or special
formula required at all.
The issue with challenges, though, is that they are only attrac-
tive after you have developed some humble bravado and skills.
And those come through preparation and practice. Preparation
inspires confidence, which leads to small successes, which pro-
motes confidence, which leads to more success, and so on up the
virtuous spiral. You will meet problems that seem intractable or
resist your efforts, but discipline will increase your win rates.
Success is not a simple function of natural intelligence; it’s real-
ized through focused work – intentional preparation and practice.
A simple step that you could take immediately after reading
the problem above (which we did without saying it) is to rewrite
the equation 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6 in a way that does not change it but
that you might find to be more appealing, familiar, logical, or
straightforward, such as 2x2 + 4x – 6 = 0. Reining a problem in by
reorganizing or manipulating the information that you are given –
well beyond just writing an equation the other way around – is
one of the skills that you can strengthen with practice.

The Right to Propose a Problem


Your professors are likely to know that your trust has to be
earned and is not necessarily an automatic by-product of their
academic credentials. You can expect, therefore, that they have
On Encountering a Problem 3

made commitments along the following lines to all of the stu-


dents in their classrooms.

The Implicit Faculty Commitment


• To lead by example in our intellectual engagement;
supporting your academic mission with integrity
and the highest ethical standards in our academic
instruction throughout our work in the course.
• To serve as a supportive advisor and mentor in this
phase of your intellectual formation as a critical thinker
and an agent for positive change in the world.
• To prepare well and show up for scheduled classes
and meetings; providing a pedagogically sound, deep,
and meaningful exposure to the subject toward an
exceptional overall learning experience.
• To foster an atmosphere of trust in which your voice
is welcomed, heard, considered, and interrogated
respectfully, honestly, and fairly in all of our
interactions.
• To teach as promised in the syllabus for the course;
providing an accessible, yet rigorous treatment that
prepares you appropriately for future engagements
(toward a degree or otherwise) with the subject.
• To provide useful and productive feedback on your
progress during the course.
• To encourage your success in other ways as needed
by offering or directing you to useful resources, and
making appropriate accommodations.
• To transfer an appreciation for the subject, even a
love for it, as a fruit of excellent teaching, and exposure
to its value in society.
• To engender or strengthen transferable skills and
habits of mind – intellectual independence, working
effectively in teams, good reading, writing, analytical,
presentation, argumentation, study, and other broadly
applicable skills and practices.
• To identify and help to open up unique windows for
growth and development in line with your personal
and professional goals.

There are, to be sure, any number of other commitments that


professors make to you as a student in their classes. These cov-
enant statements reflect, however, the kind of commitment that
I and many other college professors will seek to fulfill in our
partnership with you.
4 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

The Responsibility of the Problem Solver


Your professors will have definite commitments to your
prosperity and persistence in the undergraduate program,
and you will have a strong commitment to your own success
as well.
Consider writing down some of those personal commit-
ments that you will make to yourself. Be as clear, realistic, spe-
cific, and measurable as possible. “I will be a good student” is
vague and difficult to measure. “I will attend all of my classes”
is clearer and more measurable.
Whether you write them down or not, it will be your job
to assess, refine, and fulfill those commitments to yourself in
your college experience. As you think about the kinds of com-
mitments that you might write down, consider, perhaps, the
following:

• Your desire for an excellent academic record at gradu-


ation (the roles that class attendance, disciplined study,
office hour meetings, peer support, and so on can play
in fulfilling that desire).
• The value of engaging fully in the college academic
experience (participating in discussions, debates, and
other forums, inside and outside the classroom, where
there are opportunities to learn with and from others).
• The importance of balance, rest, and personal health
and fitness.
• The possible benefits of other opportunities for
mentorship and personal growth such as research
opportunities with faculty, or attending public lectures
on the college campus that intersect with your intended
major, and even some that are outside of your academic
focus but sound intriguing.
• The rewards of suitable co- and extra-curricular
activities that enhance rather than detract from your
primary college objectives.
• Your plans beyond graduation (e.g., graduate school,
launching your career, or some other crucial next steps).

The Student’s Personal Commitment It’s understood


that any goal might be missed due to exigencies, such as
a fever or needing to travel home urgently. You can still
express your commitments categorically, assuming normal
circumstances. CAUTION: It will be important, however, to
resist the temptation to reclassify elements of indiscipline –
such as staying up playing computer games and missing an
On Encountering a Problem 5

early class the next morning (as distinguished from an illness) –


as a valid excuse for not meeting your goals. What are your
commitments? Make your list. However flexible or rigid you
make it, be sure that it is in line with your values and your
desired outcomes for the college experience.

• [Example] I will attend all my classes.


• [Example] I will complete assignments on time.
• [Example] I will play volleyball on weekends – just for fun.

Preparing for Problems


Even if you are up against the grandest of challenges, you
develop some eagerness to take them on if you feel that you have
prepared adequately. Spectators in stadium seats are sometimes
more anxious than athletes on the field because each athlete has
spent months or years preparing – much of which the onlookers
know nothing about. Faithful preparation increases your ability
and often your willingness to take on challenges. That does not
mean that you will feel no apprehension when you are on the spot
to answer a question in class or before an exam. And you are not
alone in those feelings – most of your professors felt the very
same anxieties when they were students. Exams and other forms
of assessment can be stressful. Yet the more effectively we pre-
pare, the better we do. Now, ‘more effective’ does not necessarily
mean more time. And it definitely does not mean applying more
stress to yourself or being stressed by others. It means having a
plan of action that aligns well with the kind of learner that you
are, the kind of assessment for which you are preparing (a writ-
ten exam or seminar presentation, for example), and the context
in which you live and study.
There are many sources for study tips and ways to discern
the kinds of learning practices that might work for you.2 Many
universities have academic skills centers, for example, that are
designed to help you to find practical strategies for success. In
college, a plan to simply memorize notes and regurgitate the
facts in exams is usually a plan to fail. Even if that approach
works for isolated courses, it will ultimately shrivel up your
capacity as a thinker and stifle your potential as an educated
scientist. The goal should be to know and understand, not just
to hear, see, and remember.
Work to understand the foundational principles of your
subject, see how its edifice builds on those foundations, and
allow the subject to open itself up to you. Getting a real under-
standing of what’s going on in the earliest college courses in a
6 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

subject is crucial, therefore, since that’s where the foundations


are built. This means that good teaching is key at those levels,
and so too is good learning. Once the foundations are solid, the
bricklaying, in subsequent years, will be more straightforward.
There will always be things that you just have to know and
remember – like the names of chemical elements, for example.
A chemist simply has to know that Mg is magnesium and Mn
is manganese. No way around that. But the ability to complete
and balance the following acid-base chemical equation is a
very different thing.

Mg (OH) 2 H3 PO 4 _______ + ________

Your goal should be to understand why we would put


Mg3(PO4)2 and H2O on the right-hand side and write the bal-
anced chemical equation as follows (though, at this point,
without other notations that chemists tend to include, like state
symbols):

3Mg (OH) 2 2H3 PO 4 Mg 3 ( PO 4 )2 + 6H 2 O

How a chemist arrives at this final result should be understood;


there would be no point in simply memorizing the answer.

Patience, Persistence, and Problem-Solving


Nobody wants to spend time trying to solve an unsolvable
problem, but you are unlikely to meet many such problems
in the course of your undergraduate education. A math major
might be asked to show that no solution exists for a certain
equation, but the typical problem that you will face on assign-
ments, exams, and so on, even the most challenging, will have
accessible solutions for the level of the course, so do not give
up on a problem just because an answer is not shouting out to
you from the page! Do not yield because the solution does not
spring forth after a cursory glance at the question! As you con-
front a question, rely on your general intellect and preparation.
Position yourself as the authority, and – if one of you needs to
be – allow the question to be intimidated. That positive pos-
ture requires you to assume an ability to solve the problem, it
promotes confidence and allows you to conserve some of the
mental energy that’s usually sacrificed to anxiety.3 Facing 30
multiple-choice questions, for example, it may be better to see
them as 30 stalks of flowers to be carefully picked than thorns
waiting to hurt you. That mindset is fortified, however, with
On Encountering a Problem 7

effective preparation. Before most exams, the feeling will be


somewhere between fear and cheer, and preparation moves you
closer to cheer. You will find sometimes that, even for more
difficult questions, if you press into them, joy rises as things
become clearer and a solution comes into view. Such so-called
‘light-bulb moments’ can come suddenly – after some wran-
gling, you flip the switch again for the nth time and suddenly
the world is as bright as can be – you have the answer. Do not
nurture the habit of giving up. You may have to step away from
a question from time to time, but do not do so before you have
honored the problem with a serious and committed effort.
You cannot actually intimidate a problem – the ink on the
paper will not quiver at your presence – but prepare, relax,
strategize, and deliver. Problems doubtless will resist; keep
your wits, and still persist.

Knowing ≤ (The Battle)/2


To solve any problem, you have to know something. But know-
ing facts alone will not be enough; in some cases, knowledge
alone will be even less than half the battle.
Knowledge is definitely important for problem-solving. After
all, even a distinguished chemistry professor, if she does not
read German, will not be able to confidently answer this basic
question: Ist Stickstoff ein Element? In English, the question is
simply, “Is nitrogen an element?” But the great chemist would
not know that. Yet, once the question is translated, even a strug-
gling English-speaking chemistry student would reply with an
enthusiastic “Yes!” So, what made the difference? Knowledge of
four German words! Indeed, even if our erudite professor knew
the meanings of Ist, ein, and Element, the lone word Stickstoff
would be enough to unsettle her. One simply has to know the
meaning of that word to be sure about the answer, regardless of
one’s many degrees in and ability to master the subject.
Although the sciences (and other academic disciplines for
that matter) are not languages in the sense of English or German,
they employ, in any given language, certain specialized words
that are rarely used outside the disciplines (like antigen in biol-
ogy, or olefin in chemistry), and some common words are often
given special or technical meanings that students simply have
to learn and know (like moment in physics, or complex in psy-
chology). This is what people refer to when they talk about the
‘language of a subject.’ Indeed, most spheres of activity – car-
pentry, law, sports, etc. – develop such ‘languages’ that only
their insiders know. If you have ever tried to explain cricket or
American football to someone who has never watched the sport
8 HOW TO SOLVE A 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:

Propose four distinct isomers with the chemical formula C4H8.

No German here, but if you only have facts about C and H as


elements, that will not be enough. If you are meeting this ques-
tion for the first time, you have to apply those pieces of knowl-
edge about C and H, and think, synthesizing the facts that you
know into an answer to the question.
If you are very familiar with the language of chemistry,
(i) you know what isomers are,4 (ii) that C4H8 refers to compounds
with 4 carbon and 8 hydrogen atoms (see Figure 1.1), and (iii) that
C atoms can form as many as four bonds to neighboring atoms
(with multiple bonds allowed between atoms in certain cases) but
each H atom will only form a single bond to any C atom. What
the question wants to assess, however, is how well you understand
and can employ and apply those facts. And that ability – to under-
stand and show understanding through application – is critical. In

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

science, that ability is usually honed by practicing problems (on


your own, with friends, for assignments, or in class, and so on).
The goal is never to memorize answers, of course, but to learn the
language and to understand and apply principles. In this regard,
an appropriate and well-written textbook is usually an excep-
tional friend, since it allows you to both (i) learn the language and
facts (by reading) and (ii) sharpen or assess your skills (through
practice activities and sample problems).
NOTE: To help with understanding early on, before tests or
exams, reading the textbook on your own, especially before
class, is a good way to support language learning and skill-
building. I emphasize before class here because preparing for
classes gives you a chance to check with the teacher during the
class on a word or concept that remains unclear despite your
pre-class reading. More on textbooks later.

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

An important part of your formal preparation for problem-


solving is studying, which is not the same as simply reading.
Studying is an active assembling and organizing of information
and working to make sense of that information in a way that
enables you to articulate independently a clear understanding of
the facts and to respond meaningfully to questions on the entail-
ments of those facts. Whether the information exists as notes
from classes or textbooks, public statistics on a political issue,
or as written details of court cases, the same basic idea applies.
How people study varies significantly. Some of us like to
have the facts spread out before us and to have time alone to
analyze those facts; some prefer to coordinate with friends in
the whole effort; and others tend to read alone before meet-
ing with peers for comprehensive reviews, topical discussions,
or mock interrogations (testing each other with practice ques-
tions, for example) to assess understanding and to see if they
are all ready, as it were, for prime time.
An important first step in the studying process is to make sure
that you have the full body of information that you need to cover.
If you attend classes sporadically and do not do the work to get
the information that you missed (by reading the relevant sections
in the textbook, checking in with friends, or conferring with the
10 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

professor on what was covered), you will be starting out with a


deficit. You have automatically diminished your capacity to take
on problems that would otherwise be within reach. Even before
you show up for the test or make the first mistake on a question,
you might already have failed it, if the test covers 100% of the
material evenly, but you only studied 50% of the content. In many
cases, a test does not ask questions from every single possible topic
covered in the course, so your 50% might overlap perfectly with
the part of the material that the test covers (Lucky you!) or it might
cover only the 50% you did not study (Too bad!). The goal then
should be to achieve mastery of the material (despite time con-
straints, competing demands, and so on), and that is best achieved
by starting early with good habits such as preparing well for each
class and reviewing your notes as soon as possible thereafter.
Assemble, organize, and actively study as the information
comes in from a course or data collection project. You can get study
tips and even detailed guidance on studying from many places,
including academic skills centers and free online resources. Some
of the hints that are often shared with students in college course
syllabi and study skills discussions are the following.

• Read the relevant sections of the textbook or handouts


before each class.
• Courses may move faster or slower than anticipated
in the calendar date-to-topic schedule in a syllabus,
but the sequence of the topics will usually remain the
same. So as long as you know the latest topic covered
in the course, you can tell from a well-structured
syllabus what the next topic or objective will be.
• Do not be afraid to talk with your professor. Office hours
exist for precisely that purpose. Check in with your
instructor if you have a specific question, a concept from
the course to discuss, a problem to resolve, or even a word
of concern or appreciation for how the course is going!
Your peers will want to benefit from office hours as well,
and you can acknowledge and honor that by showing up
well-prepared and with clear objectives for the visit; but
be sure to use as needed the various opportunities that you
will have to engage with your professor (in office hours,
at the end of a class, etc.) during the course.
• If you miss a class, get the notes from a trusted
source, or watch the recording, if that is an option.
Do not expect the professor to reteach the course to
you during an office hour visit, but feel free to review
what was covered in the class, assemble questions on
technical aspects that are still unclear, and set up an
On Encountering a Problem 11

appointment to meet with the professor during office


hours to discuss those questions.
• Find an effective note-taking method (your high school
strategy might not actually be the best). The Cornell
note-taking method is one option to consider.5 Others
exist, with various guides available online.
• Form a study group if it works for you. Get a few
friends together – three or four might be ideal – who
are serious about the subject, who are willing to work
independently, and who (exceptionally sharp or not)
will focus when you meet to work.

CAUTION: You and your team members should make each


other better students. Set clear ground rules from the start. If
the group meets, but wastes time, acknowledge that, fix it, if
possible, or find another group. No one profits from a study
group if no learning happens there. Go to your group meetings
prepared. The group should support your learning, not be your
primary instructor.
Meet with the group at a practical rate: too often and you do
not have any substantial new questions, too infrequently and it
becomes too overwhelming to cover all of the material together.
In some cases, people work alone typically and meet only for
review in preparation for major tests. That works if people really
have been keeping up independently with the course. Otherwise,
one person will be lost at sea while watching the others paddle
happily to the shore (where an A on the exam awaits).

• Bring burning questions from your pre-class readings


to class with you. Ask your questions as needed if the
professor gets to the relevant point in the lecture and
the question is still lingering unanswered in your mind.
• Go over your notes after class. Attempt too, perhaps, a
few questions from your textbook or a current problem
set on topics that were covered in recent classes.
Checking your textbook can help a lot if a concept or
topic remains unclear after reviewing your notes.

• Assessments: Taking Tests or Exams

As an exam approaches, the goal is to get the highest pos-


sible score with minimal anxiety during or after the exam. If
you prepared diligently and are well rested, take a deep refresh-
ing breath, smile, and take it on! As you start the test, you have
a few basic options. You can begin at the beginning and work
forward through it, or you can hop around and answer the easiest
12 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

or hardest questions first. Many tests flow from front to back in


the logical format of the course; the questions appear more or
less in the order in which the topics were discussed in class. In
those cases, starting at the beginning helps since your mind can
track with the logic of the course. Answering the easiest questions
first may boost confidence. Answering the hardest questions first
gets them out of the way, and you can cruise through the others.
Whatever strategy you use, make sure that, for timed assessments,
you gauge your time well. Three suggestions: (i) write down or
diagram what you are thinking; you see solutions more quickly
when it’s looking back at you from the page, (ii) do not spend too
much time on a single question that remains unyielding after a
serious systematic effort, and (iii) count your blessings carefully,
but do not rewrite questions just to have your own record of them;
rewrite (parts of) the question only to the extent that doing so
helps with finding a solution.

• Count Your Blessing

What do we mean by counting our blessings? Consider the


following question:

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?

Simple enough, right? The initial tendency that a student


might have is to go back to the question to read it again so as to
begin to think about how the numbers work out. That’s fine, but
the need to do that is mitigated if you write down the clues that
might help with shaping a solution as you progress through the
question. I call that process counting your blessings. Although
this question is easy to solve, it has built-in frustrations –
different colors, different amounts of balls per person, and so
on. But, by writing down and organizing those facts as you
read, you reduce the confusion or anxiety that you would feel
otherwise when you read the question. Counting your blessings
as the question unfolds involves three steps (C.S.I):

• Collecting relevant data from the question, including


its goal.
• Simplifying that data, if possible, for example, by
converting units.
• Identifying any obvious implications of the facts.
On Encountering a Problem 13

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:

Goal: How many red balls will John have left??


John: 12r  Jill: 2b + 1r and Jake: 3g + 2r.
r – red balls, b – blue balls, and g – green balls

NOTE: John gives up one ball for each ‘none red’; How
many left??

Once the key pieces of information are written down, it becomes


clear both in your head and to your eyes that John would give
two balls to Jill, who has two blue balls, and three balls to Jake
since he has three greens balls. Adding those together, that is,
2r + 3r = 5r, it is clear that John will be left with 12r – 5r = 7r.
And that analysis was made simpler by organizing the gifts
or blessings that the question afforded us before diving in to
finally solve the problem.

What’s Really a Blessing?


Each problem that you will meet will endow you with pieces of
information (blessings) that will open the problem up in some
meaningful way for interrogation at least, if not immediate
solution. Your job will be to identify those pieces and organize
them toward a solution. They say that questions often reveal
something about the questioner. Similarly, questions often
reveal something about their solutions, and it falls to you to
locate (and write down) those blessings (both obvious and sub-
tle) as you survey the question. Consider the following cases:

Case 1: What are the solutions for the equation 0 = 2x2 + 4x –


6? Find the answers without using the quadratic formula. Hint:
Both solutions are integers.

This question, a twist on one we saw earlier, tells us several


things:
(1) The teacher thinks it is reasonable (not unreasonable, at
least) to present us with this problem (discounting the
more sadistic alternative – that the professor expects all
of our attempts to fail).
14 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

(2) It says ‘solutions’, so we can anticipate two valid answers


since a quadratic equation cannot have more than two
solutions.
(3) Given that 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6, we can make some immediate
simplifying observations even before solving for x.
• Dividing by 2 on both sides of 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6
does not change the solutions, so we can work with
0 = x2 + 2x – 3 instead, which has smaller numbers
than 0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6.
• 0 = x2 + 2x – 3, so 3 = x2 + 2x, which makes it a
bit easier to see that x = 1 must be a solution, since
3 = 1 + 2.
• Any other inference or rearrangement of information
that might occur to you, such as 3 = x·(x + 2), may be
noted too as you prepare to find the set of solutions.

You might be able to think of other pieces of information


that you can pick up from this question. Whatever you can
glean from a question, as you read it and steady yourself in
your chair to take it on, you should WRITE IT DOWN.
It may not always be clear what pieces of information are
crucial and what pieces are irrelevant, but – take this case, for
example – the more practice that you have working with qua-
dratic equations, the easier it will be to see the gems. Whatever
you can get directly from a question, as you examine and pre-
pare to respond to it, will increase your chances of success
when you actually begin to formulate your answer.
For Case 1 above, your ‘counting’ notes might look like this:

Basic Information:  0 = 2x2 + 4x – 6 ⟹ maximum two

⟹ Goal: Find the two solutions!


solutions. Both are integers

Simplified form: 0 = x2 + 2x – 3  Or, if this helps . . .


3 = x2 + 2x.
x = 1 is one (maybe or maybe not so obvious) answer.
Answers:   x = 1 and x =??

Once you have ‘counted your blessings’ as we call it, you


can move on to solving the problem fully. Having opened
your mind up to the question by that pre-analysis, you can see
through it a bit more clearly. For this specific question, for
instance, we have (i) a simpler equation to work with (0 = x2 +
2x – 3) and (ii) the pre-analysis has actually exposed one solu-
tion (x = 1) already. So we are in a superb position to finalize
On Encountering a Problem 15

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

Case 2: Given that 20 mL of an aqueous NaOH solution


reacts completely with 30 mL of a 0.60 M aqueous solution
of H2SO4, how many moles of NaOH were used up in the
reaction?

In counting our blessings here – organizing the informa-


tion that this question grants us – we might make the following
notes.

Goal: Number of moles of NaOH used up in the


reaction??
20 mL (0.02 L) of NaOH was used (concentration??)
30 mL of H2SO4 was used; Concentration is 0.60 M.
0.60 M H2SO4 (aq) means 0.60 moles H2SO4 is in 1 L
(1 L = 1000 mL) of the solution.
contain
So, 1000 mL H 2 SO 4 (aq) ⇒ 0.6 moles H2SO4, which means
contains
1mL ⇒ 0.6 / 1000 moles, therefore,
contain
30 mL ⇒ 30×(0.6 / 1000) = 0.018 moles

∴ 0.018 moles of H2SO4 were used up in the reaction


with NaOH.
And we know that when H2SO4 reacts with NaOH the
relevant chemical equation is
2 NaOH + H2SO4→Na2SO4 + 2H2O

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

that the question is ultimately asking you to do can be helpful.


Some students just underline the ‘asks’ in the question itself
and double-check when they are finished that they have satis-
fied each of them. I see no problem with that.
Everything in the box above is either from the question
directly or is readily inferred by a typically introductory chem-
istry student, assuming that the course has progressed enough
for stoichiometric problems to even make sense. Other pieces
of information that occur to you as you think about the question
may be scribbled as well. You might recognize, for instance,
that this is an acid-base reaction, or that NaOH and H2SO4 will
react in a 2:1 ratio, and you might remember that acid-base
reactions typically form a salt and water. All of that insight,
and you have only started to take on the question! This might
seem like a lot of work, but it is not. All of that information is
either in the question or welling up in your mind, insights that
the question plus your preparation have afforded you.
A big value to counting your blessings is that you can re-
express things from the question in a way that makes the most
sense to you. Instead of ‘0.60 M H2SO4,’ for instance, you can
write ‘0.60 moles/L H2SO4’ if you prefer that format. You have
rearticulated the information in a way that works for you and
that should increase your comfort level in taking on the prob-
lem. I am not a golfer, but it seems to me that golfers do the
same kind of situational assessment (of the landscape, wind, or
golf club selection) before finally striking the ball. The solution
to this (Case 2) problem is provided at the end of the chapter.8
In summary, as you face problems, whether the problem
seems to be easy or particularly complicated, start out by
organizing, mentally or on paper, all of the data that you have.
Write down the useful information that a question gives to you
and complete any simple step that can be taken with minimal
effort as you read and think about the question. Doing so – that
is, counting your blessings – frees you up mentally to focus
on fully answering the question. Once you have your answer,
check the goals again to make sure you did what the question
asked you to do.

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

a long time to locate our solution here if we went from x = 0 to


x = 0.1, x = 0.2, etc. through to x = 1.0. But you will get better at
applying the method as you grow in your mathematical understand-
ing and build up your intuition for numbers. And it helps a lot if
you think systematically: Once we got the bad outcome, 2x2 + 4x –
6 = –6, for x = 0, we went in search of a value for x that would get
us closer to 2x2 + 4x – 6 = 0. If we tried x = 2, we would have found
2x2 + 4x – 6 = 10, which moves us from ‘–6’ to ‘10’ on the other
side of 0. So x = 1, a number between our previous guesses of x = 0
and x = 2, is a logical next guess, and, thankfully, it works. I call the
guess and check method the rebel among solution strategies because
it has the unique feature of leading to potentially very different expe-
riences for anyone who uses it on a given problem. That experience
will depend on what their initial guesses are and the maturity of their
intuition for numbers and mathematical problem-solving. The first
number that Kecia will check is likely to be different from the first
number that Kip, Katherine, or Karl would try on the same problem,
especially if the problem is substantially more complicated than
2x2 + 4x – 6 = 0.
2 Teach Yourself How to Learn: Strategies You Can Use to Ace Any
Course at Any Level, Saundra Y. McGuire with Stephanie McGuire,
Stylus Publishing, 2018.
3 Chapter 5. The Role of Anxiety and Motivation in Students’ Maths
and Science Achievement, Rozek, C. S.; Levine, S. C.; and Beilock,
S. L. in Developing Minds in the Digital Age: Towards a Science
of Learning for 21st Century Education, Educational Research and
Innovation, Eds. Kuhl, P. K.; Lim, S.-S.; Guerriero, S.; Damme,
D. V. OECD Publishing, 2019.
4 Isomers are molecules that are made up of exactly the same num�-
bers and types of building blocks (atoms) but with different arrange-
ments of those building blocks. Those different arrangements can
have real consequences. Different isomers can have very different
properties.
5 Cornell Note-Taking Method: See https://lsc.cornell.edu/how-to-
study/taking-notes/cornell-note-taking-system/ Last accessed
July 29, 2022.
6 To solve 0 = x2 + 2x – 3 without the quadratic formula, the best
option is trial and error (systematically changing the value of x until
x2 + 2x – 3 = 0). Fortunately, both solutions are integers in this case.
If x = 2, we get 22 + (2 × 2) – 3 = 5 ≠ 0, If x = 1, we get 12 +
(2 × 1) – 3 = 3 – 3 = 0. So we have one solution here!
If x = 0, we get 02 + (2 × 0) – 3 = –3 ≠ 0, and so on, for x = –1,
and x = –2, . . .
And, if x = –3, we get –32 + (2× –3) – 3 = 9 – 6 – 3 = 9 – 9 = 0,
which is our other solution!
So, our two solutions are: x = 1, and x = –3.
7 Incidentally, mathematicians offer us some help here in searching
for or confirming our solutions. They showed (as summarized in
a result called the Rational Root Theorem) that for a polynomi-
al expression of the form 0 = pnxn + pn-1xn-1 . . . + p0, rewritten as
18 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

0 = xn + (pn-1/pn)xn-1 . . . + p0/pn, by dividing through by the leading


coefficient, pn, such that the new leading coefficient is one, then the
rational roots (i.e., solutions that are rational numbers) must be fac-
tors of the constant term, p0/pn. In this case, 0 = x2 + 2x – 3, where
the leading coefficient is already one, no division is needed, and we
expect the solutions to be factors of the constant, –3. So, the options
are ±1 and ±3, and we showed above that the solutions are indeed
two of those values, x = 1 and x = –3. The theorem affords us here,
therefore, a way to confirm our answers.
8 The products are Na2SO4 (the salt) and water (H2O), and balancing
the chemical equation for the reaction gives:

2 NaOH (aq) + H2SO4 (aq) → Na2SO4 (aq) + 2 H2O (l)

So, by this balanced chemical equation, 1 mole of H2SO4 reacts


with 2 moles of NaOH. And since we already know from our anal-
ysis that 0.018 moles of H2SO4 was used, we will require 2 × 0.018
moles = 0.036 moles of NaOH. And since this is in 0.02 L, the
NaOH concentration is 0.036 moles / 0.02 L = 1.8 M, though we
were not actually asked for the molarity.
Chapter T WO

The Logic of the Problem


Good Thinking
and Its Rewards

Subject-Independent Logic (Subject-Specific Laws)


In many of your science courses, you will have to keep certain sci-
entific facts, observations, or mathematical relationships in mind
en route to solving problems. And several of those facts, obser-
vations, and relationships, have been shown (often through years
of detailed investigation and confirmations by scientists) to be so
broadly applicable and significant that they have now been codi-
fied as formal principles, rules, theorems, or laws.1 For example:

• The zeroth law of thermodynamics: Put simply, if


A and C are each at the same temperature as B, then
A and C are both at the same temperature.
• The law of mass conservation:2 In brief, the mass of
materials in an isolated physical system is constant
before, during, and after a chemical reaction. Chem-
ical reactions do not create or destroy mass.

Such scientific truth claims have important roles in science because


they sum up useful facts and years of study, and we can deploy
them to guide us in our work as we seek to make new discoveries:

• The zeroth law allows us, for example, to confidently


build and use thermometers:3 Consider a traditional

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 -2 19


20 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

mercury thermometer (mercury inside a narrow glass


tube) at room temperature. If we put it in ice water,
the mercury will cool and contract until it is in what
we call thermal equilibrium with the glass tube of the
thermometer, and if we put the thermometer in boiling
water, the mercury will expand until it achieves a new
equilibrium with the glass tube. But, in each case, is
the mercury (inside the tube) in thermal equilibrium
with the water (outside the tube)? This question is cru-
cial since we assign values (for properties of water) to
the heights of the mercury column in the tube (0oC for
melting and 100oC for boiling)3 and build thermome-
ters on the claim that the temperature of the water is
directly reflected by the height of the mercury column,
even though the mercury and the water are never in
contact. So, are the mercury and water at equilibrium,
if both are at equilibrium with the glass tube? The
zeroth law says a definite “Yes!”
• The law of mass conservation allows us to balance
chemical equations, for if one atom of element A reacts
with two atoms of element E, the product will be a
molecule AE2. In chemistry, therefore, by the idea of
mass conservation, we expect the chemical equation for
that reaction to be A + 2E → AE2, and not A + 2E →
A2E2, or any other variation – we will not arbitrarily gain
or lose an extra A, E, or any other atom during a chemi-
cal reaction – and the mass of AE2 will always be equal
to the sum of the masses of one A and two E atoms.

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

does not extend to the sociology of friendships: if A and C are


both friends with B, it does not follow at all that A and C are
friends! Life is more complicated than Euclid’s notions and
number theory.
The appropriate application of scientific rules and ideas is
a central condition for valid scientific investigations. In the
practice of academic research, which is greatly encouraged
for undergraduates, the discovery of any ‘rule of engagement’
by which nature operates is a most thrilling achievement. The
whole goal of scientific research is to ask important questions
for which the answers are yet unknown and to apply the so-
called scientific method5 in some way toward finding answers.
Sometimes, you will uncover more than you hoped to find.
Sometimes, you will only eke out pieces of evidence confirm-
ing that you might actually be on the right track toward an
answer, or not. Scientific laws are finely tuned summaries of
what we know already, and they serve as guides and tools for
us in our pursuit of new knowledge.

Scientific Laws ‘Do’ Nothing


Laws do not act. Laws can describe, explain, and even predict
observations or phenomena in science, but they DO NOT cause
those observations. Apples were falling from trees well before
Newton’s first law was formulated. What Newton did was to
consider that apples move down toward the ground because
there is a net force acting on them in that direction.6 We can
say that our best understanding of the observation that apples
fall is that apples fall because a net force acts on them in the
downward direction, fully in line with Newton’s law. But that
law is innocent. It does not cause apples to fall; if we found out
that Newton was wrong to explain falling apples based on a net
force pulling them down, the law would have a problem, but
apples would still fall from trees as they always have. Apple
trees do not know or care about Mr. Newton! His law is sim-
ply a statement in line with the experimental observation that
things fall down. Of course, it’s convenient to say that ‘Apples
fall because of Newton’s first law.’ The intention is understood,
but seeing a scientific law that we develop as active participants
in nature can blind us to accumulating evidence that the law is
limited or just wrong as an explanation of things and cost us
years in the eventual search for a better one. Indeed, there have
been cases where scientific conclusions were venerated, only to
be shown in time to be more limited than we thought them to
be or wrong altogether.7 So, while laws (and equations based on
22 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

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.

General Logical Ideas in Science


Recognizing general logical principles in problems can go a
long way to help with problem-solving. A couple cases from
first-year chemistry illustrate the point.

The Logic of Limiting Factors


Consider the following question:

If 200 atoms of reactant A and 500 atoms of reactant B are


mixed together, and those two reactants A and B combine in
the following way, A + 4B → AB4, which reactant will be used
up first (i.e., which reactant will be the so-called limiting factor
or limiting reagent)?

It becomes clear that if 1 A atom reacts with 4 B atoms then 100


A atoms will react with 400 B atoms, and 200 A atoms should
react with 800 B atoms. So, if 200 A atoms will require 800 B
atoms, and we only have 500 B, then B will limit how far the
reaction can go; and we say, therefore, that B is the limiting
factor (or limiting reagent) for this chemical reaction, and cor-
respondingly, we say that A is in excess.
Notice that we say A is in excess even though we actually
have numerically less A than B atoms when we start the reac-
tion. This is because we are guided by the requirements of the
process (as shown in the chemical equation above), not the
actual numbers of atoms available at the start of the process.
If you thought, however, that the question was fundamen-
tally a chemistry question, you are wrong. It was a logic prob-
lem that could be posed in many other ways. The exact same
analysis would apply, for instance, if you worked at a car fac-
tory (if we simplify the car manufacturing process a bit for
illustration as follows):

1 Car Body 4 tires 1 Car.

Clearly, if we have 200 car bodies we would need 800 tires to


make 200 complete cars. If we only have 500 tires, however, we
would obviously need 300 more, so the tires are limiting us. Put
another way, the car bodies are in excess.
The Logic of the Problem 23

And we could carry out the same assessment by looking first


at how many tires we have: A quick check will show that 500
tires will allow you to make only 125 cars (since 500/4 = 125).
So, if we are fine with that, we could calculate how many car
bodies will remain at the end. That number (subtracting 125
car bodies from 200 car bodies) would be 75 car bodies, since –
by our balanced manufacturing equation above – each car
requires only one car body. So, although we have 200 car bod-
ies, only 125 can be used, leaving 75 wheelless frames. The
wheels are limiting us! We have 500 wheels and 200 bodies,
but ‘wheels’ is the limiting factor because we still need more of
them if we are to use up all 200 car bodies.
The same logic holds regardless of the unit that we use or
the objects (atoms or cars, for example) specified in the equa-
tion. In the same way that 1 ‘A’ combines with 4 ‘B’ to give
one ‘AB4,’ one dozen ‘A’ would combine with four dozen ‘B’ to
give one dozen ‘AB4,’ and one mole of A would combine with 4
moles of B to give 1 mole of AB4. And, if we start with 0.2 and
0.5 moles of A and B, respectively, we can show easily now that
0.125 moles of AB4 can be made, with 0.075 moles of A remain‑
ing. But now we know that the question draws on logic, not any
uniquely chemical insight.
Always consider the general logic behind the problem. I have
no doubt that if a student was working in an auto mechanic
shop for a summer and saw two cars without wheels and only
five tires, the student would wonder, ‘Wait a minute, where are
the other three tires?’

The Logic of Amounts


If you were asked to calculate by some means how many of a
certain number of rabbit offspring will have a specified genetic
trait, a hint that you are on the wrong track is that your answer
is ‑22 rabbits. A negative number is not likely to be a correct
answer to that question.
If you are asked to calculate the mass of an electron and your
answer is 2 kg, that result should register as a scream from the
page out to you that something went wrong (especially if you
knew already that the mass of the electron is the marvelously
tiny 9.1094 × 10 –31 kg).
The point here, from these two examples, is that a big ben-
efit of practice is that you become more familiar with the basic
nature of your subject such that you develop an intuition for
what is reasonable. If you are taking a course on the American
24 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

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.

Units – The Basics


Units are blessings too, even if, as a student struggling to
keep track of them in your calculations, you wish they did
not exist.
One impressive and useful feature of units is that there is a
small handful of basic quantities with respect to which all other
quantities can be defined. Each of those basic quantities has a
unit, and those fundamental units are called base units. These
are units from which all other units that you have ever seen or
heard of are made and into which they can be broken down.
One example of a fundamental quantity – one that you know
very well already – is length (or distance). The corresponding
base unit is the meter. We can still use other units like ‘yard’
or ‘bamboo,’ but after a number of international discussions
starting as early as 1875, authorities from across the world have
converged on an international system of units (now officially
called SI units)8 and the meter is the agreed-upon SI unit for
length. Base units are seen as fundamental units because none
The Logic of the Problem 25

can be written in terms of any combination of the others. The


fundamental quantities and their units and symbols are:
Quantity and common symbol Unit and symbol
Time t second s
Mass m kilogram kg
Length l meter m
Temperature T kelvin K
Current (electric current) I ampere A
Amount of a substance n mole mol
Luminous intensity Iν candela cd

I have listed the quantities here following an extension on a


mnemonic that I’ve used since high school when I was intro-
duced to the first five of them: “Tell Mom Let Tom Come, And
Lucy.” Again, these quantities are important because any other
quantity that you can think about – for example, area, volume,
energy, density, or concentration can be written out explicitly in
terms of their component base units: m2, m3, kg·m2·s-2, kg·m-3,
and mol·m-3, respectively. Knowing the base units can be very
insightful. Notice, for instance, that density (kg·m-3) and con-
centration (mol·m-3) are similar in that they are both measures
of a substance in a certain volume; the mass in one case, and
the actual amount (moles) in the other, so concentration is, in a
real sense, the density of the solute in a solution.

Units and Meaning


If I say to a fruit seller, “Fifteen, please,” what would the fruit
seller do? Probably just stare at me.
If you said, “Fifteen mangoes, please,” you would be in
business, literally.
‘Mango,’ in that case, is the unit. Similarly, “Three, please,”
might be too imprecise at a fish market, but “Three pounds
of cod, please,” makes good sense, and in that case ‘pounds
of cod’ is the unit. Seems trivial? Units roll out for us some
invaluable clues about how to begin to think about a problem
and how to proceed toward a solution.

• Illustration 1: Let’s assume that we give the following


problem to an enthusiastic high school student who
knows what the units ‘m,’ ‘s,’ ‘km,’ and ‘mins’ mean, but
does not know how speed relates to distance and time.
26 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

Find the speed in m/s units of a huge blue truck that covers
3.6 km in two mins.

We will approach this question in the way we discussed


previously.

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.]

Solution (Decisive Calculations)


Speed = Distance / Time (a deduction from the units)
So, speed = 3,600 m / 120 seconds = 30 m/s! Cool!
[Unwritten Reflection: Hope this is right. At least it
makes sense based on the units!!]

NOTE: The headings (Counting Blessing, and Solutions) are


not needed, of course; they serve only to emphasize the stages
that you can follow in setting up the problem. As for exclaiming
‘Cool’ at the end of the problem, most professors have no trou-
ble with you celebrating small victories on a test or problem
set with a sly comment here or there, such as ‘Got you!,’ or the
popular QED from the Latin quod erat demonstrandum (i.e.,
‘what was to be demonstrated’ and parodied by ‘quite elegantly
(or easily) done’). Do not overuse these celebratory exclama-
tions though. Save them for truly thrilling conquests.

• Illustration 2: Here’s another angle on the value of


units, emphasizing, in this case, the usefulness of base
units. We assume for this illustration that, for whatever
reason, the student does not know how kinetic energy
is linked to mass and momentum.

What is the kinetic energy, EK, in joules, of a mass, m, of


10 kg with a momentum, p, of 50 kg·m·s-1.
The Logic of the Problem 27

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.]

Solution (Decisive Calculations)


Evidently, therefore, EK ∝ p2/m so we can write EK = kp2/m
where k must be a unitless constant, So:
EK = kp2/m = k·2500 kg2·m2·s−2 /10 kg = k·250 kg·m2·s−2
Sorry, I’m not sure what ‘k’ is, and do not recall how
exactly to link EK to p and m.

Maybe the student really should know that k = ½, that


is, EK = p2/(2·m). I am not prescribing here a way to bypass
studying – I’ve assumed, for instance, that you know that joules
in SI base units is kg2·m2·s-2. But, in a moment of mild despera-
tion, the observations that we make as we write down what we
are given by the question and the relevant facts that we recall
(counting our blessings) can sometimes jolt our memories, bring-
ing to mind some pieces of information that would otherwise
have escaped us. The ‘½’ in the formula does not have a unit, but,
as we showed, we could get a long way through the problem on
just an analysis of the units (a form of dimensional analysis). So,
watch your units! Even if you lose some credit for missing the
‘½,’ the professor will be quietly impressed with the quality of the
effort, if you show the thinking that led you so close to the goal.

Logic above Memorization


When you take on problems as practice or in exams, always
prefer logic over simple applications of memorized procedures.9
Consider, for example, the following question about dilution.

A chef is making a sugar solution. He dissolves 0.4 moles of


sucrose in water in a one-liter (L) container such that the
28 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

concentration of the solution is 0.4 moles/L (or 0.4 M). What


is the concentration of a solution that is prepared by removing
0.1 L from that 1 L solution and adding more water to the 0.1 L
to dilute it to a total volume of 200 mL?

Two different ways to approach this problem may be clas-


sified as ‘logical’ and ‘procedural.’ Both can give you the cor-
rect answer, but one relies primarily on understanding while
the other gives a mathematical formula into which to substitute
numbers.
Option 1 (Logical) Option 2 (Procedural)
Goal: Concentration of new solution
1L original solution contains 1L original solution contains
0.4 moles 0.4 moles
So, 0.1 L original solution Formula is: M1V1 = M2V2.
contains 0.4 M is M1;
(0.4 moles / 1 L) × 0.1 = 0.04 V1 is 0.1 L ⇒ the volume, we
moles removed from the original
And 200 mL = 0.2 L solution.
The new 0.2 L volume of V2 is the total volume after that
solution is made up from 0.1 0.1 L was diluted ⇒ 200 mL.
L of original solution (plus And 200 mL = 0.2 L. So,
added water). V2 = 0.2 L
**** Now, we need to find M2.
So, 0.04 moles were ****
transferred, and that was 0.4 M · 0.1 L = M2 · 0.2 L
made up with water to 0.2 L. ∴ M2 = (0.4 M · 0.1 L) / 0.2 L
So, 0.04 moles is in 0.2L and, = 0.2 M
therefore, the new
concentration is:
0.04 moles/0.2 L = 0.2 M

Logic Check: 0.2 M is less than the original (0.4 M) concentra-


tion. And making 0.1 L up to 0.2 L is expected to reduce (halve,
in fact) the concentration. So, the results seem to make sense.

If possible, always choose logical strategies over procedural


methods for problem-solving. Why? Well, not all questions that
you will meet will have memorizable procedures that would
lead to correct answers. Certain simple equations or proce-
dures may apply in only very special cases, so the mindless
matching of type of problem to type of equation can lead to
disappointments, but reasoning your way through a problem
allows you to bypass such difficulties. For example, consider
the equation, M1V1 = M2V2, that we used above for the dilution
The Logic of the Problem 29

problem. Some chemistry students use it for so-called titration


calculations as well, which is a rather different situation from
dilution. As it turns out, the M1V1 = M2V2 equation is only valid
for titration calculations for 1:1 reactions (i.e., where one mole
of one species reacts with one mole of the other in a titration),
such as NaOH + HCl → NaCl + H2O. For such a 1:1 titration,
where, for example, a known volume, V1, of a NaOH solution
of unknown concentration M1 reacts completely with a volume,
V2, of an HCl solution of known concentration, M2, it turns
out that we can use the equation M1V1 = M2V2 to find M1. But
that is a convenient coincidence. The M1V1 = M2V2 equation
is NOT valid at all for titrations that are not 1:1 reactions,10
such as the 2:1 reaction between sodium hydroxide and sulfuric
acid, which follows the chemical equation: 2NaOH + H2SO4 →
Na2SO4 + 2H2O.
Even if your answers end up being wrong sometimes, insist
always that your answers be logical.

Reading a Chemical Formula – Not Only for Chemists


Chemical formulae summarize the number of atoms of dif-
ferent elements that are in a compound. They are not descrip-
tions of how atoms are bonded to each other in a compound.
For example, the chemical formula for water is ‘H 2O,’ but
that representation does not mean that two hydrogen, H,
atoms are bonded to each other in the manner H-H-O. The
arrangement of the atomic centers in water is H-O-H. That
is, the H atoms are bonded separately to the central oxygen,
O, atom. The water molecule is known to be bent and the
O atom is at the vertex of the bent triatomic molecule. The
same basic bonding arrangement is found for BeCl 2, except
that Cl-Be-Cl is linear (Figure 2.1). For good measure, we
include in Figure 2.1 a model of ammonia as well. Ammonia
is less celebrated perhaps than water (though it is commonly
used in household cleaning solutions and in manufacturing
fertilizers) but it is also a simple molecule with an interesting
(pyramidal) shape.

FIGURE 2.1  Sample structures of simple molecules.


30 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

FIGURE 2.2  Sample structures of two acids.

When compounds dissociate in water or react they do not


break up in the way that they are written. For example, H2SO4
is an acid that dissociates to release H+ ions. It can split apart
in water to give 2 H+ ions and one SO42- ion. It will NOT give
H2, S, and O4. You will learn more about the structures of mol-
ecules and how compounds behave in solution or react as you
progress through general chemistry. The main message here is
that the chemical formula of a compound sums up the identity
and number of atoms in that compound but they do not usually
tell us anything explicitly about the shape, bonding, or stabil-
ity of the compound. Chemical formulae can sometimes give
clues, however, to structure, such as in the formula for acetic
acid: CH3COOH. This formula has a few subtle messages about
structure. It indicates that one of the H atoms is different from
the other three and that the two oxygens are bonded to the same
C atom, but not in the same way (as we show on the right in
Figure 2.2).
But one would be hard-pressed to determine the structure
of H2SO4 (on the left in Figure 2.2) from a knowledge of the
chemical formula alone.

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

 2 We refer here to a definition in terms of chemical reactions. Nuanc-


es related to mass-energy equivalence which you might meet in
physics are irrelevant for chemical reactions. We normally ignore
as well, for chemical reactions, changes in the total matter in the
system in the case of radioactivity.
 3 Wisniak, J. The Thermometer – From The Feeling To The Instru -
ment. The Chem. Educ. 2000, 5, 88–91.
 4 Euclid’s Elements – All thirteen books complete in one volume, The
Thomas Heath Translation, Ed. D. Densmore, Green Lion Press,
Santa Fe, NM, 2003. p. 2 (Common Notions – #1).
 5 We say more later on about the scientific method. The term
describes a formal approach used in the search for new empirical
knowledge.
 6 For a brief report on the story of Newton and the falling apple,
see: Gefter, A. Newton’s Apple: The Real Story New Scientist, Jan-
uary 18, 2010: www.newscientist.com/article/2170052-newtons-
apple-the-real-story/
 7 A few examples are cited in: Vickers, P. The misleading evidence
that fooled scientists for decades, The Conversation, June 4,
2018: https://theconversation.com/the-misleading-evidence-
that-fooled-scientists-for-decades-95737.
 8 ‘International System of units’ in French is ‘Système Internation-
al d’unités’ and the abbreviation of that French rendition, ‘SI,’ has
been accepted internationally as the official abbreviation of this unit
system.
 9 The power of logical thinking and the educated guesses that
good reasoning skills make possible are emphasized in this book:
Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and
Opportunistic Problem Solving, Sanjoy Mahajan, The MIT Press:
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/street-fighting-mathematics.
Last accessed July 30, 2022.
10 The M1V1 = M2V2 dilution equation is irrelevant for titrations that
do not involve 1:1 reactions. Notice that the product molarity × vol-
ume (M1V1, which is [moles/volume] × volume) for a given solution
returns the number of moles of the solute in that volume of solution.
That number of moles of solute does not change if we dilute the solu-
tion simply by adding water, even though the volume increases of
course after dilution and the concentration naturally decreases. So, it
is expected that M1V1 (i.e., number of moles before dilution) = M2V2
(i.e., number of moles after dilution). For a titration, however, the
numbers of moles of titrant and analyte used up in the reaction are
not necessarily equal at the end of the titration. That is only the case
for 1:1 reactions (such as NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) → NaCl (aq) +
H2O (l)), where it so happens that the number of moles of one reac-
tant used up during a titration, M1 × V1, is equal to the number of
moles of the other reactant used up at that same point in the titra-
tion, i.e. M2 × V2. If the equation M1V1 = M2V2 is deployed for a
2:1 titration (such as 2 NaOH (aq) + H2SO4 (aq) → Na2SO4 (aq) +
2 H2O (l)), for instance, you will get a very wrong answer.
Chapter TH R E E

Solutions in Words
Answering Short
Answer Questions

Symbols and Words


In reality, all problems are word problems. Mathematical prob-
lems are word problems in which some of the words are replaced
for brevity and precision by symbols. Equations are sentences
in symbolic form. Consider for instance, the following:

• Format-1: Determine how many books will be left in


our library if Jane donates her fifty-two books, Jamal
gives us his eighty-four books, and we give Jenny the
sixteen books that we promised her for her collection.
• Format 2: What is the value of y, if y = 52 + 84 – 16.

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.

• Format 1: Jane’s fifty-two books added to Jamal’s


eight-four books is a total of one hundred and thir-
ty-six books donated. That’s a lot of books, but we had
promised Jenny sixteen so we’re left with one hundred
and twenty books for the new library.
• Format 2: y = 52 + 84 – 16 = 136 – 16 = 120.

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 -3 33


34 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

Similarly, we can construct syllogisms in text form – saying


in words that

• Format 1: All soccer players have good hand-eye coor-


dination. James is a soccer player, so James has good
hand-eye coordination.

Or, we could make the argument as follows.

• Format 2a: If s(S) is the set of soccer players, J is


James, and s(C) is everyone with good hand-eye coor-
dination, then where ‘⊂’ means ‘is a subset of,’ and ‘∈’
means ‘belongs to,’ we can write:1

s(S) ⊂ s(C), and J ∈ s(S), ∴ J ∈ s(C).

Format 2b: If it helped us to see the relationship more clearly,


we could even employ a simple Venn Diagram.
This perspective or way of thinking – that mathematics is a
rendering of text in terms of symbols2 – might help to reduce
anxieties for some in engaging with equations and mathemati-
cal statements. College students rarely feel similar apprehen-
sions when they encounter a paragraph worth of text, even if
the latter is more complicated and nuanced than the equation
of a straight line. A key aspect of both training and working in
the sciences is to learn over a period of time (not all on the first
day of a course) the meanings of the relevant symbols and to
get used to using them – which, like so much else, is aided by

FIGURE 3.1  A simple Venn diagram illustrating the syllogism.


Solutions in Words 35

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.

Short Answers in Words


Even in the sciences, however, where stereotypes hold that the
most fearsome mathematical equations are to be found, it is
important to be able to express ideas or provide an explanation or
description in words. Moreover, equations can be a bit dry. Saying
the mural was breathtaking, or that soccer is a lovely game, is
best left to words. Sometimes in the sciences, as well, you will be
required to articulate responses with more syllables than symbols.
Even in mathematics, symbolic logic and rigor are not the only
virtues. A wry phrase can make even a hardened professor of pure
mathematics smile.
A few tips are offered here for writing responses to short-
answer questions, but please check with academic skills support
professionals on your campus for reading materials and additional
advice on writing well. Your broader goal in this context might be
to have a high degree of confidence and a low level of anxiety con-
cerning your ability to produce strong and well-structured (long
or short) responses in words. The use of language in sharing your
questions, observations, perspectives, and insights with others is a
skill that is as important in the sciences as it is in other areas.

• As you would for quantitative questions, count your


blessings by taking note of any insight that a so-called
36 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

short-answer or ‘essay-type’ question provides and


make sure that you are clear on what the question is
asking you to do.
• As you would for quantitative questions, look for clues
in the logic of the question as well.
⇒ Example: If a question starts out with, “What
strategies are commonly used to . . .,” one demand
that it makes is that you give more than one
‘strategy.’ If you know of or remember only one
strategy, however, be sure to state it and move on.
If you feel very strongly that only one ‘strategy’ is
commonly used but you are aware of the range of
strategies, one enlivening response is to provide the
list requested and (if you have time) state why you
think the others are really not common. You may
be rewarded for your awareness and extra analysis
even if the teacher quibbles with the conclusion.
Even so, you should take seriously, in general,
the demands of the question as it is designed and
presented.
• Confront the demands of the question as directly as
possible.
⇒ Example: Consider the question, ‘What is the
photoelectric effect?’ Your answer to such a
question might reasonably be, ‘The photoelectric
effect is the observation that exposure to radiation
can cause electrons to be ejected from certain
materials.’ You might say instead, ‘The term
photoelectric effect describes . . . ’ or ‘This is a
phenomenon in which . . . ’ You could even start
by giving some background: ‘At the beginning of
the 1900s, people still did not know why . . . That
phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect.’
You should not, however, answer this type of
question in the following ways. ‘It is when . . .’
or ‘It is like . . .,’ and you definitely should not
say, ‘The photoelectric effect is something that
Einstein explained about light and metals.’ The
latter statement is true in a sense, but it is not an
explanation of the effect.
• Try to avoid analogies in short definitions. Analogies
can be helpful in explaining ideas, spurring and
opening up the imagination, but when a short and
clear scientific explanation or a definition is required,
address the issue directly.
Solutions in Words 37

• If only a short definition is requested do not provide a


long essay.
• If an essay is required, do not provide a short answer,
unless that short answer is so comprehensive and so
powerful that the professor will find it irresistible.
Learn and use good essay writing skills. Each essay is
another chance at perfecting your craft. Again, though,
focus on the topic, and follow as closely as possible, in
the style, structure, and length of your responses, the
stipulations of the question.

How short is short? Some questions will state the expecta-


tions clearly: ‘In 200 words or less . . .,’ ‘Explain briefly . . .,’ or
‘In a sentence of two, justify . . .,’ and so on. Short is relative,
but in undergraduate science classrooms, it is often assumed
that, for a ‘short explanation,’ not much more than a robust
paragraph is needed, unless you are told otherwise by the pro-
fessor or in the question itself.

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

Making Textbooks Pay

Textbooks are usually as useful as you make them, regardless


of whether they are free electronic books or expensive hard
copies. The following perspectives and pointers may help you
to benefit optimally from them.

• Why use textbooks? Right at the start of the course,


textbooks provide you with an intelligent presenta-
tion of the material that you will need to learn. The
information comes pre-organized – better than your
notes are likely to be during the semester – in a thor-
ough and systematic way. Good textbooks hand you
the course almost on a silver platter! The book lacks
the vital in-class engagement, but overly enthusiastic
students have been known to master large fractions of
the course material by spending the preceding summer
with the textbook. Beyond such extremes, however,
textbooks are great supports during the course, for
both independent study and practice (if the book has
practice questions), and it allows you to explore, even
beyond the limits of syllabi, on your own time. One
of the things that I realized early on in college was
that the most academically successful upperclassmen
I knew tried to make the most of their textbooks.
• Start from the ‘beginning.’ Do not consult your
textbooks only for a definition here or for clarification
on a topic there. A quick check to clarify a concept,
or to confirm a definition, has its place for sure. If
you are just being introduced to a topic, however,
reading the relevant section from the textbook can go
a long way to enhance your appreciation of the whole

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 - 4 39


40 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

subject. If you want to know what the Mpemba effect


is, you could just check for a line that offers up a
definition. But the concept is enriched when you read
further to find the story of a curious Tanzanian kid,
Mpemba, asking a teacher and ultimately a physics
professor visiting his school if it’s possible for hot
liquids to freeze faster than cold liquids (his original
question was about ice cream mixtures that he and his
friends would make). When he posed his question to
the visiting professor, his friends laughed at him, and
his teacher was embarrassed, but he and that physics
professor ended up publishing a paper together about
the observation, now known as the Mpemba effect.1
Reading more for a class than is absolutely necessary
promotes understanding (which leaves less for
memorization), and gives you a better handle on and
greater pleasure in the subject.

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

• Benefit from the structure. If you simply wanted to


find the word ‘oscillation’ in a physics textbook, where
would you look? Your first stop should probably be the
index at the back of the book (see the list included in
this section of basic elements of common textbooks).
The index lists key words and terms that appear in the
book and the relevant page numbers. Turning to the
index to locate a word in the textbook is much better
than going to the table of contents. Some books have
a glossary at the back as well, but glossaries typically
include far fewer words than indices since the goal of
the glossary is to provide definitions of specialized
ideas and concepts. The index does not include
definitions, but it is far less discriminating. If you go
to the index you might find that ‘oscillation’ comes
up in several different chapters (on harmonic motion,
waves, electricity, and electronics), and finding all of
those intersections might open up for you the power
and usefulness of the concept even if you had a specific
use of the term in mind originally.
• Feel free to make jottings and to highlight or underline
statements in your textbooks.2 Unless the book was
borrowed, or you wish to sell it in mint condition when
the semester ends, feel free to write in it. A new textbook
is more like a newspaper or a diary than a rare and
delicate ancient scroll. You could decide not to attempt
the crossword puzzle in the newspaper or write in your
diary because you did not want to smudge the pages,
but that would be sad. If a sentence in your textbook
astounds you, feel free to memorialize the encounter, if
you wish, by highlighting the sentence or leaving a brief
mark or comment. One day, years from now, you will
open that book, and you will feel a surge of anxious joy
as you see a mark or a scribble, and you will be gratified
to see or to read it, even if you cannot recall why you
left it there. I’ve heard people say that they regret not
highlighting a quote that they wish they could locate
easily now in a massive tome that they read long ago.
Few will lament a few years on that they drew a line
under an impressive revelation that they met in a book.
Be careful though to not equate a cursory engagement
with the material – which the simple act itself of
underlining or highlighting some word or section in
a text can be – with learning. A shallow engagement
alone can lead to an illusion of understanding3 where
42 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

you think you understand a thing, but you are, in


practice, unable to explain or apply it. In that regard,
incorporating practice problems as part of your study
regimen can be an affirmation of understanding and an
antidote to illusion. If you make side notes, feel free to
make them personal and creative, if that helps you to
understand and remember. An athlete might find a way
to frame the citric acid cycle, for example, as a track
event with different processes occurring at each stage.
You might invent your own funny mnemonic for the key
stages of the cycle.

If you do not want to write in your textbook, take notes sep-


arately as you read so that you can capture key ideas or solve
sample questions from the book on the fly as you are read-
ing a section in preparation, perhaps, for your next class or an
approaching exam. Taking notes in class or while reading on
your own is one way to guarantee that the information has tra-
versed at least once through your mind.

• Your textbook can be your coach. Textbooks often


have helpful tips, topic maps linking ideas in the
course, extra materials such as quizzes, souped-up
diagrams, charts, and so on. They often have worked
examples, too, separately from practice questions for
which no solution is provided.4 To assess your mastery
of a topic, feel free to attempt the worked examples
first on your own before looking at the solutions
provided in the book. Then you can take on the practice
or end-of-chapter questions. And I suggest that you
try at least two or three times to solve such questions
before seeking help from anywhere else (from peers or
your professors). That way, when you ask for help you
can start out by showing the direction from which you
(attempted to) tackle the problem. Again, go to office
hours, and bring your questions.
• Seeing might be believing, but it is not knowing.
Many of us have seen somebody do something, and –
thinking to ourselves that it is easy, straightforward, or
simple – failed miserably when we attempted it our-
selves for the first time. Do not simply look at a solution
to a problem and embrace the feeling of understanding
the solution so thoroughly that you do not attempt the
solution yourself. Otherwise, you will end up in front
of an exam paper a few days hence, thinking, “I’ve
M aking Te x tbook s Pay 43

seen this before; if only I could remember how they


solved it?” The mind has a way of convincing us that
we know or understand things well or possess certain
skills when we really do not.5 A sure way to know that
you are able is to do. Confidence without skill is not
ability. Put your presumed skills to the test, and cele-
brate your successes. If you come up short, however,
respond by reviewing the topic, practicing on simple
problems, and working your way up to the required
skill level at least. As gaps emerge and questions arise,
draw on the insights of others – ask your study group,
perhaps, or check in with your professor.

My word to you: You do not need to understand a lot to ask


questions, but you need to ask questions to understand a lot.

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

Many of the simplest mathematical rules that we have identi-


fied and recorded so far in human history find use in a wide
range of disciplines across the arts, humanities, natural and
social sciences, and in daily life. Algebra, unit conversions,
and discussions of ratios or rates of change (though not in the
language of calculus, and often in qualitative terms only) are
used by many people in one way or another every day. As a
science student, it is important that you are aware of and com-
fortable with commonly used mathematical concepts and rules,
such as those that are highlighted below. This chapter is in part
a reminder for you with hopefully some useful insights, and
it can serve too as a reference throughout your undergraduate
degree program. Many of these pointers will be reinforced later
on as well in your science training since they find extensive
application in most scientific disciplines.
It is common for students to feel less prepared mathemati-
cally than they would like to be; it is likely that many of your
classmates will feel that way initially. Mathematical knowledge
and our comfort levels with solving a given type of problem
grow, however, with time and practice. To first-year students,
taking on a stoichiometry question in chemistry, for instance,
can seem at first like a hike up a steep mountain in winter, but
the apparent demand of the question tends to shrink to some-
thing closer to a stroll in the park as the semester progresses.
Learning curves are often like that. So, take the long view –
draw on the good skills that you may have cultivated already

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 -5 45


46 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

from high school and build with them a platform for the ongo-
ing expansion in college of your analytical and mathematical
skills.

Some Mathematical Reminders

(1) Algebraic Manipulations


and Some Useful Math Relations

Where * represents only the + or the × operations on num-


bers a, b, c, . . ., and the parentheses indicate what part(s) of
the expression to calculate first, the following relationships
hold:

(a*b)*c* . . . = a*(b*c) . . .; and a*b* . . . = b*a* . . .

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

What of subtraction and division? We know that in general,

a – b ≠ b – a and a/b ≠ b/a, unless a = b,

but you can always write subtractions and divisions as additions


and multiplications, since:

a/b = a × 1/b and a – b = a + (–b)

where the usual rules for addition and multiplication apply in


the same way,

a × 1/b = 1/b × a, and a + (–b) = (–b) + a.

So, subtraction and division can be viewed as particular


cases of addition and multiplication.
For a × (b + c), the ‘a’ term can be distributed into the part
between the parentheses. That is:

a(b + c) = ab + ac.
Solutions in Numbers 47

For a–1·(b + c)q, carry out the operation in parentheses first,


raise that value to the power ‘q,’ and only then should you mul-
tiply by a–1 (or, equivalently, divide by ‘a’).

(2) Trigonometric Ideas


Trigonometric relationships find use across the sciences. For
right-angled (or right) triangles, with angles 90o, θa, and θb, the
hypotenuse (which is length c on the left in Figure 5.1) is the line
across from the right angle, and we can show that θa + θb = 90o
for all right triangles, and, as Pythagoras’s theorem tells us:

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 = b / c, sin θa = a / c, and tan θa = a / b = sin θa / cos θa.

And similarly, for θb, we can show that:

cos θb = a / c, sin θb = b / c, and tan θb = b / a = sin θb / cos θb.

And if we directly compare the results above for θa and θb,


we see that for right triangles,

cos θa = sin θb, and sin θa = cos θb, and tan θa = 1 / tan θb.

More generally, for any triangle, with sides a, b, and c oppo-


site angles θa , θb, and θc, respectively (see Figure 5.1), we can
show that

FIGURE 5.1  A right-angled and an arbitrary triangle (left, and right, respectively), with
geometrical parameters labelled.
48 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

θa + θb + θc = 180o (where, for a right triangle, since θc = 90o,


θa + θb = 90o).

Additionally, we know too that for all triangles:

a b c
Sine rule: = =
sin sin sin

Cosine rule, in its various forms: a2 = b2 + c2 – 2bc · cos θa


b2 = a2 + c2 – 2ac · cos θb
c2 = a2 + b2 – 2ab · cos θc

Notice that this general ‘cosine rule’ has a curious resemblance


to Pythagoras’s Theorem, c 2 = a 2 + b 2 which is specific to right
triangles. We will clarify the connection between them shortly.

 xercise: A claim that you can try to prove at this point,


E
and which we will take on shortly, is that, for the spe-
cial case of a right triangle, the sine rule simplifies to
sin θa = a/c, and the cosine rule to cos θa = b/c.

Beyond Triangles For any given angle, θ, anywhere, you


might encounter the following less commonly used definitions:

1 / sin θ = csc θ, 1 / cos θ = sec θ, and 1 / tan θ = cot θ.

Some other useful trigonometric relationships include the


following:

sin(−θ) = −sin θ, cos(−θ) = cos θ, and tan(−θ) = −tan θ

and we can show that,

cos2θ + sin2θ = 1.

Several other interesting trigonometric relations have been


established – you may have met any number of them already
in high school. There is no need to know every possible trigo-
nometric relationship, however. Understanding the key ideas
and knowing the most general relationships go a very long
way in sharpening your mathematical problem-solving skills.
Consider, for example, the following problem:

Given that cos2θ + sin2θ = 1, show that sec2θ − tan2θ = 1


Solutions in Numbers 49

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

So, from what we have noted so far, we can proceed now to


rewrite our expression in cos θ and sin θ in terms of sec θ
and tan θ, and follow the logic of the process as closely as
we can to get, hopefully, the result specified in the question.
Full Solution (one of many possible approaches)
Starting from cos2θ + sin 2θ = 1, we can get to sec2θ by sim-
ply dividing through by cos2θ.

 ividing both sides by cos2θ gives, 1 + sin 2θ / cos2θ =


D
1 / cos2θ
Which simplifies to 1 + tan2θ = sec2θ.
So, 1 = sec2θ − tan2θ.

Again, there are any number of other approaches that


one could take to solve this problem, but the goal is to
answer the question honestly and transparently, and you
can be happy if you achieve that.
Caution: If a question asks you to assume or start from
cos2θ + sin2θ = 1 in proving that sec2θ − tan2θ = 1, honor
that request, unless you know that it would be fine to do it the
other way around, that is, to prove that cos2θ + sin2θ = 1 using
the fact that sec2θ − tan2θ = 1. In general, try to do what the
question asks you to do. Some professors will admire your
ingenuity and independence in starting from sec2θ − tan2θ = 1
and working backward (Try it! It’s basically the reverse of
what we just did). Others might point out that – in their view
anyway – you did not answer the question.

There are surely alternative approaches that one could take to


answer this question. The emphasis here, however, is on thinking
logically about the problem. Whatever strategy you might use to
50 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

take on a question like this, be sure to use the resources provided –


the information or clues in the question itself – and all that you
know otherwise to find the solution in a way that is coherent for you.
A problematic view, often espoused as a rhetorical question
about aspects of the natural sciences and mathematics, including
trigonometric rules, is: ‘Why would I ever need to know that?’
And that is an unfortunate perspective, because great applica-
tions arise often from a solid grasp of fundamental aspects of
nature. For trigonometry, for instance, applications abound
in practical areas such as construction and engineering, as we
illustrate shortly with a simple model example. There is also
something to be said for appreciating the inherent mathematical
elegance of this physical universe in which we find ourselves.
Now it is true that being able to prove that 1 = sec2θ − tan2θ
does not appear to be a lifesaving skill, but the ability to take
on an intellectual problem, and to work systematically, logi-
cally, and confidently through it can be lifesaving. After all,
scientists, lawyers, doctors, farmers, and even well-intentioned
politicians, all need these transferable skills for working suc-
cessfully through problems. Finding cures for diseases, proving
the innocence of a convicted prisoner, setting up new strategies
for irrigation, and reducing road accidents all call for precisely
this kind of systematic critical thinking.

More Solutions: Let’s show, as promised, that the sine and


cosine rules simplify to the relationships we identified pre-
viously for the special case of the right triangles.

The Sine Rule


Counting Blessings
For a triangle such as the one on the right in Figure 5.1, we
will consider a case where it so happens that θc is a right
angle, as shown on the left in Figure 5.1.
a b c
For any triangle: Sine Rule: = =
sinθ a sinθb sinθ c
For the right triangle: sin θa = a / c; cos θa = b / c and
θc = 90o; cos 90o = 0, sin 90o = 1

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

The Cosine Rule


Counting Blessings

For any triangle: Cosine rule: a 2 = b 2 + c 2 2bc cos a


(with two other versions shown previously)
For the right triangle: sin θa = a / c; cos θa = b / c and
θc = 90o; cos 90o = 0, sin 90o = 1

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 is Pythagoras’ theorem!


That result (showing the link between the cosine rule and
Pythagoras’ theorem) was one objective, but the main objec-
tive in this section is to confirm that the cosine rule yields
cos  a = b / c for all right triangles. So, let’s keep going.
Starting with the following version of the cosine rule,
a 2 = b 2 + c 2 2bc cos a
and transposing, allows us to write:

−2bc  cos a = a2– b2 – c2 and therefore cos a = (a2 − b2 − c2)


/ −2bc,

But we just showed that c2 = a2 + b2, and we will substitute


the right hand side of that result into the numerator since it
will help us to get rid of ‘c2’ which is not in the numerator
of our target (recall that we want to show that cos  a = b / c);
and that gives us
cos  a = (a2 − b2 – {a2 + b2}) / −2bc
52 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

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.

Let’s return briefly, though, to the application question:


For the two model houses shown in Figure 5.2, trigonometry
allows us to calculate how high the vertex of the triangular-
shaped roof would be, depending on how long you want ‘c’ to
be – which ultimately means how much we are willing to spend
on roofing materials. The higher the vertex gets, the large the
amount of roofing material we will need.
Figure 5.2 is not a sophisticated architectural diagram, but,
for that simplistic picture, you can determine the distance c,
from vertex to the edge of the roof, if you know the height
that you want for your roof, h, and the width of your house,
x. Using Pythagoras’ theorem, you can determine c for either
of the two roof options (and you should convince yourself that
c = {x2/4 + h2}1/2). Once you have determined the corresponding
value for c, and if you know as well the length of the building l
going into the plane of the page from the front to the back of the
house (since we are not building a two-dimensional house), you
will be able to calculate the total surface area of the roof (i.e.,
A = 2(c × l)). That value, A, and the area of a unit of the roofing
material, can then be used to determine the minimum amount
of roofing material needed for your model home. The higher
h is, the longer c will have to be, and the larger the amount of
materials that you will need. So, if the costs are too high for a
very steep roof, one option would be to decrease c by lowering
h. An alternative would be to use cheaper materials, but nobody
wants a high roof that collapses a week after the house is built!
Solutions in Numbers 53

FIGURE 5.2  Model illustrating the usefulness of trigonometric thinking, and how it
finds relevance in practical situations.

(3) Other Interesting Relationships and Definitions


Beyond trigonometrical relationships, you will become famil-
iar as an undergraduate with several other mathematical rela-
tionships that find regularly use in the natural sciences. These
are some of them.

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

Helpful Definitions and Quantities

n ! n (n 1) (n 2). . . (1).

0! = 1

For a series of values a1, a2, …, an

n
ai = a1 + a2 . . . + an
i =1

n
ai a1 a2 . . . an
i =1

And it can be shown that,

1 1 1 1 1
= + + + + . . . = 2.71828. . .
n =0
n ! 0 ! 1! 2 ! 3!

This value is given the symbol ‘e.’ It is an irrational number,


a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers.
The number 2.5, for example, is equal to 10/4. Such a ratio does
not exist for e.
Exponential functions, e: The value e = 2.71828 . . . has
the unique property that on a graph of y vs. x for a function
of the form y = Aex, the slope at any point (x, y) on that curve
is exactly equal in magnitude to the value of y at that point.
Consider Figure 5.3, for instance, which is a graph of the func-
tion y = 20ex. When x = 3, we find that y = 401.7 and the slope
at that point on the curve is equal to 401.7 as well.
So, if we draw a tangent line at the point (3, 401.7) on the
curve, as we have done in Figure 5.3, that line will have a slope
that is equal numerically to the y-value at that point, which is
401.7 (see Figure 5.3). That situation, where the gradient or
slope of a tangent line at a point is equal to the y-value at that
point is one of the unique features of exponential functions of
the form (y = Ae x). That remarkable relationship between the
slope and the y-value holds for every point on every curve of
the form y = Ae x, regardless of the value of A.
Special properties like that for a given type of function
in mathematics can make them particularly useful in certain
contexts. You will meet, no doubt, several other intriguing
Solutions in Numbers 55

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.

functions and will learn more about exponential functions


too, as you progress in any field, from molecular physics to
macroeconomics, that relies on mathematical thinking.
An equation of the form y = ex links x and y through e in the
same way that the expression ‘100 = 102,’ links 100 to 2 through
10. One alternative way to express the latter relationship is to
say that the base-10 logarithm of 100 is 2, that is, log10(100) = 2.
For y = ex we can also write loge(y) = x. Because of the math-
ematical properties of the function y = ex, and because it is use-
ful for describing phenomena across a number of disciplines,
we use it and the log form, loge(y) = x, very often across the
sciences. Indeed, we use loge(y) = x so often that we almost
always abbreviate loge(y) as ln(y) – which we call the natural
log – and that allows us to refer to log10(y) as simply log(y)
without ambiguity. Logarithms appear in expressions such as
the definition of the pH of a solution,2 and plotting graphs using
the log of values instead of the values themselves can help to
simplify analyses, especially where the values involved span
several orders of magnitude. For example, if we performed an
experiment and got (x, y) data points such as the following: (10,
1.0 × 105), (100, 1.0 × 109), and (300, 8.1 × 1010), instead of plot-
ting those data directly, we could plot log y vs. log x; that is,
(1, 5), (2, 9), and (2.477, 10.91), which (depending crucially on
the relationship between the properties represented by x and
y) might allow us to produce a graph for a form of the original
56 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

data that is still quite useful but employs a narrower and more
manageable range of values.3

More Emphasis on Logarithms and Powers

The log function: If y = 10x then log(y) = x.


Examples: log 1 = 0, log 10000 = 4, and log 3.163 = 0.5001

Similarly, we can write e2 ≈ 7.389, so the number 2 is linked to


7.389 . . . through e. We say ln 7.389 ≈ 2.

The ln function: If y = ex then ln(y) = x


Examples: ln 1 = 0, ln 10000 = 9.210, and ln 3.163 = 1.152

log(a) + log(b) = log(a ⋅ b). This is true for all logarithms, so:

ln(a) + ln(b) = ln(a ⋅ b)

log (a)b = b ⋅ log (a) and ln(a)b = b ⋅ ln (a)

10log(x) = x, and similarly, eln(x) = x

log 10x = x, and similarly, ln ex = x

If y = a ⋅ 10-qx, then log(y) = log (a ⋅ 10−qx)

= log(a) + log 10−qx = log(a) − qx ⋅ log 10

So, log(y) = log(a) − qx since, log 10 = 1.

And similarly:

If y = a ⋅ e−qx, then ln (y) = ln (a⋅ e−qx)

= ln (a) + ln e−qx = ln(a) − qx ⋅ ln e

So, ln(y) = ln (a) − qx since, ln e = 1.

Linear (Straight-Line) Equations


The equation of a straight line has the general form y = mx + b,
where m is the slope or gradient of the line and b is the point where
the line intersects with the y-axis (the so-called y-intercept). That
Solutions in Numbers 57

intercept is the point where x = 0; as you see from the equation


y = mx + b, when x = 0, the ‘mx’ term vanishes and y = b.
Any equation of the form y = mx + b, such as y = 5x + 2,
or ln(A) = ln(Ao) – qx (where A = Ao e − qx , and Ao is a constant),
will give you a straight line. For the first equation, the slope
of a plot of y vs. x will be 5, and the y-intercept will be 2. In
the second equation, the slope is –q and the intercept is ln(Ao).
Notice that since the slope is –q, if q itself is positive, the slope
will be negative, and vice versa. Four sample y vs. x plots of
straight-line equations are shown in Figure 5.4.
Sometimes an equation that could take the form y = mx + b
is presented in a way that might seem to hide that linear char-
acter, for example, (y – 2)/2.5 = 2x. The latter equation is just
y = 5x + 2, but you might have to stare at it for a bit to recog-
nize that y vs. x would give a straight line. You might wonder,
“Why would anyone want to write the equation like that?” and
that’s not an unreasonable question, but sometimes an equation
comes out of some other context where the ‘weird’ form, like
the ratio (y − 2) / 2.5, makes sense. Recognizing when you
have an equation for a straight line can be enormously helpful
for simplifying your analysis of scientific data and for making
predictions for values of x that are of interest to you.
In other cases, it may be convenient to manipulate an equa-
tion to get it in the form of a straight-line equation, because that
form can be so extremely helpful for your analysis. For exam-
ple, an equation of the form A(t) = A0e−kt can be used to predict
the amount of a decaying radioactive element that remains,
A(t), after a given time, t, if the total amount that you started
out with (at time t = 0) is Ao.4,5 In this exponential equation,
the independent variable is t, rather than x from our discussion
above, and the constant in the exponent is given the symbol k
rather than b, but the same rules apply. The mathematical

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

properties of a function are independent of actual symbols used


in it or the variable (such as time or distance, for example) that
is under consideration. As we noted for m and b in ‘y = mx + b,’
however, the information embodied in a symbol in an equation is
determined by where it appears in the equation and the phenom-
enon under consideration. In this particular case, k is a constant
here that is directly related to the rate of the radioactive decay.
If we had some values for A for a range of t values, we could
plot A vs. t and analyze the resulting graph (which would be an
exponential type decay curve since, as defined, A = Aoe– kt ). But
we could take another approach, which you might prefer. We
could rewrite this expression in a linear form and determine
Ao and k in a straightforward way. How would we do that? To
obtain the linear form, we would take the natural log of both
sides of A = Aoe– kt :

(
ln( A) = ln Ao e − kt ) ( )
ln( A) = ln ( Ao ) + ln e − kt

ln( A) = ln ( Ao ) − kt . 1n e

So, ln (A) = ln (Ao) – kt  since ln e = 1

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

and a negative slope when b is negative, the quadratic equation


has its own set of features linked to the signs and magnitudes
of its three constants.
A plot of y vs. x yields a parabola, some examples of which
are shown in Figure 5.5. The parabola is concave up if a is posi-
tive, and concave down if a is negative. That is a built-in feature
of quadratic equations.
For any given value of x, we can show that, at that specific
point on the quadratic curve, the slope = 2ax + b.7 At the extre-
mum (i.e., the maximum or minimum point on the parabola –
the so-called turning point on the curve), the slope = 0. That
is, 0 = 2ax + b at the extremum, such that the value of x at the
turning point is: xextremum = −b/2a.
Here, xextremum denotes the value of x at the extremum. For
the curves shown in Figure 5.5, the extrema are all at x = 2, and
that is as it should be. Notice that, for the upward curves, a = 1,
and b = −4, so at the minima, xmin= −b/2a = −(−4)/(2·(1)) = 2,
and similarly for the downward curves, a = −1, and b = 4, so
xmax= −b/2a = −(4)/(2·(−1))  =  2. The value of c is irrelevant

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

to the value of xextremum for a quadratic function. Changing c


simply shifts the whole curve vertically up or down, as we will
shown momentarily.
We mentioned in an earlier section that the solutions of the
quadratic equation 0 = ax2 + bx + c are given by the formula:

( )
1/ 2
x = −b ± b 2 − 4ac / 2a Quadratic Formula

That equation gives the values of x at which the curve crosses


the horizontal line y = 0. Because of the shape of the quadratic
curve, there can be either two such points (see the top graphs
in Figure 5.5) or only one (bottom, left) or no real solution at
all (bottom, right). The actual values for x at these points where
the curves cross the x-axis are given below each of the graphs
in Figure 5.5. You are welcome to use the equation that we just
wrote down (the quadratic formula) to check if the solutions that
one gets from looking at the graphs in Figure 5.5 are actually
returned by that formula.
The plots shown in Figure 5.6 are fun illustrations of the
influence of changing a, b, or c only in a quadratic function. In
each case, we use the function y = 2x2 + 4x – 4c (bold unbroken
curves in Figure 5.6) as our reference.
As we mentioned, changing c simply shifts the whole
function up or down, depending on whether c is increased or
decreased. The impacts of changes to a or b are more nuanced,
as illustrated in Figure 5.6, because, unlike c, which is a con-
stant, the ‘ax2’and ‘bx’ terms vary with x. Two intriguing
features to note are that changing only the sign of a gives an
identical curve rotated (in the plane of the page) by 180o about
the y-intercept, and changing only the sign of b gives a mirror
image in the y-axis of the original curve (see Figure 5.6).

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

Graphical Representations of Experimental Data


When we conduct experiments, we do not usually get data
points that fall neatly on a straight line or smooth curve. We
usually end up with graphs that look more like the examples
shown in Figures 5.7. Where there is a clear trend, we may
obtain a trend line – also called a line of best fit – that matches
optimally the pattern evident in the data. In Figure 5.7, we
show two scatter plots; one is fitted to an exponential curve
of the form A = Ao e − qx and we show the log form as well,
lnA = lnA0 – qx.
Mathematical strategies (based on a procedure called least
squares fitting) have been developed over the years to find
such best-fit lines, and many common mathematical and data
analysis computational programs include utilities to both plot
data sets and find best-fit lines – including the equation of the
line. The so-called coefficient of determination, that is, the
R2 value, is an assessment in statistics of the quality of the
fit between the data and the model or type of function under
consideration, with unity (R2 = 1) being the ideal. That value
and additional statistical data can be readily obtained from
such computational programs, and it is possible in fact to test
several different types of functions (straight line, exponential,
polynomial, and so on) to see which one fits best, so you do
not even have to presume, from observation or prior knowl-
edge, as one might have done a few decades ago, what the best
function is for the data set. Even so, although all of that work
can be done for you by computers, take care to understand the

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

principles at work in the process. Taking an introductory sta-


tistics course at some point during your undergraduate expe-
rience can help with that.

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.

An illustration: If I tell you that, in total, Kim and I own 12


wheelbarrows and that Kim has twice as many as I do, the
claim is that both of those things are true at the same time.
So, we can write two equations.

12 = K + I, and 0.5 = I/K

(where K and I are the numbers of wheelbarrows that Kim


and I have, respectively)
From the second equation, we can write, I = 0.5·K, and
we can substitute that into the first equation to get rid of
I – so that we end up with an expression in one variable,
K, only. Such a substitution is valid precisely because each
equation is valid as long as the other one is also valid.
And that substitution gives us:

12 = K + 0.5K = 1.5 K
So, K = 12/1.5 = 8. And, since 0.5 = I/K, we can write
I = 0.5K = 0.58 = 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.

Option 1 – The Exponential Form: A = Ao e − kt


If the two data points, (t1, A1) and (t2, A2), obey the function
A = Ao e − kt then we can write

−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,

ln ( A1 ) = ln ( Ao ) − kt1 and ln ( A2 ) = ln ( Ao ) − kt2 .

Solving for ln (Ao) gives, ln ( Ao ) = ln ( A1 ) + kt1.


and substituting into the equation for ln (A2) gives,
ln ( A2 ) = ln ( A1 ) + kt1 − kt2 , which simplifies to
ln ( A2 ) − ln ( A1 ) = k ( t1 − t2 ) , and, as we found before,
ln ( A2 / A1 )
k=
( t1 − t2 )
64 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

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.

An Extra Example Some of the simultaneous equation problems


that you will meet may be even simpler. Consider the equations 
3f + 4g = 18, and f – 5g = –13. You could try guessing what single
pair of f and g values would be a solution for these two equations,
or you could find the solutions systematically using the approach
that we just employed. That is, we could tackle these simultaneous
equations by transposing for f in one of the equations (perhaps the
one that looks simpler to you) and then substitute that expression
for f into the other equation as follows.

Transposing for f in the equation f – 5g = –13 gives f = 5g – 13


and substituting for f in 3f + 4g = 18, gives 3·[5g – 13] + 4g = 18.
Simplifying and solving for g, we find: 15g – 39 + 4g = 18,
⇒ 19g – 39 = 18 ⇒ 19g = 18 + 39 ⇒ 19g = 57
⇒ g = 57/19 ⇒ g = 3.

To find f, we can substitute g = 3 into the transposed equation:

f = 5 g − 13 ⇒ f = 2.

If we wanted to confirm our answers and put our minds at ease,


we could simply substitute for f = 2 and g = 3 into the other
equation (3f + 4g = 18) instead to see if the left-hand side gives
18. Which it clearly does: (3 × 2) + (4 × 3) = 6 + 12 = 18!

Exercise:
( i) Going back to the type of problem that triggered our
discussion of simultaneous equations, find values for m
Solutions in Numbers 65

and b for two equations of the form y = mx + b that link


the data points (2, 7) and (8, 19). That is, what are the
values of m and b if 7 = 2·m + b and 19 = 8·m + b?
(ii) What are the values of p and q, if p + q = 1 and
0.7 − p 8
log = − 1?
0.6 + q

Notice that the two simultaneous equations do not have to be


identical in form. In the exercise, for instance, one equation is a
sum and the other is the log of a ratio. All that is required is that
the two parameters, p and q, each carry the same meaning in
both equations and that the two expressions are simultaneously
true. The solutions for the two exercise or practice questions
above are given at the end of this chapter.

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

An alternative way by which such a set of functions can be writ-


ten down and solved is by using matrices (i.e., matrix algebra).
That approach allows us to write, for example, the single equa-
tion 3f + 4g = 18 as follows.

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

and a2 b2 c2 , where n = 2 and 3, respectively.


a3 b3 c3
The determinant (denoted by D or | M | ) of a 2 × 2 matrix M,
is the number obtained conveniently by multiplying the terms
that are diagonal to each other, that is, ‘a1· b2’ and ‘a2· b1’, in the
a1 b1
matrix and subtracting the latter from the former:
a2 b2
|M| = a1· b2 – a2· b1.
a1 b1 f c
Cramer’s rule tells us that where = 1
a2 b2 g c2
we can solve for f and g by computing three determinants using
the values in the columns in the equation:
a1 b1 c1 b1 a c1
=D = ; Df ; Dg = 1
a2 b2 c2 b2 a2 c2

and the values of the unknowns are


f = D f / D and g = Dg / D.

Applying that approach to our problem, 3 4 f = 18 ,


1 −5 g −13
we can show that f and g are given by the following ratios of
determinants:

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

Another approach that is often taken in traditional intro-


ductions to matrix algebra is included in Appendix  I. That
approach leads us to the same place but directly invokes con-
cepts such as the identity, adjoint, and inverse matrices that
you may learn more about in courses on matrices and linear
algebra.
For solutions to two simultaneous equations, the matrix
route might look excessive. The strategy that we outlined pre-
viously of substituting from one equation into the next and
so on seems to be simpler and more straightforward – even
for cases that involve simple exponential and other non-linear
functions. Yet, matrix algebra proves to be exceptionally use-
ful for solving larger systems of simultaneous linear equations.
Finding determinants for square matrices with n >> 2 gets very
involved – we took some shortcuts (specific to n = 2) around the
general rules that apply to any n. The rules are well-established
in mathematics and can be applied systematically for any n, but
finding solutions by hand gets horrendous fast as n increases.
Thankfully, though, computers allow us nowadays to find or
confirm almost any solution that we could want, even for rather
large values of n.
For this discussion, our key goal is, however, to intro-
duce the idea of matrices and emphasize the usefulness of
matrix algebra. This brief excursion will free you, I hope, as
the need or wish arises, to learn more and to consider matrix
approaches if a problem seems to call for it. For more on how
matrices and other neat but ostensibly abstract mathematical
tools find cool applications in the natural sciences, see, for
example, a non-technical commentary mentioned in the chap-
ter endnotes9 on mathematics in biology.

On the Shapes of Things


Circles, Cylinders, and Spheres
For any circle (Figure 5.8), the ratio of the perimeter (i.e., cir-
cumference, C) to the diameter, d, of that circle is a constant.
That is,

C ∝ d and the constant of proportionality is given the symbol π. So,


C = π·d, and we find that for all circles, π = 3.14159 . . .

But we know that – by definition – the diameter = 2r (where r is


the radius of the circle), so we can write,

C = 2r.
68 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

FIGURE 5.8  Key parameters for some basic shapes you will encounter.

And for any given circle of radius r, the area, A, is:

A = r2.

A cylinder of height h may be seen as a rectangle curved so


that two opposite ends, each of equal length h, just touch. The
top and bottom of the cylinder are circles, each of circumfer-
ence 2πr and area πr2. For such an object, therefore;

Surface Area = h⋅(2πr) + 2(πr2) = 2πr⋅(h + r) and


Volume = πr2h

A sphere of radius r can be seen as a surface generated by a


180o rotation of a circle of radius r about an axis that passes
through the diameter of the circle. For such an object :
Surface Area = 4πr2 and Volume = (4/3)·πr3

Triangles and (Triangular) Prisms


Consider a triangle with sides of length a, b, and c, and a maxi-
mum vertical height, h perpendicular to the base of the triangle
(Figure 5.8):
Perimeter = a + b + c, area = (h × b) / 2, and the volume of a
triangular prism = (h × b × h′) / 2, where h′ is the length of the
rectangular face of the prism projecting into or out of the plane
of the page (Figure 5.8).

Rectangles and Cuboids


For any rectangle, the perimeter = 2l + 2w (where l is the length;
w is the width), area = l × w, and the volume of a rectangular
cuboid = l × w × h′ (see Figure 5.8).
Solutions in Numbers 69

Layer upon Layer


As we said at the beginning of this chapter, mathematical
knowledge and one’s comfort level with solving a given
type of problem builds with time and practice. Do not let the
typical anxieties about mathematical demands that so many
students feel early on in college science cause you to miss the
rewards that will follow from persistence and your maturing
practice of good academic skills. In time, as your knowledge
base expands, and your experience and confidence grow,
you will be much more at home with applying mathematical
solutions to problems in your courses or research activities.
Another way to say this is that you, like your professors,
should have a growth mindset.10 Focus on your intended
personal, academic, and professional destination and how
you can get there, rather than defining yourself (or allow-
ing yourself to be eternally defined) by deficits – what you
have not managed so far to attain. Prevent biased negative
perceptions – be they yours or those of others – about your
ability and ambition from limiting your aspirations or sti-
fling motivation. Do not build or nurture mental barriers
between you and your potential achievements. You and those
who teach and support you should expect continued intellec-
tual growth and development, which will be achieved by the
work you will be doing, and through the instruction, advice,
and mentoring that you will receive.
Each new piece of mathematical insight or skill will build,
layer upon layer, a strong foundation for potential application
in one course or another in college and potentially in remark-
able ways at other stages of your life as well.11 The math-
ematical principles and approaches highlighted here are by
no means exhaustive. Calculus, probability and statistics, and
vectors (see Appendix II; which tends to evolve into a discus-
sion of matrices) are some of the other areas in mathematics in
which science majors will develop some expertise during their
undergraduate training. Calculus finds important use across
numerous areas of study well beyond the natural sciences,12,13,14
even if its standing as the dominant content in introductory
college mathematics has been challenged.15 You may not see
it played out in the classroom, but academics (with equal fer-
vor in every discipline, I think) have heated discussions about
what should be added to, magnified or diminished in, or fully
booted from the curriculum. Probability and statistics are also
ubiquitous, finding prominent applications in areas such as
biostatistics, econometrics, quantum mechanics, and statisti-
cal mechanics. The connections of probability and statistics to
70 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

data science and machine learning will only continue to elevate


our appreciation of the tools that they provide and the associ-
ated ways of thinking.
Faculty members who teach mathematically intensive
advanced courses in the sciences will continue to debate the
list and depths of topics covered, and thus the level and type
of mathematical training that should be required for students
entering their courses. Those debates are motivated by sev-
eral considerations, including the limits of instructional time
in a semester or academic year, the availability of increasingly
powerful computers and specialized algorithms that allow
us to perform accurately and rapidly (even on the fly in the
classroom) ever more copious amounts of complicated math-
ematical operations. Other considerations include the desire to
incorporate materials from more recent advances in the disci-
pline, the growing need for programming skills in many areas,
and evolving demands on the modern science major entering
graduate school or the increasingly sophisticated job market.
What is not in question, however, is the need for students
to develop, through all of the stages of the undergraduate
curriculum – beyond the requisite understanding of the core
content and language of the discipline – the ability to think
critically, solve new problems, and to think in new ways about
old problems. And these skills are reinforced in mathematical
training by thinking intentionally, not only about the answer
to a problem on an assignment, but by reflecting too on the
logic that yielded that solution and how similar ways of think-
ing might open up opportunities for solving other problems.

A Fun Illustration from Shapes


What area can we encompass with a 20 m long string? We know
from mathematics that a square with a perimeter of 20 meters (with
each side 5 m long), has an area of 25 m2, and we can show as well
that any other rectangle that you can make with the same perimeter
will have a smaller area. For example, a rectangle with two sides
6 m in length and the other two sides 4 m in length will have the
same perimeter (20 m) as our square, but a different (smaller) area:
6 m × 4 m = 24 m2. And what of a circle with the same perimeter of
20 m? We can show that since the perimeter (circumference) of the
circle is 2πr = 20 m, the radius is r = 20 m / 2π = 3.183 m. And since
the area for a circle is πr2, we can write: Area = π⸱(3.183)2 = 31.8 m.
So, the circle has an even larger area than the square or any other
rectangle of the same parameter. In fact, a circle has the larg-
est area of any two-dimensional shape of a given perimeter. So,
Solutions in Numbers 71

what? How do the facts on area vs. perimeter connect to the


current discussion? Those observations may be nothing more
to some than curious or interesting claims to remember for a
test. Yet, another student, a budding architect perhaps, might
start to envision how those facts could play into the shapes and
designs of buildings, and an aspiring entrepreneur in the same
math class might start to rethink a creative packaging idea –
switching from a rectangular ice-cream cup to a circular one
to ensure customers get more for the same perimeter (if not the
same price)! The value of mathematical thinking, regardless of
your disciplinary interest or professional aspirations, will be
limited only by imagination.

Stay the Course


You will gain some of your mathematical training (i) in a sys-
tematic way through math courses that you might volunteer
or be required to take as prerequisites in college, and (ii) in
a more ad hoc fashion based on skills you will need to learn
and apply in studies beyond formal mathematics courses (in
areas such as chemistry, computer science, economics, phys-
ics, and any number of other disciplines). In any case (and
in good time – even if others seem to be ahead to start with,
especially in first year courses as people come in from many
different high school backgrounds), the mathematical compe-
tencies that you will need will come. They will be facilitated
by faithful, if also incremental, steps forward, and with the
support of your peers and instructors; and the more you learn,
the more you will be able to read, comprehend, and apply
mathematical ideas and logic independently, happily, and suc-
cessfully. So, stay the course.

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

radius. We stick to degree units here, however, since degrees are


more commonly used in many other areas in the sciences and in
other areas of daily life. Many students entering college will have a
more developed intuition for degree units.
 2 The pH of a solution is the negative of the log of the hydrogen ion
concentration, typically denoted [H+], or more realistically [H3O+],
in an aqueous solution. That is, pH = −log[H+]. Acids have a higher
[H+] and bases have lower [H+] than pure water at the same temper-
ature. Yet, H+ concentrations for solutions can be really very small
values in moles/dm3 (M) units, such as 1.00 × 10–12 M, and one com-
mon way to get around using those inconvenient numbers is to use
the logs of the values instead. So rather than saying [H+] = 1.00 ×
10–12 M, we say the pH is 12, since −log(1.00 × 10–12) = 12. Note
that pH values do not have units.
 3 Log(10) = 1, and log(1.0 × 105) = 5; log(100) = 2, and log(1.0 × 109) =
9; log(300) = 2.477, and log(8.1 × 1010) = 10.91.
 4 A(t) here does not mean A multiplied by (t). It is a way of affirming
that A explicitly depends on time, t. In the same way, we sometimes
bt
express functions in the form f(x) = mx + b or f (t ) = Ao e , for
example.
 5 The quantity Ao is not a variable, it is a constant in the equation, and
the subscript ‘o’ is there to remind us that it is the fixed amount with
which we started at time t = 0.
 6 For such a reaction, k is a value called the rate constant. It is a quan-
tity that relates the rate of the reaction to the concentration(s) of the
reactant(s) in a chemical reaction. You will likely learn about rate
constants and reaction rates if you take an introductory chemistry
course in college.
 7 Expressions for the slope of any curve, for any x, can be obtained
using calculus. We will not prove that here, but a foundational
calculus course will enable you to become comfortable with the
meaning and use of differentiation and how it is used to obtain an
expression for the slope at any given point on a curve for which the
function is known.
 8 The solutions are (i) m = 2, and b = 3; and (ii) p = 0.6, and q = 0.4.
 9 Cohen, J. E. Mathematics Is Biology’s Next Microscope, Only Bet� -
ter; Biology Is Mathematics’ Next Physics, Only Better PLoS Biol.
2004, 2, e439 (2012–2023).
10 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck, Ballan-
tine Books; Updated Edition, 2007.
11 For an interesting case, see: How a retired couple found lottery odds
in their favor, Jon Wertheim, CBS News, January 27, 2019: www.
cbsnews.com/news/jerry-and-marge-selbee-how-a-retired-couple-
won-millions-using-a-lottery-loophole-60-minutes/ Last accessed
March 5, 2022.
12 Lax, P. D. In Praise of Calculus, p. 1–2 in MAA Notes #6 (The
Mathematical Association of America). Toward A Lean and Live-
ly Calculus: Report of the Conference/Workshop to Develop Cur-
riculum and Teaching Methods for Calculus at the College Level,
Tulane University, January 2–6, 1986, Editor: R. G. Douglas.
Solutions in Numbers 73

13 Douglas R. G. The Importance of Calculus in Core Mathematics,


pp. 3–6 in MAA Notes #6 (The Mathematical Association of Amer-
ica). Toward a Lean and Lively Calculus: Report of the Conference/
Workshop to Develop Curriculum and Teaching Methods for Cal-
culus at the College Level, Tulane University, January 2–6, 1986,
Editor: R. G. Douglas.
14 Bressoud, D. M. Why Do We Teach Calculus? Amer. Math. Month‑
ly, 1992, 99, 615–617.
15 Douglas R. G. Introduction: Steps toward a Lean and Lively Cal‑
culus, pp. iv–vi in MAA Notes #6 (The Mathematical Association
of America). Toward a Lean and Lively Calculus: Report of the
Conference/Workshop to Develop Curriculum and Teaching Meth-
ods for Calculus at the College Level, Tulane University, Janu-
ary 2–6, 1986, Editor: R. G. Douglas.
Chapter S IX

Practical Solutions
Science in the Laboratory

Why Experiments Matter


A good experiment can cause you to leave the room under-
standing things that you did not even know were there to be
understood. Experiments can change your outlook on things.
See undergraduate science laboratory activities, therefore, as
opportunities for new insights into and discoveries about the
nature of the universe. See them too as apprenticeships, for-
mative experiences that are preparing you – through technical
and disciplinary training and practice in applying transferable
critical thinking skills – to make your own scientific discover-
ies someday.
The basic approach that scientists use in the practice of
experimental investigation is called the scientific method.1,2
Put simply, the method offers an orderly general mode of oper-
ation for an inductive or empirical study. It’s not a guaranteed
path to extraordinary discoveries (see n. 1). It’s simply an orga-
nized way to possibly uncover new knowledge by systematic
investigation.
Very briefly, the scientific method starts with a question
that you have about the physical world, requires the logical
design of an experiment to answer that question and the careful
acquisition and analysis of experimental data, and it culminates
with the reporting of your results and any conclusion (includ-
ing any success or failure that you experienced in addressing
the question). The expectation is that all conclusions will fol-
low systematically from the evidence; a logical thread linking

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 - 6 75


76 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

evidence to conclusions will allow others to follow, appreci-


ate, and build on your work. Often, based on prior knowledge,
including insights from relevant physical laws, scientists will
posit an explanation or answer – a hypothesis – to go along with
the question at the start of the investigation. Hypotheses are
not always necessary.3 If your question is, for instance, “What
route do birds take to travel from Falmouth, Maine, to Inagua,
Bahamas, and back to Falmouth?” one might reasonably (over-
simplifying a bit here) strap position trackers and cameras to
the birds, wait, and record the migration data with no specific
hypothesis at all about bird travel. You are assuming of course
that birds will behave in the same way whether they have the
monitor on or not, and that’s a separate consideration; you’d be
wise to ensure that the monitor is as sturdy, yet light, small,
unrestrictive, and inconspicuous as possible.
If your question is, however, “Why do birds travel from
Falmouth, Maine, to Inagua, Bahamas, and back to Falmouth?”
You might posit that it is because of temperature or weather
changes or bird-food insecurity in Maine, and your hypothesis
(or set of hypotheses, see endnote 3) will be decisive for how
you proceed with setting up your experiment. In such cases, the
hypothesis is crucial for the design of experiments.4 Indeed, the
goal of the experiment will be to test the hypothesis. The goal
is never to prove the hypothesis, however; the evidence should
always lead, not your hopes, dreams, or biases. What you will
learn in undergraduate teaching laboratories, and hopefully too
in a mentored research experience, will be how the scientific
method is applied in practice to tackle interesting problems
and to answer significant scientific questions in your area(s)
of interest.
The instructions for any upcoming laboratory exercise will
usually be provided by a laboratory manual developed spe-
cifically for the course. When you enter the laboratory, you
will be happy if you prepared well. Otherwise, the experience
will be unnecessarily taxing and far less pleasant than it could
have been.
As you prepare, read the experimental procedures (usually
written in the laboratory manual) as thoroughly as possible.
Some courses will come with mandatory pre-laboratory exer-
cises or questions (so-called ‘pre-labs’) that you will be required
to complete before you show up for the (usually weekly) labora-
tory activities. Those preparatory assignments make the actual
laboratory session much more meaningful and enjoyable – they
should be taken seriously, and we will say more about them in
a later section.
Pr ac tic al Solutions 77

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

Start working on your laboratory report as early as possible


after you leave the laboratory. The experiment will be fresh in
your mind, and if your notes have gaps or errors in them from
what you wrote during the laboratory activity itself, it may be
easiest to fill in those gaps or identify the errors promptly after
completing the experiment.
Many courses require students to work in groups, even
for very short periods. Laboratory classes, for example, may
require students to work in pairs, and your so-called ‘lab part-
ner’ or ‘lab mate’ in your first laboratory course may be some-
one who is culturally different from you – having a different
background, even a different nationality, and different ways of
being and doing. Embrace such interactions as opportunities
to grow in your ability to work and learn with others who are
growing in that same way toward you as well. Working with
a lab partner effectively can help you to complete laboratory
activities more efficiently and accurately. Sometimes you and
your lab partner will work separately on different parts of a sci-
entific investigation, and that kind of division of labor can help
you to get a lot of good work done. Sometimes you will control
and monitor the process as a system heats up and your lab part-
ner will focus on writing down the temperature readings every
30 seconds (even in modern laboratories some things are still
manual). But sometimes you will work together – you will both
review the final graphs or tables or reread your group’s final
big report, and having a second pair of eyes can be enormously
helpful in those cases.
As with college roommates, however, if lab mates are hos-
tile, threatening, racist, or behave in other unacceptable ways,
report your concerns to the relevant authorities – the labora-
tory assistant and instructor, for example – and request a new
lab partner. You will never find another person who aligns
perfectly with your likes and dislikes, your personal philoso-
phies, and every aspect of your worldview; learning to thrive
in diverse communities, with various people with myriad per-
spectives on the way of things, all without being forced to lose
yourself, is important. But if you find that an interaction is
tending toward the abusive (in some of the ways mentioned
above), do not tolerate it – ever. That said, I have rarely seen
anything close to that kind of situation. Lab partners are usu-
ally able to develop very good working relationships, and even
strong friendships beyond the life of the course in some cases.
As with most other interactions, however, building a good rap-
port early on and preserving mutual respect and empathy will
help to ensure a successful partnership.
Pr ac tic al Solutions 79

A laboratory course can change your life. It can show you


the power of a subject and stir you to redirect your professional
aspirations to work in that particular discipline. Laboratory
activities can engage touch, sight, smell, and hearing, and mind
and heart, in ways that conventional lectures do not. You might
meet, too, some workshop-style courses, where lecture and
laboratory exercises merge into a single active-learning class-
room experience. Colors change, a solid finally melts, a limb
is regenerated, an odor emerges from a reaction, a projectile
lands precisely where your mathematical analysis predicted . . .
and you – like centuries of thinkers before you – are captivated
by the thrill of it, questions firing off in your mind, the irresist-
ible ‘Hows’ and ‘Whys’ of things. Again, embrace laboratory
experiences!
It can be hard to keep up when the semester is in full swing.
You have a test, a meeting, friends to catch up with, a paper to
write, and that laboratory report, but you can manage through
those challenges. Many with skills no sharper than yours have
done it quite successfully.

Approaching Laboratory Activities


The key to an enjoyable experience in the science laboratory is
to see it as a few hours of active exploration and inspiration. Be
prepared to be amazed should be your theme for each labora-
tory session. If you have instead a theme like O God, help me
to not make any mistake today you are setting yourself up for a
tense and unnecessarily miserable experience.
Pre-laboratory assignments are designed to provide you
with an introduction to the key concepts and mathematical
skills that will be needed for the next experiment. Completing
them can help a lot with your comfort, efficiency, success, and
happiness when you are finally in the laboratory, because they
make things (the laboratory equipment and procedures, for
example) look and feel more familiar. Things can get hectic
as the semester progresses. Staying on schedule is not easy,
time management can be a challenge in college, but the greatest
benefits of pre-lab assignments will ensue when they are com-
pleted in advance rather than in a rush a few minutes before the
laboratory session begins.
As we mentioned in an earlier section, preparation sets up a
virtuous spiral where the joy of learning is magnified by prepa-
ration and that joy encourages preparation for the next class,
and so on. Pre-laboratory reading and practice are only part of
what will prepare you for success in the laboratory. Reading
80 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

the textbook and engaging in the classroom (for courses with


both lecture and laboratory-type components) will all contrib-
ute to excellence in the laboratory. Ultimately, assuming that
the teaching is excellent and the environment is supportive,
your preparation, organization, and motivation can make the
difference between looking forward to the next experiment (or
the next class in general) and dreading it.
Here are a few tips for making the most of your laboratory
experience.

Insist on High Standards of Logic and Reasoning


Laboratory experiments usually come with challenging ques-
tions about or based on observations made during the experi-
ment. You might even have to do some data analysis in that
process and generate graphical representations of data using
in-house computational codes or commercial software.
When you settle in to answer such questions, do not sim-
ply guess answers and write them down with no logical basis
for your response. Even if your explanation for an obser-
vation turns out to be incorrect, it should not be arbitrary.
For instance, let’s say that in step two of an experiment you
poured a colorless solution of compound B into a container
with a colorless solution of compound A to form a new blue
solution. And let’s suppose that one of the questions on your
laboratory report sheet is, “Why did mixing the two colorless
solutions give a blue mixture at step two?” You may not be
sure why, but it would be unacceptable to say, “Because we
added B to A.” It is expected that you will answer questions
as closely as possible to (if not above) your current level of
training, and that answer would clearly be well below par in
a first-year college course. The question is seeking a level-
appropriate explanation, not just a statement of fact. That
“we added B to A” is a fact – if B and A were not mixed, you
would not have had a mixture – but stating that fact offers no
insight or logical handle on the actual question – that is, the
origin of the blue color. The statement, “Because we mixed
B and A” says something; it reminds us of the experimental pro-
cedure, but it explains nothing. An answer like, “The solution
turned blue because compound A reacted with compound B,
to form two new compounds C and D. Compound C is known
to be colorless, but D is known to be blue in solution” would
be a much better answer. Even if the compounds formed by
the reaction were in fact E and F (two different products from
C and D), and both E and F are blue, your answer shows that
Pr ac tic al Solutions 81

you really thought about the problem. Sure, your prediction


was incorrect that time around, but your approach to thinking
about the problem was rational.

Be Willing to Think Independently


and Take on New Challenges

Success in the laboratory relies on your willingness to take on


challenges and to deploy your mental powers independently to
tackle unfamiliar problems. Yet the teaching laboratory is also
a collaborative space and, for some problems, it may be a hint
from your laboratory partner or an instructor that nudges you
finally toward a solution. For some problems, the answers will
be embarrassingly obvious to you; others will make you sweat a
bit in the hunt for solutions. If the rules allow for it – which they
should in most undergraduate laboratories – do not feel that you
are bothering the instructor by sharing with them that you are
making no inroad into a problem and would like to share the gist
of your approaches and benefit from their insights.
Your knowledge, clear thinking, patience, and pluck will get
you to success most of the time, but your professor is a mentor
for you in problem-solving, a guide, and a cheerleader too. So,
even in cases where you are expected to work independently, it
may be fine to ask your professor if you are moving in the right
direction. That, of course, is usually NOT the case for formal
assessments, such as traditional in-class or take-home tests or
exams, but for formative activities (working on practice ques-
tions, problem sets, laboratory assignments, and so on), such
consultations are encouraged. If you work on enough problems,
you will find that luck comes to the rescue sometimes, and that,
inevitably, you will miss the mark every now and then – all
good scientists do; problems resist our efforts at solutions –
but persist. Press on. Do not sacrifice to fear and intimidation
the gifts that determination will usually have in store for you.

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

of error in science laboratories and their impact on the quality


of your results. The technical term ‘sources of error’ refers to
unintentional or unavoidable negative influences on the quality
of your experimental data. Sources of error include any inherent
defects or limitations to equipment or instruments used to make
measurements in the laboratory, as well as flawed practices and
human limitations in making measurements. Examples include
a scale that needs to be calibrated or is rusting (whether we
are aware of those defects or not) and that gives slightly wrong
masses for your samples, the limited number of significant fig-
ures available from a given instrument, parallax errors,5 or an
odd mistake that you made by tilting the measuring cylinder
while reading a volume from it.
When you report your results, you will normally be required
to comment on such sources of error, so be on the lookout for
them as you work. You cannot account for unknown sources
of error (such as unseen corrosion inside a balance), but work
to minimize those sources of error over which you have some
control – such as parallax errors – and report errors that are
inherent to laboratory equipment and experimental proce-
dures, such as the limited number of significant figures avail-
able from an instrument. With minimal training, you will be
able to tell the uncertainties inherent in experimental measure-
ments due to the specific number of significant figures avail-
able from an instrument, and you will even be able to assess the
impact of those uncertainties on quantities derived from them
(a process called error propagation or the propagation of uncer-
tainty). Guidance for handling numbers – writing values in
standard form, determining the numbers of significant figures
in a value, rounding numbers, and reporting the correct num-
ber of significant figures after a mathematical operation like
addition or multiplication, for example – is not outlined here,
but will usually be provided in laboratory manuals or handouts
and often in the first chapter (or as a dedicated appendix) in
introductory college textbooks in the sciences.
The fact that you poured alcohol rather than water into a
solution by mistake is not a ‘source of error’ in the classical
sense. The mistake might have rendered the whole experiment
meaningless for answering the original experimental ques-
tion. If such a mistake occurs, it should be mentioned to the
laboratory instructor or addressed, perhaps, by repeating the
procedure. If it is too late to repeat the experiment or over-
come the mistake in some other way, you should point out the
error in your laboratory report, and you are free as well to posit,
based on your knowledge of the topic and understanding of the
Pr ac tic al Solutions 83

specific experiment, what you would have expected to happen


if you had followed the directions. As always, however, the first
thing to do in response to unusual developments in the science
laboratory is to check with your instructor. They have seen (and
done) a lot, and are likely to be much more understanding in
some cases than you think. So, do not feel that a mistake or two
puts you out of the running for a high mark in the course or a
passing grade for that specific laboratory exercise.
If it’s your lab partner who made the critical mistake instead
of you, try to be gracious there too.

Another Suggestion to Keep in Mind


In a qualitative account of possible sources of error in your
experimental results, do not simply say, for example, “Maybe
some of the solution spilled onto the table as I poured it from
one beaker to the next.” Or, “Maybe we made a math error.” If
you saw evidence of a spill or know that you made an error in
your calculations that affected how you carried out an experi-
ment and the eventual results, say so directly, and then discuss
logically the potential impact of such a mistake on the accuracy
of your final result. If you can go back to your notes and see
where an error was made in a calculation, you may be able to
correct it, if you have time, or give a full and honest assessment
of the consequences of that error on your observations and the
meaning of your results. If you miscalculated how much of one
compound to put into your reaction vessel, for instance, that
might explain why you did not see the bright purple color that
others in the laboratory observed. Having identified that error,
you will be able, in retrospect, to provide a fulsome, transpar-
ent, and honest explanation in your report of what happened.

The Unknown Possibilities


In general, wild guesses cannot properly account for unusual
phenomena or deviations from expected results. Do not cite
as either a mistake or a source of error a remote possibility
for which you have no evidence, such as “I think the sam-
ple might have been impure” or “The earth’s magnetic north
might have been constantly shifting.” Maybe the sample was
impure, maybe the pole is shifting, but with no evidence that
such claims are true, the comment is unhelpful. You could cite
such remote possibilities in your report, however, as aspects
that you think are worthy of further investigation (based on a
hunch you have, an alternative hypothesis, or basic curiosity).
84 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

That would be fine. Some professors might even create a


space outside regular laboratory sessions for you to test your
‘strange’ idea.

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

to particular chemicals or materials (such as latex gloves) be


sure to share those with you teaching assistant or professor.
Support for many other types of accommodations in conven-
tional classroom settings and in laboratories is usually avail-
able as well through dedicated campus offices that are focused
on disability services, for example, within the college commu-
nity. They will typically work with faculty members and others
as necessary to reduce barriers as much as possible to allow all
students to succeed.

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

Spreading the Word

Communication skills are as critical in the sciences as they are


in many other spheres of life. Scientific communication has its
unique features, but a basic requirement for success as a stu-
dent in any discipline is the ability to receive, process, and share
information effectively. In the sciences, communication skills
are called upon in simply talking to your professors during office
hours, completing and submitting problem sets or exam papers,
participating in classroom discussions, defending honors theses,
and so on.
So, what does communication have to do with problem-
solving? You are probably familiar with this philosophical ques-
tion on the role of perception: “If a tree falls in the forest, and
nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” For problem-
solving, a related question might be this: “If you solve a scientific
problem (or answer any significant question), and nobody else
knows about it, has it really been solved?” Many scientists would
probably say “No” to that question. New scientific knowledge
should be made known. The word should be spread, and well
beyond the philosophical position, it is generally understood that
scientists have an ethical obligation to share news of discoveries
from which others could benefit.
The typical ways of sharing such news in the sciences
include published academic journal articles, posters, and oral
conference presentations. Once a problem is identified, inves-
tigated, and solved (or new insights are gained into the nature
of the problem, or new tools developed to tackle it, etc.), the
news of your success or lessons learned from instructive fail-
ures should be communicated to the relevant audience, be it the
professor for your course, or readers of a professional research

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 -7 87


88 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

journal. We make some brief remarks here on some of the com-


mon modes in which such news is still regularly shared.

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

magazines, and relevant research publications, that are avail-


able to you as you frame and write your essay, but, again, be
sure to avoid plagiarism. Intentional plagiarism insults your
intelligence, impugns your character, and denies your mind the
privilege of finding and articulating an innovative perspective.
Excessive generosity in your references is an offense that your
readers and you ultimately will find to be much more forgiv-
able than any organized effort to claim the work of others as
your own. Your professor and any college librarian will be able
to help you to locate and use web-based and local applications
dedicated to retrieving and assembling relevant reference data
(by topical (keyword) or author searches, for example). Those
search results will typically includes citations for books, jour-
nal articles, and so on, and you may even be able to land actual
copies of publicly available documents in some cases. If cita-
tions of interest are behind paywalls, you might have to work
with one of the college librarians to try to secure a copy.
Beyond the acknowledgment of sources on which you have
drawn in writing your paper, keep in mind that your list of ref-
erences also provides others with some insight into the kinds
of sources that have influenced your thinking on the topic.
References can also provide readers who are also very inter-
ested in the topic with new sources that they might consider in
the course of their own work.
If you finish a near-final draft of your paper with some time
to spare, ask one of your peers to read it and offer any helpful
feedback that they might have. An alternative, if that is not pos-
sible, is to step away from the text for a day or more, if you can
afford it, and take another look later on with fresher eyes. You
may find new things that you would like to eliminate, modify,
or amplify that will cause you to feel better about the final
product. Two books on writing that I have found to be insight-
ful are The Elements of Style,1 and On Writing Well.2

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

into an intellectual engagement on a topic of interest to you.


It’s a ‘summary’ because it gives the reader a brief, clear, and
compelling picture of what your essay or scientific report is
about. Some readers will decide whether to continue reading
your paper in detail based on what they infer from the abstract
about the content and the quality of the paper – including the
quality of the writing. So, an abstract can make or break your
paper. If it is too long, it suggests that you do not know what is
important in your paper, have severe difficulties with brevity,
or do not respect your readers’ time enough to do the work of
writing a strong and short abstract.
To prepare your abstract, you might consider the following:
what the work is about – the motivations for the work – major
results – major conclusions – broader implications – sources of
error, and limitations to or key assumptions made in the study.
An Example: Suppose you went to the Sudan to study des-
ert insects, specifically ‘Q Bugs.’3 An abstract for your report
might read as follows:

Abstract: The insects of the Sudan are remarkable in many


ways, with certain features that are unique to the region. We
have investigated the lengths of the hind legs of the Q Bug and
the impact of leg lengths on life span in the upper desert region.
There has been some speculation that leg length correlates with
life span for other critters in Australia, but little is known about
the Q species in North Africa. We find that there is no correla-
tion whatsoever. The average life span for all of the 500 Q Bugs
that we studied over six months is 42.5 ± 0.3 days, with aver-
ages of 42.4 ± 0.1 days for the 100 bugs with the shortest legs
and 42.6 ± 0.1 days for the 100 bugs with the longest legs. The
reason for the differences in the correlations observed in the
Sudan, as reported herein, and those reported previously for
similar species in Australia remains unclear. Hypotheses for
future investigations into the differences observed are outlined
near the end of this paper. [174 Words]
This fictional abstract includes five sections in under 200
words. So even more could be said if one wished, but the temp-
tation to say everything should be resisted. In this case, the
actual lengths of the bug legs, and how they were measured,
are excluded. Should that information have been included?
Perhaps. But those are the kinds of decisions that you will
have to make as you work to achieve meaningful and engag-
ing messaging, clarity, and brevity in an abstract – and keep in
mind that details excluded from the abstract will still be avail-
able to readers in the body of the paper. The sections in this
Spre ading the Word 91

mock abstract are (i) an engaging introduction to the question,


(ii) a comment on what this paper does, (iii) a relevant reference
to the state of the field, (iv) some key results of the paper, and
(v) some positioning of the current results in context plus hints
of possible future directions. Professors will differ somewhat
on exactly what and how much they would like you to include
in an abstract. Some disciplines might even have rather detailed
or rigid requirements, but brevity and clarity, in this regard, are
always virtues. A conversational style tends to be more com-
pelling for readers, even in the sciences. Also, even as some
academics still favor the third-person and other traditional
modes for writing research papers, writing in the first per-
son, as we did in the abstract above, has its benefits. Scientific
reports written in the first person can engage and connect quite
directly and transparently with readers, admitting implicitly
that the authors, like the readers, are just people interested in
a scientific question. In the first or third person, however, the
goal remains the same for the abstract and for the entire paper:
to write honestly, logically, and as accessibly as possible (for
the widest audience possible) given the topic, the results, and
the implications of your work.

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

and as transparently as possible. Brevity is important, and clar-


ity is more important. Keep in mind, too, that style is content –
the ‘Summary’ sections in the model posters, for example, are
different in length, because the second format actually affords
less space than the first.
Your figures, such as graphs and illustrations, should be
clear, including any text that is in them. The axes of your graphs

FIGURE 7.1  Model poster formats: a rather traditional format at the top and an alternative
at the bottom.
Spre ading the Word 93

should be properly labelled with the names of the quantities


plotted and the corresponding units, for example, Volume/m3.
In many cases in the sciences, captions are placed below figures
but above tables. Be sure to check what the conventions are for
your specific discipline. Although the illustrations in Figure 7.1
contain a lot of text, the words are descriptions of what you
might include, such as figures, and tables. You should avoid hav-
ing too much text on your poster. A typical passerby at a poster
session will not stop and read it in detail. You will be doing
much of the literal talking, but you can have the poster help you
in that process by showing graphs of your data, mechanisms
for reactions, diagrams of your experimental set up, and so on –
pictures, after all, are reputed to be worth a thousand words.
They will help you do the talking. Some explanations in words
on the poster will help for sure. The abstract, introduction,
and methods sections (see Figure 7.1) are often mostly text –
an explanation of your motivation and approach can help the
casual reader to get a sense for what your work is about – but
the combined results and discussion section is a large canvas on
which you can show more than you could effectively tell with
text alone. The summary section allows you to highlight again
the key outcomes from your work.
Research can be costly. Your research mentor may ask you
to include on your poster a logo or symbol representing your
university or an external funding source for your research such
as a government agency or a philanthropic organization. That
is a professionally acceptable way to gratefully acknowledge
their support. It is also an acceptable way to declare the sources
of your funding. If your research on Health Benefits of Bread
is being sponsored by the company ‘Breads-Are-Us Inc.,’ the
public should be made aware of that sponsorship when you
report your results. That kind of transparency is healthy. It
keeps you honest, and it allows others to be fully informed in
making their own assessments of your work and any potential
conflicts of interest.
You and your research advisor get to decide what aspects of
your data and analyses will make it onto the poster. You do not
have to report everything that you have done, but you have to
be willing to engage coherently with curious minds about what
you decide to present. In general, the audience will not be out
to get you on any error, omission, or technicality as you dis-
cuss your work with them during a poster session at a scientific
conference. They will want to understand your work and to
support your success; and their questions, suggestions, or even
respectful criticism, should be taken in that spirit.
94 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

Poster presentations are usually given in large rooms with


people standing beside their posters, which may be printed and
pinned on to presentation boards or displayed in some other
way.4 On your college campus, the people attending the poster
session will usually be your peers, faculty, and possibly others
who are interested in the discipline or topics related to the focus
of your poster. At large external conferences, the audience
will include undergraduate and graduate students and scien-
tists working in academia and industry from several differ-
ent national and even international universities. Whatever the
context, those who are not presenting posters will be milling
around the room gazing from a distance at the posters, drawing
closer to ask questions if the specific topic or appearance of the
poster entices them. Who, and how many people will come to
your poster, and how many questions they will ask, are impos-
sible to predict. You will get a lot of attention at some poster
sessions and less at others – especially at large conferences,
it will depend on where your poster is located and who hap-
pens to float over to your section of the room. Poster sessions
might last an hour or a bit longer. I usually encourage students
to spend most of that time beside their poster responding to
visitors, but I also encourage them to take a few minutes of
that time to step away from their poster and mill around as
well. That brief excursion enables them to see what others are
working on and to hear some of the stories of other student
researchers. I think that can be very useful for student expo-
sure and development, if only by helping the student to see that
some of the questions, joys, and challenges that they have met
in tackling research questions are shared by peers and profes-
sors elsewhere. I’m not sure that all research mentors subscribe
to that idea; check in advance with your advisor or mentor to
see if it would be fine for you to take a few minutes to see what
other presenters are working on in their research groups. Some
conferences hold multiple poster sessions, however, in order to
accommodate large numbers of posters, so students are free to
peruse during other poster sessions before or after the time slot
to which they are assigned.
Presenting a poster anywhere – especially at a large confer-
ence, to people you do not know – sounds ominous. But it will
likely not be as scary at all as it sounds. Here, as in so many
other areas of life, two elements that will foster success are
preparation (leading up to the presentation), and, as best as you
can achieve it, relaxation – especially during the presentation.
Prepare for your poster presentation by practicing to deliver
a very brief description of what’s on the poster (using a friend
Spre ading the Word 95

outside of your discipline as the audience, if possible). The tar-


get should be to introduce yourself and to summarize what you
did, why, and the key results, all in a minute or so. (E.g.: Hi.
I am Jane Brown from the Stewart group at Great University.
My research focuses on . . . We have found that . . . as we show
here. Our next step will be to confirm that . . . I’d be happy to
share more of the details with you or answer any question that
you might have.) After that, you can hold a more detailed dis-
cussion with the person at your poster based on their questions
or feedback. Brief summaries, where you have a short time to
deliver a clear and cogent message of what you are up to (in this
case, what your poster is about), are sometimes called ‘elevator
speeches.’ That term (also ‘elevator pitch’) is used in business
contexts where stereotypically you might only have the time
between a few floors in an elevator to say who you are and
what you are working on or proposing. The ability to send an
important message in a few sentences is a life skill that poster
presentations can help you to gain and strengthen.
Presenting posters, like other forms of expression – be they
written papers, seminar talks, stand-up comedy, or acting –
will usually improve with practice and experience. So, do not
be hard on yourself if you think at the end of the poster session
that you mis-answered a question or fell short in some way.
Every poster session is a chance to share what you know, to
learn from others, and to grow as a thinker, presenter, and as
a person.

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

contact with the audience, honoring the allotted time, factual


and spelling accuracy, the legibility of text on your slides, suit-
ability to the knowledge level and interest of the audience, the
clarity of your message, and so on – plus your enthusiasm in
delivering the talk, and your willingness to answer questions
based on the talk, will be influenced greatly by the quality of
your preparation.
Worrying about some of the aspects that I just mentioned
(understanding your results, organizing your data, clarity,
brevity, and so on) might cause you to think that giving a talk
to a group is a terrifying experience, but it does not have to
be. Confidence and success come from practice; not just prac-
ticing before your first talk, but by entering the arena and
learning from each talk that you will both see and give. Many
presenters find that a lot of the anxiety about presenting actu-
ally fades away once they start talking at the beginning of the
presentation.
The audience knows that you are not omniscient – you will
not need to know everything about all topics before you can
prepare and deliver your talk on the aspect of the subject that
you have been studying. Additionally, it is crucial that you be
transparent and honest as a presenter: be willing to state as
clearly as possible (during your talk or in response to questions
from the audience) what the successes, limitations, and even
shortcomings and failures of your study were. If a typographi-
cal error escaped your careful preparation, and you notice it
while you are giving the talk, do not be flustered. Apologize
for it, or just note it and move on if it is a trivial oversight,
or explain what should actually be there on the slide instead,
if that information is critical to understanding the talk. If you
do not know the answer to a question, say so. Say that you are
unsure, if that is the case, or give the best answer you can if you
can manage to make a reasonable deduction based on every-
thing else that you know about the subject. It’s OK to proffer
a hypothesis on the spot if you are comfortable doing so or to
indicate to the questioner that you will have to think a bit more
about the issue or run more experiments to find an answer to
the question. If you make such promises, though, be sure to
keep them. That questioner might show up at your presentation
again next year – a sign perhaps that they are really curious
about or truly interested in your work.
One way to get better at giving talks is to listen to good talks,
even talks that are outside of your immediate area of academic
interest. There are many talks available for viewing online and
you will see copious announcements for free lectures on your
Spre ading the Word 97

college campus. Some people will give their talks to a small


group of friends or close colleagues just to see how ‘friendly’
audiences react to the material that they plan to present at the
official event.
Your slides should be well-ordered, tailored for the time limit,
and numbered. Slide-1 typically shows the title of the talk, your
name, the date, the name of your course (if it’s a class presenta-
tion) or the name of your organization (your college or a group
you are representing), the name of the event (if it’s a conference
talk, for example), and so on. If you are reporting on a project
that you worked on with others, you can present their names on
this title slide (especially if they will be participating in the pre-
sentation with you) or you can highlight their contributions later
on, on an acknowledgment slide. You can follow the title slide
with a set of introductory slides that will include some important
background information to help the audience understand the his-
toric significance and current relevance of the topic.
As a former mentor advised me, “No Outlines!” Do not
include a slide that forces your audience to watch you read to
them a detailed list of what you will be telling them. The title
and the introduction are enough. Let the details unfold as the
talk unfolds. That said, there is no divine rule here; include
your outline – after the title slide perhaps, before the intro-
ductory section – if you think, for instance, that it will com-
fort the audience to know what is coming, or that mentioning
upfront an amazing revelation coming near the end of the talk
(“A Solution to the Moving Sofa Problem!”) will keep the audi-
ence transfixed until the end of your talk.
A description of the methods used in the study and the main
body of the talk (the results and discussion slides) typically fol-
low the introduction. The point made earlier about the value of
figures and tables in posters applies here as well. Use clearly
labelled and appropriately captioned figures and tables, well-
developed or selected videos and so on to help with minimizing
the reliance on the text on your slides. It might help if you use
a simple and consistent layout for presenting your data, but you
will have many good options for how to organize and share
your results. Will you split each slide in the results and dis-
cussion section in half, and show a figure or table on the left
and supporting text on the right in each case? Will you show
only an illustration of your data on the full slide and rely on
your spoken words to clarify the message of the slide, or will
you do something else – use a combination of formats even?
Whatever choice you make in displaying and describing your
results, the selected format should serve to enhance rather than
98 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

distract or detract from your mission and your message. The


penultimate content slide is usually a summary list of the key
results from your talk, the key implications of those results,
and possible future directions. The last slide with any technical
content might be your list of references or a short bibliography
on the topic. If you include relevant references on individual
slides as the talk progresses – an approach that I find to be
more helpful for audiences – then a dedicated reference slide
is not needed at all. The final slide is usually your acknowl-
edgments. Thank collaborators (your research professor and
others), any funders, and others who supported you and your
research efforts.
A useful practice is to include a few potentially helpful
slides after the last official slide of the talk. Think about what
people might want to know beyond what you will have time to
talk about. It may be an extra graph or diagram. If you were
studying cave art, and you had 1000 pictures of cave drawings,
but only showed 46 of them in the body of your talk on ‘The
Primacy of Cats in Ancient Cave Art,’ include perhaps – as
extras on slides after the official final slide of your talk – some
additional pictures of an even wider diversity of the types of
cave art that your research uncovered. You may not show them
at all, but someone in the audience, who happens to be studying
ancient drawings of sea creatures, might ask about fish in cave
art during a discussion session, and one of those extra slides,
though irrelevant to the feline focus of the talk, might come in
handy as you respond to that question.
How many slides should you plan on presenting? Enough
to convey the message that you plan to deliver within the time
that you are allowed, plus or minus one. Plus one, if you are
the kind of person who goes too slow when you practice, but
speeds up when you are before an unfamiliar audience; minus
one, if you do the opposite. In any case, a general rule of thumb
is that one slide per minute is usually too much. A fifteen-
minute scientific talk should probably not have fifteen slides;
we often start talks by introducing ourselves or the title of our
talk, and that alone might be one minute or more gone forever –
leaving, at most, one minute per slide for the rest of the talk,
and no time at the end for discussion. If you will be deliver-
ing the talk in a setting where audience members are free to
ask questions at any point during the presentation, time will
be needed for that too. That will be difficult to plan for, but the
best way to see if you have too many or too few slides for the
time allocated is to practice in as realistic a way as possible.
Short talks warrant a lot of practice since they allow you little
Spre ading the Word 99

room for error or diversions. For a talk of any length, however,


practice will make you more comfortable with the material and
will hopefully relieve anxieties enough that you start to look
forward to finally delivering the grand product of your research
and rehearsals.
With all of this advice on form and style, though, be sure to
build a talk that you like and will enjoy presenting. Again, a
great way to learn about talks, beyond giving many talks your-
self and embracing those experiences, is to watch others pres-
ent and reflect on their approaches. That can give you a sense
of how much is too much on a slide, and what colors, fonts, and
background layouts work well for slides, for example. I have
learned and continue to learn a lot from seeing others present.
Here, again, there are helpful resources to which your univer-
sity’s speech center or library might have links or access. Many
great talks on diverse subjects are also available online for free.
The mood and enthusiasm of the presenter (of a poster or
a talk) can strongly influence the reaction of the audience
to the presentation. An unengaging talk on exploding stars
can be enervating for an audience while an engaging talk on
silence can be energizing. Starting your preparations early,
practicing the talk, and getting feedback from others can help
with any upcoming presentation, and – in the long run – the
experience itself of giving more talks will make a positive
difference. After all of that, if you find joy in delivering your
talk, it’s more likely, I think, that the audience will find joy
in receiving it.

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

Mindset and Anxiety about Belonging


If you feel academically unprepared for a course, especially for
your first semester of college, talk with your professor before
or at the start of the course. In most cases (judging from my
experience with anxious undergraduates), you will be under-
estimating your current knowledge, skills, and abilities. By the
end of high school, students usually have or will gain quickly
the technical fortitude to master the new material ahead. Keep
in mind, as you peruse syllabi for your courses, that you will
be expected to understand the material during and by the end
of the semester, and not all at once at the start of it. Do not be
intimidated or think that you cannot succeed in a class because
much of the material looks foreign to you at the outset. If you
knew the material already, you would not need to take the
course.
As classes get underway, you will be advancing toward
mastery of the content, and competencies that you will
need in the second half of the semester, for example, will be
strengthened or newly acquired during the first half of the
semester. In some cases, you might be less prepared indeed,
for one reason or another, than your typical peer in the course.
And professors are there to help. Make use of faculty office
hours, which are times specifically dedicated to meeting with
students. Talk to professors about where you see your pre-
paredness for the course, and ask for suggestions on how to
efficiently and effectively ensure your success in it. Assume

DOI: 10.120 1/ 97810 0 32633 4 0 - 8 101


102 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

that your professors have high expectations of you, and allow


that to build on your high expectations of yourself. Like
office hours, academic skills centers, student success centers,
or whatever jazzy name they use on your campus, exist to
support your progress. Many institutions will provide some
access to tutors or other forms of near-peer support that can
help you to transcend what seems in the moment to be unsur-
mountable hurdles.
For college students, wrestling to fully grasp a new topic
or subject are signs of commitment and engagement, not
signs that the subject is too difficult for you or that you do not
belong. Mastering the subject was likely not a smooth ride for
your professor, and many of your peers will also have chal-
lenges, but because we all are more aware of and more sen-
sitive to our own struggles, those struggles can cause us to
feel isolated, outside the norm. But struggle of a certain form
is a part of learning.1 Remarkably, even demonstrably high
achievers, some of whom have established themselves as suc-
cessful professionals, suffer unjustifiably from “an internal
experience of intellectual phoniness” 2,3 that has come to be
called the impostor phenomenon (or syndrome). Many factors
can lead to this feeling – the origins can be quite personal
or from the social and cultural context in which we live and
work – but for college students (as for qualified professionals
in the workplace) such perceptions are typically out of line
with your record of accomplishments, and your abilities and
promise. Get advice and counseling as needed; whatever you
do, you should not allow momentary feelings of phoniness to
frustrate your will, impede your academic success, or quench
valid personal and professional aspirations.
Most of your professors and peers will acknowledge your
abilities and affirm your potential for achieving excellent
academic outcomes, but if others focus on perceived deficits
that they think you have, do not join them in doing so. You
will be able to work strategically (reading, practicing, and
so on) on your own, and you can meet with the instructor at
intervals as needed to discuss key topics and your progress
in the course. But always work from the vantage point that
you are using your intellectual strengths to gain new profi-
ciencies en route to your desired outcomes. Your established
record that got you into college is good evidence that you
belong and can succeed there. Academic success is a fruit of
an iterative process in which you use what you know to learn
what you don’t.
Persisting against Problems 103

Thoughts on Managing the Demands


Avoid Overcommitment
“No” is an acceptable response. Be sure that you have time for
(and a real interest or stake in) a thing before you commit to it.
Many of us have problems saying ‘No’ when we should, but, as
they say, practice makes perfect. So, work at saying “No” when
that’s what you know that you should or simply want to say.
Feel free to say it as it is: “I cannot make it,” “I have another
commitment,” “I’m not interested,” “That’s not for me right
now,” “I am not available – I have things to do!” as the case
may be. It may not seem so initially, but students respect their
peers who have their priorities in order. In time, your example
might even fortify more timid peers to resist pressure and think
again as well before sacrificing a high priority for a low one, or
for something that’s not good for or even interesting to them.

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.

Sleep – Eat Well – Exercise


Schedule sleep and times to eat into your routine, and go to the
college gym, or play in pick-up games, take a tennis class . . .
or be active in some other way. Problem-solving benefits from
a clear mind and physical health. The quality and duration of
your sleep, the nutritional value and balance of your diet, com-
bined with opportunities to be active and to engage with others,
go a long way to foster both mental and physical well-being and
success.4

Nurture Good Friendships


Friends will come; they tend to arise naturally out of coinci-
dences or shared academic, recreational, or other interests and
activities on campus. Your closest friends should be those who
encourage you in the right direction and provide support and
104 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

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.

Remember Why You Are in College


At its center, your mission is, no doubt, to get the best aca-
demic training and personal development possible in prepa-
ration for your next academic and professional steps. You are
not in college, as some claim, to find yourself. Sure, you will
learn more about you and the world, but self-discovery does
not require college. A part-time job, travel, quiet reflection,
and the regular adversities and joys of life in any context
will help with that self-finding as you get older and more
mature. The college environment is, however, a unique con-
text in which to grow intellectually and in many other ways
in a community with motivated peers and dedicated men-
tors. You will gain insights and inspiration well beyond what
a signed degree will tell when it is won, framed, and posi-
tioned on a wall just a few years from now. But remember to
articulate your key academic and other developmental goals
for college, and keep them at the center. This takes us back
to the list that you made early on in the first chapter. Your
profile and reputation on the college campus will depend on
what you identify at the outset as your academic and per-
sonal growth objectives for your undergraduate experience.
To make a problem-solving analogy, the opportunities that
you will see as a ‘blessing’ toward the goal of engaging suc-
cessfully with others and the broader campus community,
will depend on what exactly ‘successful engagement’ means
to you in practice.
Persisting against Problems 105

Be Gracious and Forgiving


This should be applied especially to yourself. Success can often
come after many setbacks. Do not be hard on yourself after a dis-
appointing outcome – if a grade did not land where you wanted
it to, you made an error of some sort in class or otherwise, or you
feel disappointed with one thing or another. Most of the peo-
ple who seem to always have the answers (professors, teaching
assistants, or classmates), have hard days too, even if it does not
seem so now. You are not the sum of the grade you got yesterday
or even the degree you will earn tomorrow. You will find in past
failures some of the greatest wisdom and encouragement that
you can give to others – future students included – after you have
triumphed with the joys and worked through the challenges of
your own experiences. Be gracious and forgiving to yourself,
and extend similar courtesies to 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.

On to the Next Problem


Life in all its facets presents us with questions to answer,
mysteries to unravel, and problems to solve. Some, as it were,
will require divine intervention to resolve; others are quite
106 HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

tractable, requiring, for instance, only a better hammer or a


stronger nail. The focus here has been on problem-solving in
the college classroom. For aspiring and new college students,
your goal for academic problem-solving should be to draw on
and advance your knowledge, critical thinking and reasoning
skills, your confidence and your priority structure, your will-
ingness to work alone, and your ability to work with others, all
in the service of solving the next problem that a college course
will present to you. And now – with the intellectual fortitude
you have already developed, your teachable spirit, your cour-
age to enter the arena, and your enthusiasm to get started – off
you go!

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

The Identity Matrix


The matrix equivalent of the number 1, the identity matrix, I,
must have the same number of rows and columns, with ‘1’ at
all points along the main diagonal and ’0’ everywhere else. For
a matrix with two columns and two rows (a 2 × 2 matrix), for
instance, the identity matrix, I, is:

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

The fact that the I matrix exists implies that we should


be able to write a new matrix M−1 − in the same way that for
any number q we know 1 = q·q−1 – such that, in matrix terms,
I = M·M−1. So, for the case in question:

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

The Inverse of a Matrix


We will show procedurally how to find M−1 for a 2 × 2 matrix, but

without any justification for the process. For a matrix


c d
the inverse may be found by dividing what we call the adjoint
of the matrix, Adj(M), by a value called the determinant of the
matrix, | M |. That is:

1
M −1 Adj(M )
|M|

The determinant, | M | of a 2 × 2 matrix M is the number


obtained by multiplying the terms that are diagonal to each
other, that is, ‘a·d’ and ‘c·b,’ and subtracting the latter from the
former: |M| = a ⋅ d − c ⋅ b.
The adjoint Adj(M) of a 2 × 2 matrix is obtained by inter-
changing the terms on the main diagonal, that is, swapping a
and d, and multiplying the terms on the other diagonal by -1. So
a b d −b
from we would obtain .
c d −c a
Consequently, the inverse of the matrix, M −1
1
Adj(M )
is: | 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

which means that, as we expect from our earlier work on solv-


ing simultaneous equations, the solutions are f = 2, and g = 3.
You can decide if this approach or the other, directly apply-
ing Cramer’s rule as we did in the main text, is preferred for
solving this particular problem.
Appendix II
Thinking about Vectors: Basic Notes

Vectors provide us with a way to talk about quantities such as


displacement (movement in a specific direction) and force that
have both magnitude and direction. The rules that we apply for
matrices are even easier to apply for vectors and we will con-
sider some of the most basic rules that are applied across the
natural sciences in using vectors to solve problems.
Giving directions from one location to another is an
important responsibility. Tales are told of strangers left
bewildered by less than ideal directions received from
enthusiastic locals.

“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.”

A more rigorous way of giving directions – though inconve-


nient for a person called on suddenly to direct a driver with car
troubles to an auto mechanic – are vectors.
The convenient origin or starting point in representing
vectors on a graph is the unique position x = 0, y = 0, and
z = 0. That is the point where the x-, y-, and z-axes intersect
in Figure AII.1.
In three dimensions, these three unique directions, the x,
y, and z directions, are all at right angles (or, as we say some-
times, are each orthogonal) to each other, and the point where
they intersect, (0, 0, 0), is called the origin. One important
thing to notice is that, starting from the origin, we can travel as
far as we want along the x-axis and never go away from y = 0
and z = 0, and similarly for the other two directions. So, if we

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.

are at some point a on the x-axis, the coordinates of that posi-


tion will be (a, 0, 0) and similarly (0, b, 0) for any point b on the
y-axis, and (0, 0, c) if we are lounging somewhere on the z-axis.
1 0
0 , 1 ,
0 0 0
and 0 x, y, and z direc-
1
tion (i.e., a shift from the origin (0, 0, 0) to the point (1, 0, 0),
(0, 1, 0), or (0, 0, 1)), respectively. Those nifty looking vectors,
which describe the displacement from the origin to a unit dis-
tance along the respective axes, are called unit vectors (more
accurately, unit vectors in the x, y, and z directions). They are
quite useful because they allow us to represent any displace-
ment along the respective axes as products of a constant (a,
b, or c) and the relevant unit vector. For instance, if we travel
distances a, b, and c in the x, y, and z directions, respectively,
we can represent those displacements as follows:
Appendix II 113

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)
 

It matters not what the values of a, b, and c are in the equation.

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

We summarize characteristic (i) by saying that the vec-


tors are linearly independent, and we summarize char-
acteristic (ii) by saying the unit vectors together span the
vector space. These two criteria are satisfied by any set of
vectors that can be said to form a basis. It is actually pos-
sible to find other sets of three vectors that are also bases
1 1
for three-dimensional space, for example, 0 , 1 , and
1 1 0
0 . I’ll leave it to you to convince yourself that this set
0
is linearly independent and span three-dimensional space
1 0 0
as well – but the set of unit vectors, 0 , 1 , and 0 ,
is simpler. 0 0 1
You will likely not hear much about ‘basis,’ ‘linear com-
bination,’ or ‘spanning a vector space’ until linear algebra,
vectors in physics, or physical chemistry, but you will find
that even if these ideas seem strange at first and applica-
tions are not obvious they will become useful for solving
meaningful problems as you progress in the sciences.

Adding and Subtracting Vectors


Vectors follow the rules of vector algebra, which extrapolate to
matrix algebra. Vectors can be added to and subtracted from
each other. When we represent vector operations graphically,
however, those operations are not as simple as adding two num-
bers, because we have to take both the magnitude and direction
of each vector into consideration.
Consider, for instance, the case in Figure AII.2a, where we
--- → --- →
have two vectors AB and AC separated by some angle θ. The
sum of the two vectors may be written as:

a a a+a
--- → --- →
AB + AC = b + b = b + b .
c c c+c

And we can -show


-- → that the resulting vector (what we call the
resultant) is AD as illustrated also in Figure AII.2a. You may
Appendix II 115

-- → -- →
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 question for --you:


→ -If- →we did the subtraction in the opposite
order, that is, AC − AB , what would the resultant vector look
like? You and friends should explore that question and other
ideas discussed here. For vector problems, drawing things
out, as we have done in this section, will always help. No
extra hint will be offered for this question, but you will find
that, just as in basic algebra where 2 + 4 = 4 + 2 but 2 – 4 ≠
4 – 2, the order of the terms matters for the resultant in
vector subtraction.

Other useful operations on vectors, such as the so-called


dot and cross products, will become important in various areas
across the natural sciences. You are likely to be introduced to
them a bit farther along in your academic preparation.
From what we have done so far, we can show that if we have
two vectors of the same magnitude pointing in opposite direc-
tions (that is where θ = 180o; see Figure AII.3a), the sum of
those two vectors will be zero:

a a 0
--- → --- →
AB + (− AB ) = b − b = 0
c c 0

FIGURE AII.3 (a) Two vectors equal in magnitude, opposite in direction.


--- → --- →
(b) Representation of the sum of those two vectors, AB and − AB ; since they are equal in
magnitude and exactly opposite in direction, we are brought back to where we started and the
resultant is zero.
Appendix II 117

And, if we have two vectors pointing in the same direction


and we subtract one from the other, the result will be zero.
That is:

a a 0
--- → --- → --- → --- →
AB − AB = AB + (− AB ) = b − b = 0
c c 0

and, graphically, the outcome is as shown in Figure AII.3. Since


the starting point and end point (after addition) are both at point
A, as shown in Figure AII.3b, the resultant vector has a magni-
tude of zero.
Notice that while we can conveniently represent any vec-
a
tor as starting at the origin and terminating at some point
b
c
(a, b, c) (as in Figure AII.3a), the vector simply carries informa-
tion on magnitude and direction for a quantity. In adding two
vectors, the second vector originates where the first one stops
(that is point B in Figure AII.3b), not from 0, 0, 0. See also
Figure AII.2.

Vectors in the Sciences – A Qualitative Example


Vector ideas are used in various places in many disciplines,
in both quantitative and qualitative discussions about displace-
ments, velocity, force, and so on. In introductory chemistry, for
instance, vectors may be used in qualitative terms at least to
talk about polarity, that is the imbalance or asymmetry in how
electrons are distributed along a chemical bond or overall in a
large molecule with many bonds.
In a molecule such as hydrogen (H2), where two identical
atoms are bonded to each other, the electrons are distributed
equally between the two H atoms. One H atom does not hold the
electrons closer to itself than the other H atom (Figure AII.4).
For such homonuclear diatomic molecules (of which nitrogen
(N2), oxygen (O2), and chlorine (Cl2), are also examples) where
two identical atoms are bonded to each other, we say that the
molecule is non-polar. The dipole moment of a diatomic mol-
ecule is a measure of the polarity of the molecule – that is,
the extent of any asymmetry of the electron distribution along
the bond between the two atoms. Non-polar molecules have
dipole moments of zero. Polar molecules have non-zero dipole
moments. Hydrogen fluoride, HF, is an example of a polar
118 Appendix II

diatomic molecule. Fluorine tends to pull the electrons in a


bond strongly toward itself (a characteristic that we describe
in chemistry by saying that F is very electronegative). In HF,
therefore, where the negative electrons are shifted toward F,
leaving the positive nucleus of the H atom less shielded, the H
side of the molecule becomes locally positive (electron defi-
cient). The accumulation of excess electron density at the F side
causes a local net negative charge on that side of the molecule.
The molecule is still neutral overall, but the electrons are not
distributed evenly, hence the asymmetry in the electrostatic
potential across H—F surface in Figure AII.4 compared to
H—H. This substantial imbalance in the electron distribu-
tion due to the natural (size and electronegativity) differences
between H and F means that the HF bond, and hence the HF
molecule, is very polar, and we can use a vector to represent
that polarity (see Figure AII.4).
For more complicated molecules with more than one bond,
it is possible to determine whether the molecule is polar –
whether it has a net non-zero dipole moment or not – by think-
ing about how to sum up the bond dipole moment vectors for all
of the bonds in the molecule.

FIGURE AII.4  Representation of electron distribution and the (non-)polarity of H2 and


HF diatomic molecules. The general color scheme runs from blue (most positive region,
stripped of some electron density) to red (most negative region, where the electron density
accumulates). The model dipole vector for HF above goes from the more positive H end of the
molecule to the negative F end (+ → –).
Appendix II 119

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.

Consider, for example, the molecule F—Be—F, which is


linear in the gas phase (Figure AII.5). It has two polar bonds,
and both of those bond dipoles are equal and pointing in oppo-
site directions, so we expect this molecule overall to have a net
(molecular) dipole moment of zero, even though the individual
bonds are polar.1 This situation reminds us of the illustration
in Figure AII.3. The molecule F—Ca—F is slightly bent (has
a V-shape) in the gas phase, however. So, both bond dipoles
will collude (rather than cancel) to confer on CaF2 a permanent
dipole moment. Indeed, the fact that CaF2 has a non-zero dipole
moment was the decisive piece of evidence that confirmed for
scientists that (although both BeF2 and CaF2 might be expected
to have the same basic structure in the gas phase, since Be and
Ca are in the same group in the periodic table) unlike BeF2,
CaF2 is bent.2

Vector Ideas in Introductory Chemistry


Take a look at the molecules pictured in Figure AII.6. Some
are polar and others are not. Whether a molecule is polar or
not can be critical for many experimental investigations and
applications of molecules in chemistry, physics, and biology.
That water is a polar solvent, for instance, is as crucial to bio-
chemistry as it is to atmospheric science and oceanography. For
example, polar compounds dissolve typically in polar solvents:
sugar is polar and successfully dissolves in the water in our
bodies; for similar reasons, natural salts dissolved over the ages
account for our saline ocean waters. Oil is not polar and fails to
dissolve in water – as you will notice if you pour a spoonful of
cooking oil in a cup of tap water.
120 Appendix II

Molecules distort as they vibrate and those molecules that


happen to change their dipole moments when they vibrate
can absorb infrared radiation and emit radiation back into
the atmosphere, which contributes to atmospheric warming.
Like BeF2, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a linear triatomic molecule
with no dipole moment, but when it vibrates it bends and that
changes the dipole moment. In the process, CO2 absorbs and
emits infrared radiation such that it is a so-called greenhouse
gas and contributes to warming. Other non-polar molecules
like methane (CH4), which is tetrahedral, and sulfur hexafluo-
ride (SF6), which is octahedral (Figure AII.6), also distort when
they vibrate and are considered to be greenhouse gases. Non-
polar linear diatomic molecules like N2 and O2 only stretch
when they vibrate and their dipole moments remain zero
throughout, so they do not contribute to atmospheric warming.
That’s a rather fortunate situation for us since N2 is the most
abundant and O2 is the second most abundant gas in the earth’s
atmosphere.
Figure AII.6 shows a few additional structures that are polar
and others that are not. The polarities of the individual bonds
is shown qualitatively along with the direction of the net dipole
for the polar molecules. See if the directions of the resultant
vectors (the net dipoles) make sense for you given the compo-
nent dipole vectors.3
For three cases in Figure AII.6, we have indicated the pres-
ence of a lone pair with a dashed arrow. The lone pairs are often

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).

not shown explicitly in molecular structures, but they can have


a big effect on the size and direction of dipole moments. For
CBr4 and SF6, the symmetry of each molecule is such that even
though the individual bonds are polar, the overall molecule is
not. Building a rough model of the molecules or thinking about
the C and S centers in CBr4 and SF6 as the origin on a three-
dimensional graph with four or six bond dipole vectors, respec-
tively, will help you to see that the resultant vector is zero in
both cases for the overall molecule. SO2, NH3, and BrCl5 have
less symmetrical electron distributions. The bond dipoles and
the lone pairs do not cancel in those cases, so they are polar
molecules. SO2, NH3, and BrCl5 each happens to have one lone
pair on the central atom, but a lone pair does not have to be pres-
ent for a molecule to be polar. And there are molecules with lone
pairs that are non-polar: XeF2, for instance, is a linear molecule
with three lone pairs arranged symmetrically on the central Xe
atom and is non-polar.

Questions for you: Consider the CFBr3 and CF2Br2 mol-


ecules shown in Figure AII.7. They both have tetrahedral-
like geometries, with C as the central atom. Will (i) both,
(ii) one, or (iii) neither of the two molecules be polar?

Note: There is definitely no lone pair on the central C


atom. You only have to consider the geometry and the four
bonds in each molecule. In thinking about your answer to
this question, do not simply choose from the three options
provided. Think, too, about how you would justify your
answer in a short paragraph.
122 Appendix II

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

Minimizing Risk while Solving Problems


Safe operations in teaching and research laboratories is criti-
cal. Professional organizations, laboratory managers, college
faculty, and other stakeholders across the sciences agree on the
importance of safe laboratory practices and working condi-
tions, and we work to provide practical and effective guidelines
in support of that goal.1 People have suffered significant injury
and even died as a result of attempting to answer scientific
questions experimentally without the requisite training or due
precautions.2,3 Where the blame lies for those regrettable out-
comes is not our question here – resolving that question can
be difficult; but it should be emphasized that your actions can
create unsafe environments for both yourself and others who
share the laboratory space and resources with you. Everyone
working in a laboratory or research area shares in the responsi-
bility to make it as safe as possible. If you see a potential source
of harm, you should respond – speak up, alert your neighbors,
talk with your laboratory teaching assistant or professor. Better
to be safe now than sorry later.
Some basic guidelines that you will receive in the typi-
cal teaching or undergraduate experimental research labora-
tory are included here. Guidelines may be tailored to specific
environments (areas with biological hazards [viruses, bacte-
ria, bio-waste of any sort, etc.], and radioactive, corrosive, or
potentially explosive materials, for example), but the general
ethos will be the same. If you are in doubt, always check with
the safety or laboratory supervisor or lean toward the more
conservative general guidelines of which you are aware.

• Review carefully any set of guidelines available for


people working in your laboratory and any specialized
direction for the particular experiment that you are
working on at any given point.

123
124 Appendix III

• Keep safety at the front of your mind each step of the


way as you plan your laboratory activities for the day.
• Dress such that there are appropriate barriers between
your skin and chemicals. You will learn more in college
about proper personal protective equipment.
• Wear appropriate eye protection – laboratory specific
eyewear or attachments to regular glasses that provide
more complete protection for the eyes.
• Wear closed-toe shoes that protect the back of your foot
as well. If a spill occurs, you do not want to step in a
caustic puddle in slippers, or to have chemicals dripping
from the edge of the workbench onto your toes.
• Wear a lab coat if advised to do so. Whether you wear
a lab coat or not, however, long pants are preferred.
Avoid crop tops, shorts, ripped jeans, or short skirts,
loose clothing, bulky jackets, long lanyards extending
from your clothing, and any other item on your person
that might get caught in or dislodge equipment, which
can lead to injury or accidents as you move around the
laboratory. For similar reasons, wearing long hair in
a bun, under a hat, or tied back in some way, is good
practice.
• Very close-fitting clothes can be harder to remove in
the rare event that chemicals get onto your clothes
while you are working but lab coats obviate that
concern.
• Let your lab mates or lab partners know that you
welcome their suggestions or requests if you seem
to be doing something unsafe in the laboratory. You
should feel free to let them know, too, if they seem to
be operating unsafely. Establishing a generally positive
rapport with other lab members early can help to create
an atmosphere for having such conversations later on.
• Be aware of general and emergency exits.
• Be aware of the location of emergency equipment – fire
extinguishers, eye wash stations, first aid kits, relevant
shutoff valves, and showers. (Some laboratories have
showers built in. They allow for a rapid response if
chemicals get on to significant portions of your body
such that washing at a faucet or sink is not enough.)
• Bags and other objects that you bring to the laboratory
should be stored well out of your way in case you have
to leave the room quickly. You do not want to trip over
a bag as you turn to respond to an alarm or a fire.
Appendix III 125

• Do not play in the laboratory. Scientists just want to


have fun, but the fun has to be limited in the laboratory
to the excitement of a successful experiment done well
and safely in a pleasant, supportive, and engaging
environment.
• Arrive to the laboratory early or plan on staying a bit
later if needed. Rush is the enemy of safety. Lack of
sleep can have the same negative effect.
• Be sure that your chemical containers are labelled
clearly and accurately. Chemical bottles from which
you will be transferring chemicals – and these are
usually well labelled by manufacturers – and the
beakers, conical flasks, and other glassware into which
you will transfer chemicals for dissolution or reaction
should be labelled properly.
• Waste containers should be labelled clearly as well,
and they should be stored properly when not in
immediate use. The disposal of biological, chemical,
and other types of waste is usually arranged
ultimately by professionals at your institution. Your
cooperation is usually required in the laboratory to
ensure that different types of waste are disposed of in
their specified containers.
• Do not point filled syringes, pipettes, or the narrow
openings of reaction vessels that are in use toward
others working around you. If you are directed to do so
(for the entire laboratory session, or for a specific part
of an experiment), be sure to work within designated
enclosures or fume hoods to ensure the safety of
everyone involved.
• Put laboratory equipment, especially bottles of
chemicals, glassware, radioactive materials, and so on,
away appropriately when you are finished with them.
• Clean up your area at the end of the class or after a day
of research activities.

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

article were: Chemjobber, D. Decker, I. A. Tonks, P. J. Alaimo and


J. Langenhan, N. Sampson and J. Rudick, and H. Thorpe.]
3 Lemonick, S. 25 Years after Karen Wetterhahn Died of Dimeth-
ylmercury Poisoning, Her Influence Persists (Chemist Left Lega-
cies in Lab Safety, the Scientific Method, and Women in Science)
Chem. Eng. News. 2022, 100(21), 28–34. A version of this article
also appears in: ACS Chem. Health Saf. 2022, 29, 327–332.
Index

Note: Page locators in italics indicate a figure.

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

check style, 71, 78–79


guess and check method, 2, 16, 17n1 create, 19, 84
logic, 28, 39 creative, 8, 42, 71
solution, 60 creativity, 88
verify (as with instructor), 35, 43, 77, 83, 88 critical thinking, 8, 50, 75, 106
chemical cuboids, 68
allergy, 84–85 cylinder, 67–68, 82
formula, 8, 29–30
handling, 77
D
reaction, 19–20, 22, 31n2, 72n6
chemistry data
course, 30, 45, 70 experimental, 61, 75, 82
student, 7, 16, 29 mining, 95
choice (personal), 6, 28, 91, 97, 104 points, 55, 61–65
circle, 67–68, 70, 71n1 processing, 15
Civil War, 24 debate, 4, 70, 105
clarify, 39, 48, 97 deceive, 84
clarity, 90–92, 96 decisions, 90
classroom, 1, 3 defects, 82
discussions, 87, 106 delude, 84
experience, 37, 79–80, 85 design, 71, 75–76, 79, 91
coach, 42 development (growth), 3, 69, 83, 94, 104
college diagonal, 66
campus, 4, 94, 97, 104 diagram, 12, 42, 52, 93, 98, see also Venn
community, 4, 85, 104 Diagram
courses, 5, 10, 69, 80, 82, 91, 106 diameter, 67–68
experience, 4–5, 81, 104 differences, 90
faculty, 4, 70, 85, 94, 101 different
students, 34, 102, 106 approaches, 28–29, 78, 84
commitment arrangements, 8, 17n4, 29–30
faculty, 3 functions, 61, 64
overcommitment, 103 processes/procedures, 42, 52, 88
student, 4 properties, 12, 17n4, 35
common difficulties, 28, 84, 90
mathematical analysis, 61–62 disagreement, 85n1
notions, 20 discipline
commonly, 36, 45, 48 academic, 7–8, 20, 71n1
communication, 43n3, 87 personal, 2, 4, 87
computers, 4, 61, 67, 70–71 scientific, 45, 55, 70
concentration, 15, 25, 28–29, 58 diverse, 78, 99
confidence, 2, 6, 12, 35, 46, 69, 96 diversion, 51, 99
constant diversity, 98
exponent, 57–58 doctors, 50
law of mass, 19 document, 77, 89
multiple, 59, 60 dreams, 76
of proportionality, 67
unitless, 27 E
control, 78, 82, 96
converge, 24 economics, 55, 71
Cornell note-taking method, 11, 17n5 effect, 35–36, 107, see also Mpemba effect
Cosine rule, 51 effective, 5, 7, 11, 78, 87–88
count your blessings, 12, 35 engagement, 1–3, 21, 39, 41, 84, 90, 102
courses entrepreneur, 71
college, 5, 10, 67, 71, 91 equation
science, 19, 70 linear (straight-line), 56–58, 62
Inde x 129

quadratic, 14, 58–60


H
simultaneous, 62–65, 67, 109–110
errors, appreciation of, 77–78, 81 heart, 2, 79
essay writing, 37, 88–90 helpful
ethics, 3, 84, 87 definitions, 54
Euclid’s Elements, 20–21 feedback, 88–89
evidence, 21, 75–76, 83, 102 suggestions, 36, 42, 49, 57
exam, 5, 11, 24, 42, 87, 105, see also hints, 10, 91
test taking hopes, 76
example hypothesis, 76, 85n3, 96
equation, 57–58
experimental data, 61
simultaneous equation, 64–65
I
expectation, 75 ideas, 20–21
experience expressing, 35–36, 41–42
educational, 3–5, 62, 69, 101–102, 104 logical, 22
learning, 77, 79, 95–96, 99 mathematical, 47, 71
experiments matter, 75, 79 impact, 60, 82, 88, 90
explanation, 21, 35–37, see also Implicit Faculty commitment, 3
observation importance of self-care, 4
important (steps to problem-solving), 9, 45, 90, 95
F impostor syndrome, 102
improve, 77, 95
fact, statement of, 80 improvement, 77
factor, 22–23 independence (intellectual), 3, 49
factual, 96 independently thinking, 9, 11, 71, 81
faculty, 3–4, 70, 85, 94, 101, see also instructor; influence, 60, 82, 89, 96, 99
professor innovation, 88
fail, 5, 13, 88 instruction, 3, 35, 36, 70, 76
failure, 75 instructor
falsify, 84 guidance, 1, 10, 71
farmers, 50 relationships, 81–84
feedback, 3, 77, 89, 95, 99 instruments, 82, 85n5
focus, 2, 11, 69, 77, 106 integrity, 3, 84
footnotes, 88 intellectual
formula, 2, 27–28, see also chemical; quadratic engagement, 3, 90, 102
formula independence, 3, 69, 104
functions thinking, 50, 106
exponential, 54–55, 64 intention, 4, 69
fundamental, 24–25, 50 interaction, 3, 78
funding, 93 intercept, 57–58, 59, 60
future interesting relationships, 48, 53
direction, 91, 98 international system of units, 24, 31n8
learning, 2–3, 77 internship, 105
intervention, 105
intriguing, 4, 54–55, 60, 77
G
introduce, 66–67, 95
goals introduction
personal, 5, 16, 88, 104 abstract, 91, 93, 97
professional, 3 mathematical, 67
graphs, 55, 60–61, 78, 92–93 introductory
group, 94, 96–97, see also study group slides, 97
grow, 45, 69, 95, 104 statistics, 62
growth, 3–4, 69, 104 summary, 89
guess, 2, 16n1, 80 isomers, 8, 17n4
130 Inde x

J mass conservation, law of, 19–20


master/mastery, 7, 10, 39, 42, 101–102
job material
market, 70, 104 learning, 10–11, 39, 70, 88, 101
your job, 4, 13 reading, 35, 40, 95
joy, 2, 7, 41, 77, 79, 99 roofing, 52
mathematics
K basic, 45
results, 28
knowing, 7–8 strategies, 2, 50, 67
knowledge training, 70–71
mathematical, 45, 69 matrices, 65–67, 69
personal, 7–8, 15, 61, 81–82, 96, 101 matrix
scientific, 30, 31n5, 75–76, 87 algebra, 67
square, 66
maximum, 14, 68
L
measure, 25, 29
laboratory measurement, 77, 82
equipment, 79, 82 memorization, 2, 5, 9, 27
experience, 79–80, 84 mentor, 3, 81, 93–94, 97
experiments, 24, 75–77, 80 mentoring, 69
instructor, 82, 84 mind
lawyers, 50 habits of, 3
layers, 69–70 suggestions, 9, 19, 35, 83, 89,
learn 90, 101
how to, 7, 9, 17n2, 34, 99, 102 mistakes, 77, 84
need to, 39, 67, 71, 95 mitigation, 12
learning molecules, 24, 29, 30
active, 77, 79 more effective, 5
experience, 3, 77 more time, 5
language, 9, 35 Mpemba effect, 40
rote, 27
strategies, 11–12, 36 N
librarians, 89
limiting factors, 22 negative
Lincoln, Abraham, 24 equations, 57, 59
linear influence, 82
algebra, 67 number, 23–24
combination, 113–114 perception, 69
equations, 56 Newton, Isaac, 21
form, 58, 61, 63–64
molecule, 121
O
liquid, 40, 85n5
logarithms, 55–56 object, 23, 68
logic objective, 4, 10, 51, 66, 104
of amounts, 23 omniscient, 96
general scientific, 22–23 opportunity, 1
problem solving, 27–28, 31n9 option, 2, 10–11
subject-independent, 19, 70–71 selection, 63–64
symbolic, 35–36 oral presentation, 87, 95
organize, 10, 13, 75, 89, 97
outcome
M
academic, 77, 102
manage (self), 77, 79, 96 desired, 5, 84, 102
management (time), 79 key objective, 91, 93
manufacturing, 22–23 oversight, 96
Inde x 131

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

square, 70 thwart (efforts), 1


matrix, 66–67 titration, 29, 31n10
standards, 3, 80, 84 topics (key), 10–12, 70, 94, 96, 102
step (simple), 2, 16 trial and error, 2, 16n1, 17n6
stoichiometric, 16, 77 trial and error strategy, 2, 16n1
student triangles, 47–48, 50–51, 68
academic responsibility, 4–5, 11–12, 27 trigonometric ideas, 47
commitment, 4, 102 trust building, 2–3
commitment to, 3, 8, 10
learning styles, 16, 23, 26
requirements, 76 U
undergraduate, 6, 21, 53, 69, 97, 104 unavoidable, 82
study group, 11, 43, 78, 91 undergraduate
style curriculum, 4, 45, 53, 70
conversational, 91–92, 99 lab work, 75–76, 81
essay, 37, 88–89 poster program, 91, 94
subtraction, 46 unintentional, 82
success
units
academic, 2, 4–5, 13–14, 79
basics of, 24
willingness for, 81, 87, 93
meaning and, 25
summary (abstract), 89–90, 92–93
support
academic skills, 9, 11, 35, 69, 93, 102 V
peer, 4, 71, 102
syllabus, 3, 10 vectors, 69
symbols, 33–35 Venn Diagram, 34
volume, 25, 28–29
measuring, 68, 77, 82
T
talks (preparing and giving), 95 W
teaching assistant (T.A.), 77–78, 85
team work, 11, 77, 95 words
tendency, 12 short answers, 35–37
test taking, 1, 9, 11–12, 81 word problems, 33–34
textbooks writing skills, 37, see also essay
benefits from, 41–42
as coach/mentor, 42–43 Z
usefulness of, 39–40
thermodynamics, 19 zeroth law, 19–20

You might also like