The City College of New York

Class EDUC_6200E_3GG
Prof. Moresh

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES
WORKING BACKWARDS

Contributors to this page are :
Irina Yakovleva
Edward Wilson
Zhani Joanidhi
      For  many, mathematics  is one  of  the most useful  and fascinating
divisions of  human knowledge. It  helps us  n many   important  areas  of
study, and  has the power to solve some of the  deepest  puzzles man  must
face.   Thanks  to a Hungarian  mathematician, Georg Polya in 1944  at the
University  of  Stanford, Palo  Alto, California we  have   obtained  many
mathematical  strategies  that brings man  even  closer to life's  deepest
puzzles.

      In  mathematics  many problems  are often  solved  by  the  straight
forward method. A  progression starting  at the  beginning and  concluding
at the end to a solution.  Conversely, there are such  mathematical  prob-
lems to which the  forward working  method would not  yield the most effi-
cient results.

      The best strategy  to attempt after  considering the forward  method
is the strategy of  working  backwards.  This strategy  is implemented  to
solve many daily  real-life encounters  relevant to traffic  accidents and
crime scenes investigations.

      The  following  problems will demonstrate  the strategy  of  working
backwards to obtain an accurate and reasonable solution:
Problem 1 Problem 2 Problem 3