Thoughtful and Reflective Practice

The only way to learn how to solve problems is to solve them yourself. If you have followed the question-and-answer approach to the examples in this chapter and have covered the answers to the steps in the examples until you have figured out the answer for yourself, you have solved the problems and not merely looked at how we solved them. But you still need more practice. 

The end-of-chapter problems with answers give you lots of opportunities to solve problems with immediate feedback on the correctness of your methods. Be sure to keep in mind your reason for solving problems. It is not to get the answer we got, but to learn how to solve the problem. 

Solving a problem with one finger at its solution in the answer section so you can check your progress is neither solving the problem nor learning how to solve it. When you tackle a problem, solve it completely. If you get stuck at any point, put the problem aside and check the part of the chapter that covers that point. Learn there what you need to learn. Do not check the answer section. Return to your solution of the problem and complete it. Then compare your solution to the one in the back of the book. If they do not agree, find out why. Be sure you understand the problem before going to the next one. 

We close this chapter with a few more examples with which you can practice while we guide you in following the six-step strategy. 

At first glance, it might seem that you don t have enough information to solve this problem. When this situation occurs, start by assessing what you know fi om the problem statement. This will often help you discover what else you need to know to solve the problem. What are the Given and Wanted for this problem  

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