Galatian 5:22-23

“Bu th frui of th Spiri i lov , jo , peac , forbearanc ,

faith lnes , gentlenes an self-contro . Agains suc
thing ther i n law.”
 Who is
carrying the
most weight?
 Which
supermarket
is closed?
PROBLEM SOLVING

Module 5
 •Problem Solving with Patterns
Examples:

1. Fibonacci Sequence
• Jacques Binet was able to find the formula for the nth
Fibonacci number.

2. Pascal’s Triangle

3. Tower of Hanoi
Fibonacci Sequence
- Formula: F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)
The sequence begins as follows:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144….

- Jacques Binet was able to find the formula for the nth
Fibonacci number
Fibonacci Sequence
- F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ….
- F(7) = F(7-1) + F(7-2) 7 7

F(7) = F(6) + F(5) 7

= 8 + 5 = 13

- F(10) = F(10-1) + F(10-2) 10 10

F(10) = F(9) + F(8) 10
= 34 + 21 = 55
 Pascal’s Triangle
• The triangular pattern
1 • It is named after the
mathematician Blaise Pascal
1 1 (1623–1662)
• It was first developed in China
1 2 1 in the 1300s.
1 3 3 1
1 4 4 1 6
1 5 10 10 5 1
PASCAL’S TRIANGLE ARE COEFFICIENTS IN BINOMIAL EXPANSION

(a+b)0 = 1
(a+b)1 = 1a + 1b
2 2 2
(a+b) = 1a +2ab +1b
(a+b)3 = 1a3 + 3a2b +3ab2 +1b3
(a+b)4 = 1a4+ 4a3b+ 6a2b2+ 4ab3+1b4

and so on .
 10

FIBONACCI SEQUENCE FROM PASCAL’S TRIANGLE

 ROW SUM PROPERTY OF 11

PASCAL’S TRIANGLE

1 Sum= 1 = 20

1 1 Sum= 2 = 21
1 2 1 Sum= 4 = 22
1 3 3 1 Sum= 8 = 23
Sum= 16 = 24
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1 Sum= 32 = 25
 There are many patterns that can be discovered in Pascal’s
triangle.
1. Find the sum of the numbers in each row, except row 0, of the
portion of Pascal’s triangle. What pattern do you observe
concerning these sums? Predict the sum of the numbers in row 9
of Pascal’s triangle.

2. The numbers 1, 3, 6,10,15,..., n(n + 1) / 2,...are called triangular

numbers. Where do the triangular numbers appear in Pascal’s
triangle?
(Binomial Distribution): A newly wed's dream family is to have 5 children with 3 girls and
2 boys. Since you are considering 5 children, we will consider row 5 of the Pascal’s
Triangle.

                  

From what we can see above, there are 10 ways for you to have exactly 3 girls from a
total of 1+5+10+10+5+1= 32 possible ways of having 5 children.
Conversely, there are as well 10 ways for you to have exactly 2 boys out of 5 children
which is still the same.
 We can as well list it as follows and start counting from zero until the
desired value which is “3 girls” to get the number of ways.

Number of
girls
0 1 2 3 4 5

Row 5 of Pascal’s
1 5 10 10 5 1
Triangle

By the classical approach to probability, your chances of getting 3 girls

and 2 boys is 10/32 or 31.25%.
Tower of Hanoi
• A Famous Puzzle invented by Edouard Lucas in 1883. The
puzzle consists of three pegs and a number of disks of distinct
diameters stacked on one of the pegs such that the largest
disk is on the bottom, the next largest is placed on the largest
disk, and so on.

• The object of the puzzle is to

transfer the tower to one of
the other pegs. The rules
require that only one disk be
moved at a time and that a
larger disk may not be
placed on a smaller disk. All
pegs may be used.
 Tower of Hanoi: Determine the minimum number of
moves required to transfer all of the disks to another peg
for each of the following situations.
1. You start with only one disk.
2. You start with two disks.
3. You start with three disks.
4. You start with four disks.
5. You start with five disks.
6. You start with n disks.
 Polya’s Problem Solving Strategy
The Four-Step Problem-Solving Model

1.Understand the problem

2.Devise a plan

3.Carry out the plan

4.Look back and reflect on the solution

Example 1:
There are 4 men on a sinking ship. A
rickety bridge separates them from safety.
The bridge will only take 2 people at a
time. Alf would take one minute to cross
the bridge, Bert 2 minutes, Cedric 5 minutes
and Dominic 10 minutes. It is night and they
have one torch. This has to be taken across
the bridge and returned for anyone else
crossing the bridge. It cannot be thrown. If
2 people cross a bridge, they travel at the
speed of the slowest person.

In 17 minutes the ship will sink and the

bridge will collapse with it. How can they
get to safety in this time?
Example 2:
A train is 1 km in length. It
is travelling at 60km/hr. It
enters a tunnel which is 1km
in length. How long will it
take for the whole train to
pass through the tunnel?
Example 3:
You are staring into a wood.
You can see 22 eyes and 32
legs. These belong to foxes
and owls. How many owls
and how many foxes are
there?
Example 4:
Four boats continuously leave
the harbour to take passengers
on fishing trips.
Boat 1 returns every 2 hours.
Boat 2 returns every 3 hours.
Boat 3 returns every 4 hours.
Boat 4 returns every 5 hours.
If they all leave the harbour
together, after how many hours
will they first be all together in
the harbour again?
How many eggsactly?
Fred has a basket of eggs. He sells
half his eggs plus half an egg to Tom.
He then sells half the remainder plus
half an egg to Sarah. After that, he
sells half the remainder plus half an
egg to Courtney. Half the remainder
plus half an egg was sold to Wilfred.
Finally, Fred boils the one egg he is
left with and eats it for lunch. How
many eggs were in the basket to start
with?
Thank you.