Worksheet #4 - Problem Solving Process

Name: Gabrielle A. Rivera Score: /40

Section: 10 Resiliency B Date: 8/18/2022

Partner Race Relay

Overview:
Aysha, Ben, Carla, Damien, Eric, Fan, and Genaro are a team in a partner race relay. For each round of the
relay, two people run to the finish line holding a baton. Then one person runs back to return the baton to the
starting line. The race ends when everyone is at the finish line.

Rules:
Each player can run the race in a different amount of time, but when they run together, they can only go as fast
as the slowest person. For example, in Round 1, Aysha and Ben take three minutes to get to the finish line,
but Aysha only takes two minutes to return the baton to the starting line, for a total round time of five minutes.

Aysha Ben Carla Damien Eric Fan Genaro

2 minutes 3 minutes 4 minutes 6 minutes 7 minutes 9 minutes 11 minutes

Objective (28pts)
Decide what order the players should go in so that everyone gets to the finish line as fast as possible. Can
they cross in an hour or less? 50 minutes? 45 minutes?

Round Who races? Racing Who returns? Return Time Round Time Who is at the finish line?
Time

1 Genaro, Aysha 11 minutes Aysha 2 minutes 13 minutes Genaro

2 Aysha, Damien 6 minutes Aysha 3 minutes 9 minutes Damien

3 Aysha, Ben 3 minutes Ben 3 minutes 6 minutes Aysha

4 Ben, Fan 9 minutes Fan 3 minutes 12 minutes Ben

5 Fan, Carla 9 minutes Carla 4 minutes 13 minutes Fan

6 Carla, Eric 7 minutes 7 minutes Carla, Eric

Total Time: 60 minutes

Reflecting on Using the Process (12pts)
How did you use each step of the problem solving process to solve the problem? Give examples of what each
step looked like as you were solving that problem.

Problem Solving Process Your Steps

DEFINE The problem that I am trying to solve is about a partner relay race with 7
participants in a group. In this race, they need to finish this round in pairs as fast
as possible with each member having their own pace or speed when running
towards the finish line. The fastest member needs to adjust their speed and
match it to the slowest member’s speed. I am trying to solve whether this group
can cross in an hour or less? 50 minutes? 45 minutes?

PREPARE Computing for possible answers, I tried these methods:.

1. First, I added them by the fastest to slowest members.

2. Next, I tried adding them by the slowest to fastest members.

3. I also tried adding the speed of each member in a random/jumbled way.

TRY Adding them by fastest to slowest and slowest to fastest gave me big numbers
such as 61, 62, 64, 68. With the jumbled method, although I was aiming for a
time lower than 60 minutes, I got an exact answer of 1hour which is equivalent
to 60 minutes.

REFLECT This problem helped me realize that I was not that good with problem solving or
I was not that quick to find solutions. I learned that having one plan/method for
everything isn’t enough, I should have backup plans prepared. The solutions
that I have made were somewhat not leading me to my desired answer, though
experimenting helped me achieve my goal.