Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 1

GEC 3-Mathematics in the Modern World

MODULE 3: Problem Solving and Reasoning

INTRODUCTION

Deeper understanding of problems leads to solution. The problems and solution alike
vary and may range from simple to difficult. Mathematics provides the central piece that
allows one to discover ways to come up with a practical solution.

OBJECTIVES

 Use the different types of reasoning to justify your statements and arguments made about
mathematics and mathematical concept.
 Demonstrate abilities of reason and logic to arrive at a solution.
 Solve problems involving patterns and recreational problems following Polya’s four steps.
 Organize one’s method and approaches for proving and solving problems.

DISCUSSION PROPER

Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning
Is the process of reaching a general conclusion by examining specific example/s.
The type of reasoning that forms a conclusion based on the examination of specific
examples is called Inductive reasoning. The conclusion formed by using inductive
reasoning is called conjecture, since it may not be correct.

Example 1: Use Inductive Reasoning to Predict a Number

Use inductive reasoning to predict the next number in each of the following lists.
a. 3,6,9,12,15, ? b. 1,3,6,10,15, ?

Solution
a. Each successive number is 3 larger than the preceding number. Thus we predict
that the next number in the list is 3 larger than 15, which is 18.
b. The first two numbers differ by 2. The second and the third numbers differ by 3. It
appears that the difference between any two numbers is always 1 more than the
preceding difference. Since 10 and 15 differ by 5, we predict that the next number
in the list will be 6 larger than 15, which is 21.

Example 2: Use Inductive Reasoning to Make a Conjecture

Consider the following procedure: Pick a number. Multiply the number by 8, add
6 to the product, divide the sum by 2, and subtract 3.
Complete the above procedure for several different numbers. Use inductive reasoning to
make a conjecture about the relationship between the size of the resulting number and
the size of the original number.

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 2

Solution
Suppose we pick a number. Then the procedure would produce the following results:
Chosen Number 2 18 25
Multiply by 8 2 x 8 = 16 144 200
Add 6 16 + 6 = 22 150 206
Divide by 2 22 ÷ 2 = 11 75 103
Subtract 3 11 – 3 = 8 72 100

We started with 2 and followed the procedure to produce 8. Starting with 18 as

our original number produces a final result of 72. Starting with 25 produces a final
result of 100. In each of these cases the resulting number is four times the original
number. We conjecture that following the given procedure produces a number
that is four times the original number.

Example 3
Ms. Jen is pretty. She is my math teacher. Therefore, all math teachers are pretty.

Example 4
EDSA is a major thoroughfare which has a speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour.
Therefore, all major thoroughfares have a speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour.

Deductive Reasoning
It is a process of reaching a conclusion by applying general assumptions,
procedures or principles. It is distinguished from inductive reasoning in that it is the
process of reaching a conclusion by applying general principles and procedures.

Example 5: Use Deductive Reasoning to Establish a Theorem

Use deductive reasoning to show that the following procedure produces a number
that is four times the original number.
Procedure: Pick a number. Multiply the number by 8, add 6 to the product, divide the
sum by 2, and subtract 3.
Solution
Let n represent the original number.
Multiply the Number by 8: 8n
Add 6 to the product: 8n+6
Divide the sum by 2: 8n + 6 = 4n +3
2
Subtract 3: 4n +3 -3 = 4n

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 3

We started with n and ended with 4n. The procedure given in this example produces a
number that is four times the original number.

Example 6
All members of the club can use the club’s pool. Deanna is a member of the club.
Therefore, Deanna can use the club’s pool.

Example 7
All numbers are divisible by 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 3. Consider 339. The
sum of 3, 3 and 9 is 15. Therefore, 339 is divisible by 3.

Example 8
Magic Squares
A magic square of order n is an arrangement of numbers in a square such that the sum of
the n numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is the same number. The magic square
below has order 3, and the sum of the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is 15.

Most everyone who thinks about how to solve problems in a formal way has run
across the concepts of deductive and inductive reasoning. Both deduction and induction
help us navigate real-world problems, such as who committed a crime, the most likely
cause of an accident, or how many planets might contain life in the Milky Way galaxy. But
while they’re both practical tools for practical problems, but they approach problem-
solving in opposite ways. Both deduction and induction are a type of inference, which
means reaching a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning. Deduction moves from
idea to observation, while induction moves from observation to idea. Deduction is idea-
first, followed by observations and a conclusion. Induction is observation first, followed
by an idea that could explain what’s been seen. The other big difference is that deduction’s
conclusions are bulletproof assuming you don’t make a mistake along the way. The
conclusion is always true as long as the premises are true. With induction you don’t get
absolute certainty; the quality of the idea or model or theory depends on the quality of the
observations and analysis.

Determine if the following statement are deductive or inductive:

1. All men are mortal. Harold is a man. Therefore, Harold is mortal.
Answer: Deduction

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 4

This third sentence is absolutely true because the first two sentences are true.
2. I have a bag of many coins, and I’ve pulled 10 at random and they’ve all been pennies,
therefore this is probably a bag full of pennies.
Answer: Induction
This gives some measure of support for the argument that the bag only has pennies in it,
but it’s not complete support like we see with deduction.

Further clarification
 Deduction has theories that predict an outcome, which are tested by experiments.
Induction makes observations that lead to generalizations for how that thing
works.
 If the premises are true in deduction, the conclusion is definitely true. If the
premises are true in induction, the conclusion is only probably true—depending
on how good the evidence is.
There’s another type of reasoning called Abductive Reasoning, where you take a set of
observations and simply take the most likely explanation given the evidence you have.
 Deduction is hard to use in everyday life because it requires a sequential set of
facts that are known to be true. Induction is used all the time in everyday life
because most of the world is based on partial knowledge, probabilities, and the
usefulness of a theory as opposed to its absolute validity.
 Deduction is more precise and quantitative, while induction is more general and
qualitative.

More examples:
If A = B and B = C, then A = C.
Deduction
Since all squares are rectangles, and all rectangles have four sides, so all squares have four
sides.
Deduction
All cats have a keen sense of smell. Fluffy is a cat, so Fluffy has a keen sense of smell.
Deduction
Every time you eat peanuts, your throat swells up and you can’t breathe. This is a
symptom of people who are allergic to peanuts. So, you are allergic to peanuts.
Induction
Ray is a football player. All football players weigh more than 170 pounds. Ray weighs more
than 170 pounds.
Deduction
All cars in this town drive on the right side of the street. Therefore, all cars in all towns
drive on the right side of the street.
Induction

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 5

We can see here that deduction is a nice-to-have. It’s clean. But life is seldom clean enough
to be able to apply it perfectly.
Most real problems and questions deal more in the realm of induction, where you might
have some observations—and those observations might be able to take you to some sort
of generalization or theory—but you can’t necessarily say for sure that you’re right. It’s
about working as best you can within a world where knowledge is usually incomplete.

Polya’s 4-steps in Problem Solving strategies

George Pólya (/ˈpoʊljə/; Hungarian: Pólya György [ˈpoːjɒ ˈɟørɟ]) (December 13, 1887
– September 7th, 1985) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was
a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and
from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University. He made fundamental
contributions to combinatorics, number theory, numerical
analysis and probability theory. He is also noted for his work
in heuristics and mathematics education. He has been described
as one of The Martians.
Polya created his famous four-step process for problem
solving, which is used all over to aid people in problem solving:
Step 1: Understand

Sometimes the problem lies in understanding the problem. If you are unclear as
to what needs to be solved, then you are probably going to get the wrong results. In order
to show an understanding of the problem, you, of course, need to read the problem
carefully. Sounds simple enough, but some people jump the gun and try to start solving
the problem before they have read the whole problem. Once the problem is read, you
need to list all the components and data that are involved. This is where you will be
assigning your variable.

Step 2: Plan
When you devise a plan (translate), you come up with a way to solve the problem.
Setting up an equation, drawing a diagram, and making a chart are all ways that you can
go about solving your problem.

Step 3: Execute
The next step, carry out the plan (solve), is big. This is where you solve the equation
you came up with in your 'devise a plan' step.

Step 4: Check
You may be familiar with the expression 'don't look back'. In problem solving it
is good to look back (check and interpret). Basically, check to see if you used all your
information and that the answer makes sense. If your answer does check out, make sure
that you write your final answer with the correct labelling.

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 6

Example 1:
One number is 3 less than another number. If the sum of the two numbers is 177, find
each number.

Step 1: Understand (Write down everything that you understood about the
problem, including the given and you may have an illustration if possible.)
a. We are looking for two numbers.
b. The first relationship between this two numbers is that “One number is 3 less than
another number”.
c. The second relationship between this two numbers is that “sum of the two numbers is
177”.
Step 2: Plan (Write down any process or method that you have in mind to
solve the problem in a step by step or chronological manner. Take note that
you might not have a concrete plan but would have the proper strategy while
executing the plan.)
a. I will let “x” be the first number
b. I will let “y” be the second number
c. I will create a mathematical expression from the first relationship between the two
numbers.
d. I will create a mathematical expression from the second relationship between the two
numbers.
e. I will deduct the first mathematical expression to the second to find value for the first
missing number.
f. I will use the determined value of the first missing number to find for the value of the
second.
Step 3: Execute (Following your plan, you will now execute, hindrances
along the way might occur but proper adjustment or adaptation to the
problem is needed. Your plan might not completely work out well or your
plan might not be complete but you can adapt or add steps if needed.)
X=First number
Y=Second Number
X-3=Y (Mathematical expression for first relationship)
X+Y=177 (Mathematical expression for second relationship)
From second expression, we get
Y=177-X
Substituting the value of “Y” in the first expression, we get
X-3=177-X
X=90
Using the value of “X” to solve for “Y” , we get
Y=177-90
Y=87

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 7

Step 4: Check (Used the other equations or expressions to check for values.
There might be discrepancies specially if numbers are in decimal.)
Using the first expression, we get
90-3=87
87=87 OK!

FINAL ANSWER: One number is 90. Another number is 87

Example 2:
A man standing near a street light at night casts a shadow on the ground about 3 m long.
The man noticed when he looked up the street light that it is about 30 degrees above his
eyesight. How high was the street light possibly if it is 8 m far from where the man is
standing assuming the ground is flat.
Step 1: Understand

Step 2: Plan
a. I will let “H” be the height of the street light.
b. I will let “h” be the height of the man.
c. I will solve for the height of the man using the observed angle of elevation and the length
of the shadow.
d. I will use ratio and proportion to solve for the height of the street light.
Step 3: Execute

ℎ
𝑡𝑎𝑛300 = 3

ℎ = √3 𝑚
ℎ 𝐻
=
3 3+8

𝟏𝟏√𝟑
𝑯= = 𝟔. 𝟑𝟓𝟏 𝒎
𝟑

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 8

Step 4: Check
𝐻
𝑡𝑎𝑛300 = 3+8

√3 6.351
=
3 3+8

0.577 = 0.577 OK!

Example 3:
A box contains twice as many red balls than green balls and thrice as many blue balls than
green balls. If the box contains 18 green balls, how many balls are there?

Step 1: Understand
There are three colors of balls with two unknown counts and the total number of balls is
unknown, thus, there are three variables in this problem.
There are also three statements in this problem, the first is “twice as many red balls than
green balls”.
The second is “thrice as many blue balls than green balls”.
And the third is “the box contains 18 green balls”.

Step 2: Plan
a. I will let “R” be the red balls.
b. I will let “G” be the green balls.
c. I will let “B” be the green balls.
d. I will let “N” be the total number of balls.
e. I will create equations from the three statements.
f. Using the three equations I will get the values of the three variables.

Step 3: Execute
Equation 1: 𝑅 = 2𝐺
Equation 2: 𝐵 = 3𝐺
Equation 3: 𝐺 = 18
𝑅 = 2𝐺 = 2(18) = 36
𝐵 = 3𝐺 = 3(18) = 54
𝑅+𝐺+𝐵 =𝑁
36 + 18 + 54 = 𝑁
𝑁 = 108 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠

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 Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering 9

Step 4: Check
𝑅+𝐺+𝐵 =𝑁
2𝐺 + 𝐺 + 3𝐺 = 108
6𝐺 = 108
6(18) = 108
𝟏𝟎𝟖 = 𝟏𝟎𝟖 OK!

SUMMARY

1. Deduction gets you to a perfect conclusion—but only if all your premises are 100%
correct.
2. Deduction moves from theory to experiment to validation, where induction moves
from observation to generalization to theory.
3. Deduction is harder to use outside of lab/science settings because it’s often hard
to find a set of fully agreed-upon facts to structure the argument.
4. Induction is used constantly because it’s a great tool for everyday problems that
deal with partial information about our world, and coming up with usable
conclusions that may not be right in all cases.
5. Be willing to use both types of reasoning to solve problems, and know that they
can often be used together cyclically as a pair, e.g., use induction to come up with
a theory, and then use deduction to determine if it’s actually true.
6. The main thing to avoid with these two is arguing with the force of deduction
(guaranteed to be true) while actually using induction (probability based on
strength of evidence).

REFERENCES

Books:
Mathematics in the Modern World, 14th Edition Aufman Richard, et. al.,,
Mathematics in the Modern World, Philippine Edition by REX Book Store
Mathematics in the Modern World, by Esmeralda A. Manlulu, et. al.

ISUI-CvE-Mod
Revision: 02
Effectivity: August 1, 2020

Prepared by: Engr. Jerico P. Fiel