MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN

WORLD

ARGEFEL L. MORENO
 LESSON 1:POLYA’S 4-STEP OF
PROBLEM SOLVING

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• a) Solve problem taking into account all essential notions
involved in the problem;
• b) Follow the 4-step plan in solving word problems;
Any problem is solved easier with an action plan.
There are four basic steps in solving a problem of
Polya’s Problem-Solving Process;
• 1. Defining the problem/Understand the problem
• 2. Generating alternatives/Devise a plan
• 3. Evaluating and selecting alternatives/Carry out
the plan
• 4. Implementing solutions/Look back
EXAMPLES:
1. What is the total cost of five books at
Php 125.50 each?
2. Francis rode his bicycle 1/2 kilometer to
school, 1/5 kilometer to the store and
2/10 kilometer home. What is the total
distance travelled by Francis?
EXAMPLES:
1. Twice the difference of a number and 1
is 4 more than that number. Find the
number.
2. If 10 more than thrice of a number is two
less than the number, what is the value
of the number?
EXAMPLES:
1. There are 18 animals in a pet store some are
birds and some are dogs. There are 50 legs in all.
How many birds and how many dogs are there?
2. There are 45 questions in an exam. For every
correct answer marks 5 awarded and for every
wrong answer 3 marks are deducted. Melissa
scored 185 marks, how many correct answers
did she give?
ASSIGNMENT:
Directions: Read each problem carefully and then solve
using the Polya 4-step techniques.
1. Kris baked a banana cake for her family. Her brother
ate 3/10 while her sister ate 1/4. She gave the rest of
the cake to her neighbors. What part of the cake did
Kris’s brother and sister eat in all?
2. Peter had Php 1,800. After he gave Php 400 to John,
he had twice as much as money as John. How much
money did John have at first?