Learn Polya’s problem-solving process and strategies, such as divide and conquer and pattern identification, to enhance your analytical skills, tackle puzzles, and solve real-world problems.

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Problem-solving skills are vital for personal growth, academic success, and professional achievement. They enable resilience, innovation, and effective decision-making. This course equips you with a lifelong skill set by teaching Polya’s problem-solving process and its applications in tackling real-world problems, games, and puzzles.

You will explore strategies, including top-down and bottom-up approaches, divide and conquer, stepwise refinement, pattern identification, and logical reasoning through puzzle-solving and computing logic.

By the end of the course, you’ll master analytical skills and critical thinking to apply Polya’s method and other strategies to complex challenges. This comprehensive approach establishes a strong foundation for systematically solving intricate problems.

Problem Solving

Try to solve a similar problem that involves exponential growth.

# Task

In a small town, there is an interesting trend in population growth. At the beginning of 2022, the town had a population of 1,000. The town's population experiences a unique growth pattern each year. In each subsequent year, the town's population increases by 5% from the previous year's population. Find out the answers to the following questions:

- What will the town's population be in the next three years?

- If this growth pattern continues, estimate the population in the next $10$ years.

If you’re unsure how to do this, click the “Show Hint” button.

Solve a problem using pattern identification.

Polyas method

Bottom-Up Approach

Top-Down Approach

Wire Length Calculator

Stepwise refinement

Guessing Games

Minesweeper Game

Triangular Wall

Pattern Identification

Conclusion

Exercise