Learning how to solve problems in mathematics is simply to know what to look for.

Math problems often require established procedures and one must know What & When to apply them. To identify procedures, you have to be familiar with the different problem situations, and be able to collect the appropriate information, identify a strategy or strategies and use the strategy/strategies appropriately. But exercise is must for problem solving. It needs practice!! The more you practice, the better you get. The great mathematical wizard G Polya wrote a book titled How to Solve It in 1957. Many of the ideas that worked then, do still continue to work for us. Given below are the four essential steps of problem solving based on the central ideas of Polya.

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