HEURISTIC METHOD

DURATUN FATIHAH SAHARUDDIN NOR SITAH BINTI ATAN NURUL FARHANA BT ABD RAHIM SAIDATUL FATIMAH AMIR

 Method for helping in solving problem, commonly informal Used for method-leads to a solution that is close to best possible answer. Rule of thumb/ general plans to guide action in:
Problem solving Educated guesses Intuitive judgment Simply common sense

 More precise term:

Heuristic stand for strategies using readily accessible though loosely applicable information to control problem solving in human being and machine ( Moshe F. Rubinstein, 1986)

Few commonly used Heuristic from Polya Classic (1957)

Look to unknown If having difficulty to understand, try draw picture If cant find solution, try assume that you have solution and see what you can drive from that (working backward) If problem abstract, try examine concrete example. Try solve a more general problem first

 Guide and tools of thinking and problem solving- develop consistent Both guide and tool helping to discover:
invent new way of thinking Different ways perceiving reality New pattern of problem representation

 general guide + tool= cause of discovery

and creative innovation. These guide= Heuristics

 Heuristic can be determined under three conditions:

1. Algorithm and Heuristic 2. Acquisition of knowledge 3. Problem representation

1) Heuristic guide for Algorithms and Heuristics

The store of information, and knowledge we possess by virtue of past experience: factual information then generate information May also view as : Guided procedure that increase the probability of finding solution with less time and effort than that require by algorithm.

Cont
For example: use Heuristic that is by rounding off the number/ approximating to establish answer
Question before estimate (298.5 139)/ 10.1 = 4108.07 Question after estimate (300140)/ 10 = 4200

 When estimating, it is not guarantee to correct solution but provides a reasonable ballpark value. Under same condition, heuristic use to establish upper and lower bounds for a solution.

2) Heuristic guides to Acquisition of knowledge

Knowledge can be organize by some guide that will increase the probability of its retrieval when we need it. More likely we transfer knowledge acquired in past to new situation. Guide base on active rather than passive involvement on our part and on use of imagination.

3) Heuristic for problem solving

General mistake in approaching problem is to move too quickly into problem solving mode. Situation where quick action is required, but most cases more time can be devoted to structuring the problem, presenting it, and re-presenting it each time discovering new element from different perspective. Allow enough time for representation is similar to: taking a walk around an object and inspecting it. Observer see and cannot see the problem thing is depend on her position.

The Stages of Heuristics

There are five stages of heuristics that constitute the Heuristic process which are
Read and think Explore and plan Select a strategy Find an answer Reflect and extend

Read and Think

For the first stage that is read and think, the problems need to be analyzed by using critical thinking. The fact are identified and evaluate, and the question is determined. Then, the physical setting is visualized, described and understood. After that, the problem is translated into the language of the reader. The connections are made between the parts of the problem.

 When students read and think about some questions they need to
 Describe the problem in his or her own words.  Identify each of the numbers and to write them in both literal and numeric forms.  The final selection must be arithmetically correct and consistent with the text.  Identify words with multiple meanings.  Discover the question being asked by recognizing the correct question from a given set.  Underline the question within a given problem.  Complete the problem by supplying an appropriate question.  Answer the questions by referring the pictures that have been provide.  Read the paragraphs and answer the questions that follow.  Know how to read the graphs, tables or charts that have provide in the question.

 Example,
Read the following paragraph. The numbers have all been taken out and listed below. You are to use each number once and put them in the blanks to make the story true. Aminah has ____customers on his paper route. She gets ____ cents for each weekday paper she deliver, and ____cents for each Sunday edition. Last week, she earned RM ___ and put RM ___ into her bank. 100, 33, 52, 150, 60

Explore and Plan

At this stage, the problem solver analyzes the data and determines whether there is sufficient information. Destructors are eliminated. The data are organized in the table, a drawing, a model and so on.

 Explore and plan that is by:

 Identifying the hidden question for a set of given problems.  Write the hidden questions with their own word.  Identify extra information  Identify what is missing, then supply a reasonable fact or facts analyzed problem solving by using critical thinking.

 Some problems have more than one part. You have to find the answer to a Hidden Question before you can solve the problem. In each of the following, pick out the hidden question.

Example,
Last week Amanda sold 18 boxes of Famous Amos cookies. This week she sold 15 boxes. If each costs RM2, how much did she receive for all the boxes of cookies she sold? What is the Hidden Question? a) How many boxes of Famous Amos cookies did Amanda sell last week? b) How many boxes of Famous Amos cookies did Amanda sell during both weeks? c) How much money did Amanda receive for the cookies she sold?

3. SELECT A STRATEGY
At these stage, many people have to face a difficult in solving a problem. A Strategy is provides the direction to find the answer. Suggested by the previous two phases that precede it in the heuristic plan.

Strategies for problem solving are:

Pattern recognition Organized listing

Working backwards

Reduction expansion

experimentation

Write an equation

Example of pattern recognition

Organize the data to discover the pattern by making a table. Joe is arranging grapefruits in the produce department of the supermarket, in the form of triangle. When he has finished, the first row had 1 grapefruit, the second row had 3 grapefruits, and third row had 6 grapefruits, and so on for total seven rows. How many grapefruits did Joe use in the display?

Row number Grapefruits

Solution :

The pattern shows that the terms of sequence differ by 2, by 3 and so on. Thus continue to carry out the table through seven rows.
Row number Grapefruits 1 1 2 3 3 6 4 10 5 15 6 21 7 28

There will be : 1+3+6+10+15+21+28 =84 Grapefruits

4) Find an answer
By using an appropriate mathematical skills. After find a suitable strategy, we need to find an answer, the answer may: provide an estimate value find the actual value estimate the answer and solve the problem

The answer may:

provide an estimate value find the actual value estimate the answer and solve the problem

All of these steps are depend on the question that student will get.

Example of estimate the answer

Read the problem below. First estimate the answer. Then solve the problem and compare the actual answer with your original estimate. Q: The Dunbar School is taking the entire band to the football game next Sunday. The band has 265 members and each bus will hold 37 people. How many buses do we need to transport the band?

Solution
The band has 265 members and each bus hold 37 people. How many buses do we need to transport the band? 265 37 = 7.162 ~ 7 buses (estimation value) 7X37 = 259 students 265-259 = 6 students do not have a seat 8X37 =296 Actual answer= 8 buses since all students can have a seat.

REFLECT & EXTEND

Checked the correctness of answer Maximized the critical thinking Alternate solution should be found and discussed. Extend the process to discover a generalization @ mathematical concepts. Create the interesting variations of the original problem and discussed.

Use your critical thinking!!

A bicycle dealer just put together a shipment of two-wheel bicycles and three-wheel tricycles. He used 50 seats and 130 wheels. How many bikes and how many trikes did he put together?

Conclusion

Heuristics- process/method helping in solving problem.(common-sense) There have 5 stages in heuristic which are:i. Read and think ii. Explore and plan iii. Select Strategy iv. Find answer v. Reflect and extend