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How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method 2nd Edition

by G. Polya (Author), John H. Conway (Foreword)
4.4 out of 5 stars 93 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0691023564
ISBN-10: 0691023565
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press; 2nd edition (1971)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691023565
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691023564
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 135 people found the following review helpful
A Classic for Problem-Solvers
By Phil on September 16, 2001
Format: Paperback
I found Pollya's "heuristic" approach to problem-solving applicable to both mathematical and non-mathematical problems. The goal of the heuristic approach is to study (and use!) the methods and rules of discovery and invention.
Here are just some of the questions that Pollya teaches as tools:
1. What is the unknown? What is the data? What conditions does the solution need to satisfy?
2. Do you know a related problem? Look at the unknown and try to think of a familiar problem having the same or a similar unknown.
3. Can you restate the problem? Can you solve a part of the problem.
4. Can you think of other data appropriate to determine the unknown?
5. Can you check the result?
6. Can you look back and use the result or the method for some other problem?
Overall, the author provides a systematic way to creatively solve problems. This volume has withstood the test of time for nearly 50 years. I recommend it highly.
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113 of 117 people found the following review helpful
A delightful and satisfying classic
By Sandra Feder on December 17, 2004
Format: Paperback
Are you like a dog with a bone when you're working on a brain teaser? After pages of scribbles, do you get a big grin on your face when you turn to the answers and say: "I'm right!" Then this book is for you.

And if you're not yet a die-hard problem-solver? You should step right up, too. You may get hooked.

G. Polya's book is based on the fact that, if we study how someone does something successfully, we can learn to do it successfully as well. How To Solve It is an application of 'heuristics' to solving problems.

There are certain mental operations useful in solving problems, any sorts of problems. Polya (who was an eminent mathematician and former Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University) describes and illustrates the most usual and useful of these operations, in a way that is irresistible and eye-opening.

These useful mental operations are organized according to when they come into play during the four steps to solving a problem. 1. You have to understand the problem. (Not as easy as it sounds.) 2. Find the connection between the data given and the unknown. Conceive the idea of a plan for the solution. 3. Carry out the plan. 4. Examine the solution obtained.

If you take some time and try to solve the problems selected to illustrate each mental operation, you will be well-rewarded. You will likely discover something surprising about your own problem-solving methods, and improve them in the process. You will definitely discover many new ideas and techniques to add to your arsenal.

For example, a first impulse when confronted with a problem is often to try to 'swallow it whole' -- to try to meet all of the conditions of the problem at once. G. Polya suggests keeping only part of the condition, and dropping the other part.Read more ›
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77 of 82 people found the following review helpful
Indispensable for anyone who solves problems professionally.
By A Customer on July 7, 1996
Format: Hardcover
How to Solve It is the most significant contribution to heuristic since Descartes' Discourse on Method. The title is accurate enough, but the subtitle is far too modest: the examples are drawn mostly from elementary math, but the method applies to nearly every problem one might encounter. (Microsoft, for instance, used to and may still give this book to all of its new programmers.) Polya divides the problem-solving process into four stages--Understanding the Problem, Devising a Plan, Carrying out the Plan, and Looking Back--and supplies for each stage a series of questions that the solver cycles through until the problem is solved. The questions--what is the unknown? what are the data? what is the condition? is the condition sufficient? redundant? contradictory? could you restate the problem? is there a related problem that has been solved before?--have become classics; as a computer programmer I ask them on the job every day.

The book is short, 250 large-print pages in the paperback. Its style is clear, brilliant and does not lack in humor. Here is Polya's description of the traditional mathematics professor: "He usually appears in public with a lost umbrella in each hand. He prefers to face the blackboard and turn his back on the class. He writes A; he says B; he means C; but it should be D." Behind the humor, though, lurks a serious complaint about mathematical pedagogy. Fifty years ago, when Polya was writing, and today still, mathematics was presented to the student, under the tyranny of Euclid, as a magnificent but frozen edifice, a series of inexorable deductions. Even the student who could follow the deductions was left with no idea how they were arrived at. How to Solve It was the first and best attempt to demystify math, by concentrating on the process, not the result. Polya himself taught mathematics at Stanford for many years, and one can only envy his students. But the next best thing is to read his book.
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
A book that teaches Math and thinking at once
By Amazon Customer on December 28, 2005
Format: Paperback
Polya struck gold with this book! "How To Solve It" contains a simple, 5 step method for solving problems that's applicable in multitudes of disciplines. While the emphasis of this book is on story problems; Polya's method for problem solving is useful in areas such as computer programming, automotive troubleshooting, electronics repair, heating and cooling services, research writing, and much more.

I am constanly recommending this book to anyone in college. You can read the method and all the examples, or just read the method and a few examples. This book is easy to read, extremely relevant to today's promising careers, and can be understood in only 4 hours.

Marty A. Nickison II, BSCS Net+

author: Beyond the Books (Lulu)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

I purchased this book because of reviews here and recommendations ...

He was a great mathematician but this book is not very helpful.
I purchased this book because of reviews here and recommendations from Math Stack Exchange. Read more

Published 1 month ago by No abridged books
Five Stars

Fantastic book...not just for math...for everyday life and it's problems.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
Great math book.

Book arrived on time, well-packaged, and in great condition as stated. I'm ver pleased and would order again from this provider. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Xanthippe
Highly Recommended to Improve in Problem Solving

Great book, that should be read by everyone. It covers the essentials of problem solving in the most fundamental manner and then provides a dictionary of terms and strategies. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Trey Shaffer
I expected this second-hand book to be used. No ...

I expected this second-hand book to be used. No problem at all, but this time I even could not see the difference between second-hand and new! Read more

Published 3 months ago by E. Nieland
Five Stars

Great book about how to think about math problems

Published 4 months ago by Marco Sammon
I could not be more pleased with the service and the book

I could not be more pleased with the service and the book.It has helped a lot>
thank you jp

Published 4 months ago by Jean Paul O'Gorman
Five Stars

I agree with the many other 5-star reviews. What more could be said?

Published 5 months ago by BuyerOfManyBooks
I received my book on the date per the vendor ...

I received my book on the date per the vendor. This is a classic book by G. Polya on explaining and teaching how to become an ACE at solving problems and earning the A in your... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Aubury Webb, Sr.
Five Stars

Excellent job

Published 5 months ago by George Csanak

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