OCR AS Mathematics: Problem solving
Section 1: Solving problems
Notes and Examples
These notes contain the following subsections:
Solving mathematical problems
Mathematical modelling
Solving mathematical problems
To develop good problem-solving skills, it is useful to practise the following:
• problems given to you ‘in words’ so that you need to formulate the problem in a way
which allows mathematical methods to be used
• problems that use the methods you know but in ways you may not spot straight away
• problems where the solution is in several stages but you are not given any guidance
about what those stages might be
Some examples are given below. Here is a problem given ‘in words’.
Example 1
Freddie and Louis each start with the same number of sweets.
After Freddie bought 15 more and Louis ate 5 they had 40 sweets between them.
How many sweets did they each have initially?
Solution
In ‘word’ problems you often need to introduce some variables to represent the quantities involved.
Here the variable names x and y have been chosen.
Notice that both are clearly defined in the context of the problem.
Let x be the number of sweets that Freddie starts with.
Let y be the number of sweets that Louis starts with.
The information given in the question is used to form equations involving the variables.
The information “Freddie and Louis each start with the same number of sweets” means that
x=y
The information “After Freddie bought 15 more and
Louis ate 5 they had 40 sweets between them” means that
OCR AS Maths: Problem solving 1 © MEI 21/06/22
Notes and examples page 1 of 5 [Link]
( x + 15) + ( y − 5) = 40
This simplifies to
x + y = 30
Once you have set up the equations they can be solved.
Using equation in gives
2 x = 30
x = 15
Then equation tells you that
y = 15
The solution is interpreted in the context of the original problem.
This means that Louis and Freddie both had 15 sweets to begin with.
Here is a problem that uses a technique you will be familiar with (similar triangles) but in a
way that you may not spot straight away. The solution is also in several stages.
Example 2
In the diagram ABCD is a square.
What is the area of the triangle EFC?
Diagram is
NOT to scale
Solution
Stage 1 Pick out two similar triangles and use this to calculate a useful side length.
Here are two triangles from the diagram, drawn separately.
AB has length 1 cm because it is another side of the square ABCD.
OCR AS Maths: Problem solving 1 © MEI 21/06/22
Notes and examples page 2 of 5 [Link]
Since the two triangles share the angle at F and are right-angled, they must
be similar triangles (all three angles are the same).
x 4 4
Therefore = x= .
1 3 3
Stage 2 Use the information you now have to calculate the area required.
Now you have the length of the base of triangle EFC and its height.
These are 4
3 cm and 4 cm respectively.
1 4 16 8
Therefore the area of EFC is 4 = = cm2
2 3 6 3
Here is a problem where the solution is in several stages and which uses a familiar
technique (trigonometry) but in a way you may not spot straight away.
Example 3
The centre of the circle shown is the origin.
The x-coordinate of the point A is 1.
The y-coordinate of the point B is 1.
OCR AS Maths: Problem solving 1 © MEI 21/06/22
Notes and examples page 3 of 5 [Link]
Calculate the marked angle.
Solution
Stage 1 Form a right angled triangle to work out other useful angles.
It would be useful to know the value of x in the diagram on the right.
You can form a right angled triangle including this angle to do this.
Since the circle goes through (2, 0) its radius is 2.
Draw a vertical line from B down to the y-axis as in the diagram below. The
point where it meets the y-axis has been labelled as C.
The angle OCB is a right angle, since BC is vertical and OC is horizontal.
Since the y-coordinate of B is 1, its length is 1.
The length of OB is 2 since this is a radius of the circle.
Stage 2 Use trigonometry to work out a useful angle.
The value of x can now be calculated using right-angled trigonometry.
1
sin x = x = 30
2
OCR AS Maths: Problem solving 1 © MEI 21/06/22
Notes and examples page 4 of 5 [Link]
Stage 3 Use symmetry to get another useful angle and then complete the problem.
By symmetry (because the x-coordinate of A is 1) the angle AOD in the
diagram below is also 30°.
Angles AOD, AOB and BOC sum to 90°.
Therefore angle AOB is also 30°.
Mathematical modelling
Solving problems using mathematics is an important skill in almost all areas of life! When
you need to solve a real-life problem involving mathematics, the first step is to express the
problem in mathematical terms. This usually involves making simplifying assumptions.
The difficulty with applying a mathematical model to a real-life situation is that it may not be
immediately obvious whether the assumptions are realistic or not. It is usually helpful to
have some kind of experimental result to refer to.
As part of your AS or A level Mathematics, you study some of the applications of
mathematics (Mechanics and Statistics). You need to use modelling in these applications,
and you will usually have to make simplifying assumptions about your work. You should
always think about how the assumptions that you have made might affect your results. For
example, if you were investigating the best angle to throw a ball so that it goes as far as
possible, it would probably be realistic to assume that the effect of air resistance can be
neglected. However, if you were looking at the time take for a parachute to descend, air
resistance would be a very important factor, and to assume that it can be neglected would
probably give you a very inaccurate result.
OCR AS Maths: Problem solving 1 © MEI 21/06/22
Notes and examples page 5 of 5 [Link]