Crossing the River with Dogs : Problem Solving for College Students

by Johnson, Ken; Herr, Ted; Kysh, Judy

• ISBN13: 9781931914147
• ISBN10: 1931914141
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Students who often complain when faced with challenging word problems will be engaged as they acquire essential problem solving skills that are applicable beyond the math classroom. The authors of Crossing the River with Dogs: Problem Solving for College Students : - Use the popular approach of explaining strategies through dialogs from fictitious students - Present all the classic and numerous non-traditional problem solving strategies (from drawing diagrams to matrix logic, and finite differences) - Provide a text suitable for students in quantitative reasoning, developmental mathematics, mathematics education, and all courses in between - Challenge students with interesting, yet concise problem sets that include classic problems at the end of each chapter With Crossing the River with Dogs , students will enjoy reading their text and will take with them skills they will use for a lifetime.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	vii
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES	x
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xi
INTRODUCTION	1	(248)
1 DRAW A DIAGRAM	9	(16)
2 MAKE A SYSTEMATIC LIST	25	(18)
3 ELIMINATE POSSIBILITIES	43	(24)
4 USE MATRIX LOGIC	67	(40)
5 LOOK FOR A PATTERN	107	(28)
6 GUESS AND CHECK	135	(28)
7 IDENTIFY SUBPROBLEMS	163	(22)
8 ANALYZE THE UNITS	185	(34)
9 SOLVE AN EASIER RELATED PROBLEM	219	(30)
10 CREATE A PHYSICAL REPRESENTATION	249	(28)
11 WORK BACKWARDS	277	(24)
12 DRAW VENN DIAGRAMS	301	(26)
13 CONVERT TO ALGEBRA	327	(26)
14 EVALUATE FINITE DIFFERENCES	353	(32)
15 ORGANIZE INFORMATION IN MORE WAYS	385	(26)
16 CHANGE FOCUS IN MORE WAYS	411	(24)
17 VISUALIZE SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS	435	(28)
APPENDIX	463	(8)
Unit Analysis
Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying, and Dividing Fractions
Area and Volume Formulas
Properties of Triangles
Properties of Numbers
GLOSSARY	471	(6)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	477	(2)
INDEX OF PROBLEM TITLES	479	(4)
GENERAL INDEX	483	(7)
PHOTO CREDITS	490