story problems, solving If we only studied math for math’s sake,
we would never have to worry about story problems. The fact is,
though, that most of us study math because it is useful. And it
is useful precisely because it helps us to get answers in the
real world. What this means in practice is that the mathematics
you study is only going to be of help to you if you can apply it
to situations expressed in phrases like, “If a car starting at
point A is travelling due north at 30 mph…” But story
problems—let’s face it—have a reputation. Just when you get used
to manipulating the notation of a particular type of problem,
along comes something wordy and difficult in which you are asked
to generate the notation for yourself and then solve the
problem, giving the answer in a way that relates it back to the
question. Students sometimes go about trying to work these
problems in a way that is self-defeating, most often by trying
to figure how they are going to get the answer before they have
really analyzed the prob