Understanding the Problem

First, understand the problem:

• What is the unknown?
• What are the data?
• What are the conditions?

Is it possible to satisfy the condition? Is a heuristic good enough?

Start by drawing out your understanding of the problem.

Devising a Plan

• Have you seen this problem before?
• Do you know a related problem? Could it be useful in some way to solve this problem?
• Is there any problem you know with similar unknowns?
• Could you use the result of something else?
• Could you restate the problem into something simpler?
• Could you solve part of the problem?
• Could you solve a related problem?
• Could you relax a constraint?
• Could you change the unknowns?

Carrying out the Plan

• When implementing every step, make sure each step is correct. Can you prove it to be correct?

Looking Back

• Can you check the result of the solution?
• Can you derive the result differently?
• Can you use the result, or method, for another problem?