WORKING

BACKWARDS
#6
POLYA’s Strategy in
Problem Solving
 WORKING 1 Like a detective researching a
BACKWARDS crime.
is when: 2 You start at the end point or
the most obvious piece of
information.

3 Each fact chosen researched

should build a bridge between
“what you know” and “what
you don’t know”.
 WORKING
BACKWARDS 4 While working backwards,
is when: remember to swap the
operator to its opposite
(+ becomes -).

5 As you step through the facts,

you should build a case
towards the answer.
1 Question: Jack walked from
Santa Clara to Palo Alto. It took 1
Problem
hour 25 minutes to walk from #1
Santa Clara to Los Altos. Then it
took 25 minutes to walk from
Los Altos to Palo Alto. He arrived
in Palo Alto at 2:45 P.M. At what
time did he leave Santa Clara?

1 2
UNDERSTAND:
What do you need to find?
You need to find what the time
was when Jack left Santa Clara.
PLAN
PLAN:
How can you solve the problem?
You can work backwards from
the time Jack reached Palo Alto.
Subtract the time it took to walk
from Los Altos to Palo Alto.
Then subtract the time it took to
walk from Santa Clara to Los
Altos.
5
3
SOLVE:
Start at 2:45. This is the time Jack
reached Palo Alto.
Subtract 25 minutes. This is the
time it took to get from Los Altos to
Palo Alto.
Time is: 2:20 P.M.
Subtract: 1 hour 25 minutes. This is
the time it took to get from Santa
Clara to Los Altos..
ANSWER
1

•Jack left
Santa Clara
at 12:55 P.M.
 PROBLEM #2 7

Karen is thinking of a
number. If you double Solution:
it, and subtract 7, you We start with 11 and work
obtain 11. What is backwards.
Karen’s number?
2n= 11+7 2N=18
Given: N= 18/2
2n – 7 = 11
N=9