Reference no: EM132405549
Task: Comparing Problem Solving Strategies
Complete this task in your Portfolio. This will also be discussed as a group towards the end of the session.
Problems may be solved with a variety of strategies, some of which we reviewed during this week's workshop, but some strategies are better suited to some problem types than others. This task requires you to try solving problems using different strategies and comparing how well suited each of these strategies is to the task.
1. Pick any two different strategies from this week's workshop. Try to choose strategies that work quite differently from each other.
2. Using both of these strategies, develop and document (in your Portfolio) a plan to solve the problem below. If any of your strategies does not suit this problem enough to formulate a plan, state this and try to identify why this is the case.
Case:There are 10 plates in a row. There is one apple on each plate.

Thomas the kangaroo loves to jump. First, he jumps onto the leftmost plate with the letter A
On each single jump after this, he either jumps forward two plates, or backwards three plates. (An example of the two possible jumps from one plate is shown with arrows in the picture.)
Thomas only jumps onto plates with an apple.
If he jumps onto a plate, he collects the apple from it.
Question:
If Thomas collects all 10 apples, which apple does he collect last?
3. Try solving the problem using both approaches Make sure your portfolio entry clearly shows how you have used your plan in your attempt to solve the problem.
4. Compare the performance of each of the strategies solving this problem. Was one more suited to the task than the other? Were both effective?
5. Repeat steps 2-4, using the same two strategies, with the problem below.
You have 6 coins in your pocket, consisting of 1 of each available Australian coin:
5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, $1, $2
How many different sums of money are you able to make with just these coins?
6. Write a short summary of each of the strategies you have used, identifying what the strategy is, how it works, and, if it became noticeable during your problem-solving attempts, describing the types of problems for which it is effective or ineffective.