Problem solving and the pigeonhole principle
| dc.contributor.author | Ching Ching, Wong | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2015-05-21T07:48:10Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2015-05-21T07:48:10Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2007 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Over the years, problem solving has become one of the major concerns at all level of school mathematics. In fact, in 2003, the Malaysian Ministry of Education suggested that problem solving be the mai1;1 focus in the school mathematics and all mathematics ' teachers were_ advised to give specific consideration towards problem solving whilst planning and teaching a particular subject topic. In view of the importance of problem solvmg, this project aims to discuss some related topics of problem solving such as the famous Polya's four-step problem solving process, some strategies that may be useful to solve problems and finally, one of the very important fundamental tactics of problem solving, i.e., the pigeonhole principle. 'If (n + 1) pigeons are put into n pigeonholes, then at least one of the holes has more than one pigeon.' This is the simplest formulation of the pigeonhole principle. The basic idea behind the pigeonhole principle may seem easy and common sense, but in the hands of a capable mathematician it can be made to do uncommon things. In this project, we not only look into the history and ideas of the pigeonhole principle, but we also present several applications of the pigeonhole principle that will show us that the principle is in fact a very powerful tool. Some activities related to the applications of pigeonhole principle that can be carried out in the classroom are also suggested. In vii short, after reading this report, we hope that the readers will be fascinated by the marvellous applications of the pigeonhole principle. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/653 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.title | Problem solving and the pigeonhole principle | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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