by Evan Stewart

Created on: January 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

A problem common for any student of mathematics is the presentation of an equation to be solved when the solution is difficult to calculate. The answer to the problem may even be known but the task of the student is to discover and formulate the needed equation that will produce the one correct solution. In all my higher and secondary education math and science courses, the answers to some of the textbook exercises were provided in one appendix of the textbook. The answers were provided so that students may check their work for accuracy. Many times while completing the text exercises I would be faced with the dilemma of knowing the correct final answer but I would not know how to form an equation for the calculation of the answer. Even more frustrating were the times in which I worked out an equation using a method that seemed correct and yet the solution was not correct. My method of solving the problem did not produce the correct answer given in the exercise appendix. Sometimes my equation would not even be close to the correct equation needed to reach the correct answer and at other times my equation contained only minor errors. Either way, I could not easily produce the needed correct equation. At times, after many attempts to discover the correct equation, I concluded that the answer given in the textbook was wrong and that my incorrect answer produced by an incorrect equation was truly the correct answer and thus the correct equation. There were times when other classmates produced the same incorrect equation as I did and similarly protested that the answer provided in the textbook was obviously false. There were few exceptions where the provided answer was incorrect and my equation was indeed correct, but this rarely occurred. Most of the time my protest, as well as any other protest, would be met by the correction of my math teacher. He or she would testify that my solution was erroneous and that I needed to try again in order to discover the correct solution. If by the end of a lengthy attempt at correction my mind was unable to construct the needed solution, my professor would show me how to formulate the correct equation and indicate my errors. In the end, no matter how correct I assumed I was or no matter how similar my incorrect answer was to the correct answer, my conclusion was still wrong. All the while the correct answer stared me in the face.

My basic problem was a misunderstanding of the class material or I failed to see all of the elements

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