1. (2) Explain how the problem-solving strategy of means-ends analysis can be applied to successfully solve the Missionaries-and-Cannibals problem.
2. (2) How many trips did it take you to solve the Missionaries-and-Cannibals problem? (If your answer is six, you get full credit here.)
3. (1) Look at each trip in your solution as a subgoal in a means-ends analysis. Does each trip satisfy the overall goal of reducing the difference between the initial state and the goal state? If not, indicate which trip or trips violate this overall goal and specifically explain why it does.
4. (1) Analogical problem-solving is another major problem-solving strategy that we discussed in class. Explain analogical problem-solving and give an example.
5. (2) Ill-defined problems are ones where the goal and the potential obstacles are sometimes unclear. An example might be deciding which college to attend or figuring out how to make a relationship work. Explain why means-ends analysis is not a good problem-solving strategy for this type of problem.
6. (2) Means-ends analysis is important because it is the way people go about solving many everyday problems. For example, let’s say you realize that your car is leaking oil and needs to be taken in for service. Assuming you cannot just immediately drive the car to a mechanic, describe the initial state, the goal state and at least two subgoals you might break the problem into.
0 comments