How to Get the Needed Information to Solve a Problem

The steps to solve a problem are following:

1.    get aware that a problem exists

2.   analyse and structure the problem

• divide it into  smaller pieces
•  start to solve the easiest pieces

3.   collect the needed information, to solve the more difficulty pieces


Here I will focus only onto  point 3:


                     Where can we find the needed information ?

1.    ask  others
2.    read books, reports  and patents
3.    search in databases
4.    use the internet

• To ask others  is a good method. Even, if they don`t know the solution,  each discusssion with others helps, to understand the  problem and get new solution ideas.

• In a good library there should be many books or reports in journals, which deal with similar problems, from which we can learn and we get pieces of the needed information.

• There exist many databases worldwide about almost any subject, in which a huge amount of information is stored. Many are free, for others one has to pay.

Nowadays a very comfortable method to find information,  is of course the internet. Problem with it is, that it oftenly is difficulty to judge, how reliable the information is.

For searches in the internet not only the well known search engines should be used, but meta search engines. These are either specialised  to a subject or they  use many other search engines, so that they can give better results.

There are a lot of meta search engines available and the best is, to test them, searching about a topic, which is well known.

Here is a small collection only:

Meta  Search Engine
http://www.metasearchengine.com

Meta Crawler
http://www.metacrawler.com

Mamma
http://www.mamma.com/


Computational Knowledge Engine and  facts in technology and sciences
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

General Approach to Solve a Problem

Isaksen, Doval and Trefflinger have developed some general guidelines, how to solve a problem:


Understand the challenge

• look for opportunities

• collect all needed data

• structure the problem, using visual maps ( mindmaps, concept maps )

 Generate several ideas, how to solve the problem

• use brainstorming and similar heuristic methods

• use a  morphological box

 Prepare for Action

• Develop detailed solution plan

• convince others, so that they support you

Prepare project management plan

• define resources and responsibilities

• prepare a flowchart, how the problem can be solved step by step.

Literature:

• Treffinger, D. (2000). Practice Problems for Creative Problem Solving. ISBN-10: 1882664647

• Scott,Isaksen,Dorval: Creative Approaches to Problem Solving. ISBN 1412977738

How to Forecast the Life Cycle of Products

It is well known,  that the life cycle of a product can be calculated quite good with a sigmoid  curve. Such a  curve describes the growth of a population,  like bacteria for instance, over time  and  has  a  S-shape.

A simple sigmoid curve is the  logistic curve, which  is symmetric ( point-symmetry ); that means, that the beginning of the growth and the end of it, show the same, but opposite changes in time.

This is seldom the case in real world problems and therefore more general sigmoid curves like the Gomperz function should be used, to model  the growth in production of  a   product  for instance, for which the available resources are limited.

Assuming, that the total production can be sold,   one can forecast the life cycle of the product.

But in  general there are several competing products available  and one must develop a  more sophisticated mathematical model, to forecast the life-cycle of each product.

With  a set of mathematical equations,  such more general situation can also be modeled.

Most important for each decision maker is the understanding, that  the  production output will never only grow, but will reach a constant level and thereafter decrease.  Linear forecasting, based on past data  often forecasts completely wrong results for the future.

For the mathematical background look at wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gompertz_curve

How to: relax and motivate

There exist several methods,  to reach  a deep state of relaxation for body and mind.  Yoga  and Autogenic Training for instance teach such methods.

But quite some training is needed, to master these methods and many people are not patient enough  to train these methods.

A very efficient and easy to use method is a combination of brainwave entrainment, hypnosis and visualization method, which is called

        audio / visual brainwave entrainment

Many explanations about this method are given on the website:

       http://www.transparentcorp.com/products/np/index.php

They offer a software program, with which this method can be applied. A headphone is recommendable for its use.

A free trial verions can be used for 2 weeks

The software  is called Neuro Programmer 3, the regular version costs 60 US and the Ultimate Editon 90 US.

This is a very good price for this excellent tool, to relax and reprogram oneself.

After one has experienced, how a state of deep relaxation feels, it should be also much easier, to reach it, using Yoga or Autogenic Training.

To relax once per day or more oftenly is an excellent method to counteract stress and avoid the burn out syndrom. Using these methods,   the motivation gets stronger and therefore  it  is  much easier to study or master some difficulty skills.

It is also possible, to experience altered states of mind, like they are experienced after many years of training of meditation, using a special collection of soundtracks ( 3 hours sound ), which is called "Beyond Being".     It costs 50 US.


This one I did not yet check myself,   but I use the other methods and can confirm, that they really work very well.

Use the trial version and check yourself, if these methods help you.

How to: solve the sales man problem

The sales man problem is a famous problem in applied mathematics.

The task is easy to define:
A salesman shall visit all the customers in his territory, using the shortest travel path.

With only a few customers, this is not such a big problem, but with more than 30, it gets already difficulty and with much more, it may  not be solvable with the most powerful computers.

But for practical applications, one can use the following simple method, to find an acceptable solution:

• Look at your territory and mark the center of the distribution of your customers
• Around this center draw circles with radiuses, which increase.
• Divide all circles in 6 sections.
• Start in the center and cover all customers in one section, when you reach the customer  at the last circle,  go to the next section and then go backwards to the center.
• Repeat this procedure for all sections.

That procedure will not give the shortest possible travel path, but a reasonable short one.

The same method can be applied to similar problems, at which some points have to be connected, using the shortest connection path like:

• electrical cabling
• location of production facilities or distibution centers
• emergency centers