The Art and Craft of Problem Solving

16 CHAPTER 2 STRATEGIES FOR INVESTIGATING PROBLEMS

tempts should you try to prove impossibility. If you cannot do so, then

do not admit defeat. Go back to the problem later.

Now let us try to solve the problem. It is helpful to try to loosen up, and not worry

about rules or constraints. Wishful thinking is always fun, and often useful. For

example, in this problem, the main difficulty is that the top boxes labeled A and Care

in the "wrong" places. So why not move them around to make the problem trivially

easy? See the next diagram.

We have employed the all-important make it easier strategy:

If the given problem is too hard, solve an easier one.

Of course, we still haven't solved the original problem. Or have we? We can try

to "push" the floating boxes back to their original positions, one at a time. First the A

box:

Now the C box,

and suddenly the problem is solved! •