Choosing a Technique to Fit the Problem — and Vice Versa

Abstract

After you have visualised the system you are concerned with and have defined how you want it to perform, then any failure to achieve that performance constitutes a problem to be solved. If the failure in performance is stated in numerical terms you will usually look for a numerical solution, however simple. When the numerical solution is not obvious, some form of analysis will be needed. The structure of that analysis is the problem-solving model.

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest