People do not analyze every problem they meet．Sometimes they try to remember a solution from the last time they had a 1 problem．They often accept the opinion or ideas of other people．Other times they begin to act without thinking; they try to find a solution by trial and error． 2 , when all of these methods fail, the person with a problem has to start analyzing．There are six 3 in analyzing a problem．
4 the person must recognize that there is a problem．For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot ride it to class as he usually does．Sam must 5 that there is a problem with his bicycle．
Next the person must find the problem．Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must know 6 it does not work．For example, he must determine the parts that are wrong．
Now the person must look for related 7 that will make the problem clearer and lead to 8 solutions．For example, suppose Sam decides that his bike does not work because there is something wrong with the brakes． 9 , he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about brakes, 10 his friends at the bike shop, or look at his brakes carefully．
After 11 the problem, the person should have 12 suggestions for a possible solution．Take Sam as an example 13 , his suggestions might be：tighten or loosen the brakes; buy new brakes and change the old ones．
In the end, one 14 seems to be the solution to the problem．Sometimes the 15 idea comes quite 16 because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a 17 way．Sam, for example, suddenly sees there is a piece of chewing gum(
