Start with what you know

     I am currently a college student studying electrical engineering.  Recently I came across a problem that I had no idea how to solve.  I looked through the book hoping to find some sort of inspiration, but to no avail.  There was only one thing to do.  I wrote down what I knew from the problem statement and set out to squeeze as much as information as I could out of the few details provided to me.  After a few lines a solution opened up to me and I was able to complete the problem.
     Another example of this happened when I was trying to fix my car.  Initially it was thought that the starter had died and needed to be replaced.  I wasn't sure where the starter was locacted to even begin working with it.  I thought that maybe I should start with the battery and then follow the cables until it led me to the starter, but I wasn't sure if that path would be productive.  I called my dad for advice and he confirmed my suspicion that following the battery cables would lead me to the starter.
     I followed the battery cables, but still wasn't sure if what I had found was the starter so I called someone else who could come look at my car and give me more direct help.  The first thing my friend did was to check the battery.  I had already tried jumping the car with no luck and was convinced that it must be the starter.  We removed the battery and went to get it tested.  The voltage low enough that the battery wouldn't charge from being jumped by another car, and so we had the battery trickle charged.  After an hour I recieved a call saying that the battery was beyond hope, but that because I was still under the warranty I could get a new battery free of charge.
     I learned an important lesson from these experiences; one that will serve me well in my engineering career and in life in general.  Start with what you know.  It seems like a simple thing, but there is often great power in simple things.
     In solving most any problem you can organize what is given to you and then you can expand what is given using what you already know until you are able to solve the problem.  In solving my engineering problems it is often necessary to rearrange information and look at it in a different way.  I have to keep my mind open and be willing to do work that may not directly help me to solve the problem, but leads me to other options that do allow me to discover a solution.
     I am not always able to solve the problem at hand immediately, but rather am shown what questions I must ask so that I can solve the problem.
     I have found that this is also an excellent way to learn new things.  Find something that interests you and, using what you know, make your best guess about what it is and how it works and then proceed to fill in the gaps.
     To continue on with the example of an engine.  My younger brother recieved a dirt bike for Christmas.  It needs some repairs to make it run and so my brother and I get to work on it together.  I have a little knowledge of how an engine works and by applying what little I know I can see what else there is to know.  If I were to simple look at it and guess how to fix it I would be at a complete loss, but by knowing that gas and oxygen need to mix together and be ignited by a spark I can check if that process is happening correctly.  If it is I can move on to the next thing I know, if not I can learn more about that process and fix it.  
     Some problems may take more work and ingenuity than others, but with any problem, you have to start somewhere, so you might as well start with what you know.