Openers

[Adam]

Hello,

I have been taking a 9 week course and I'm still struggling at identifying my openers. I remember talking through them in our first class and taking note, but when I look back at my notes they aren't clicking anymore. I have been looking at some opener examples in the OG books, but many still don't make sense to me.

Could anyone please help explain openers a bit better for me, maybe with a few examples or direct me to somewhere that very thouroughly explains.

Thanks so much!

[RonPurewal]

when we talk about openers, we mean having instant responses to the form or general content of a problem. so, in other words, what you're doing is finding consistent ways to fill in the following statement:
"when i see ______ in a problem, i should ______."

here are some examples of different openers:
when i see "in terms of" in a problem statement, i should plug in my own numbers.
when i see 2 overlapping sets in a problem statement, i should construct a double-set matrix.
when i see unit price, quantity, and total price or percentages of a mixture in a problem statement, i should set the problem up in the same way as i would a rate-time-distance problem.
when i see circles in a problem statement, i should connect as much information as possible to the radius of the circle.

etc.
the way you figure these out is as TAKEAWAYS from problems. in other words, you'd get the first opener after noticing that plug-in-numbers is a great way to solve a problem that happens to feature "in terms of". in other words, what you're constantly trying to do is GENERALIZE about the kinds of approaches that will work on certain problems.
it's basically stereotyping - i.e., if technique X is a valid opener for one problem of type Y, then you jot it down (mentally or literally) as a possibly valid opener for any problem of type Y - but it's the only way you'll be able to come up with rapid responses to whatever the test decides to throw at you.