Chemical

 Engineering  
 

Student Guide
To Writing
Problem Sets
1st Edition, 2015

Department of Chemical Engineering

University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
 As you progress through your coursework, your conceptual understanding will be assessed
through various types of problems. While you have encountered short answer and math
problems before, there is a structured method and accompanying rationale for solving
engineering problems that is expected of engineers. The purpose of this guide is to show
you the correct way to write an engineering problem, and to explain this rationale.

Introduction: Why is there a problem-solving procedure?

Throughout your education and your career you will see problems involving physical forces
(stress/strain, flow, etc.), thermodynamics (heat transfer), and chemical interactions (kinetics,
material balances). An example of such a problem is below:

From Basic Principles and Calculations in Chemical Engineering, 7th Edition. (Himmelblau, 2004)

 
For these problems, you are being assessed for your ability to work through the problem, not
for coming up with the correct answer. To demonstrate your understanding of the material, you
must document every step of your solution, and there are many reasons this practice is
necessary:
• Engineers solve complex real-world problems that are rarely straightforward.
• Chemical engineers encounter the additional challenge of creating solutions for
interdependent chemical and biological systems, which are inherently intricate.
• The process of engineering design is stepwise and methodical, and each component of the
design must be able to be assessed at any point for flaws, miscalculations, or mistakes—
designs RARELY work correctly the first time out.

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 • Any person (including you) that encounters malfunction in your design or wishes to build on
your work in the future must be able to understand your work and methodology.

• Eventually, the authenticity or some part of your work may be challenged. Your detailed
notes and stepwise problem-solving are the best and foremost protection you have
against negative outcomes. Being wrong is not a crime, but saying that you were right
and not being able to prove it (or not being able to show that you made an honest mistake)
can certainly be a crime in some cases.

In addition, writing a problem well usually helps students to better understand the concepts they
are learning. This guide will explain how to show your problem-solving logic to earn maximum
credit on exams, as well as build good practices for the future.

Part I: The Basic Elements

1. THE BIG 4:
• Name
• Assignment/Exam Number Always important!
• Page number
• Date

Every assignment, every exam—every page of every problem set you write should have these 4
things on it. Don’t let these things be something you lose points over. Omitting any of these
items makes it more difficult for your assignment to be graded, and means that you have not
effectively communicated a component of your solution.

2. Your solution should stand on its own, so that anyone can read it and know what you’re
doing.

This means that each problem’s solution should present enough information for the grader/reader
to understand your problem-solving process. Every formula or textbook equation that you use
should be clearly written prior to using it with numerical values to solve the problem—think of this
as saying “This is why I’m doing what I’m doing”. For example, you should state “PV=nRT” prior
to plugging in the respective values for those equation variables.

In grading, points are frequently weighed to reward using an equation correctly, as this shows that
you understand the situation/context of the problem well enough to solve it correctly.

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 3. Solving a problem = telling a story.

Sometimes, students panic and write every equation they can think of to try to
get credit for a question. Or, students may scrawl their solution all over the
page, making it difficult for a reader to follow what they’re doing. Both of these
behaviors are incorrect.

A problem solution should proceed like a narrative—a stepwise deduction that

proceeds across the page from top to bottom, beginning to end in an orderly, coherent fashion.
In the examples mentioned previously, think of writing every equation covered in class as
screaming vocabulary words in panic without ever explaining what they mean, and think of writing
information randomly all over the page as akin to trying to listen to a heavily intoxicated person
tell a story: it’s highly unlikely that the person on the other side can understand what they’re
saying or why they’re saying it.

First and foremost, the solution should proceed from the top
of the page downward. Begin every new problem on a new
page. Keep your work as orderly and neat as possible so that
the grader/reader can understand the flow of information.
Clearly state any assumptions that you make, and write notes
or comments as you go to help the reader understand your
logic. This will also help you understand the concepts.

A quick word of advice:

Preparation is the first step of the learning process and requires study of the material to familiarize
yourself with concepts, as well as practice in problem-solving through completion of all
assignments. It’s very easy to fall behind in these courses, as new material frequently builds on
concepts introduced earlier in the semester. Because of this, one missed assignment can impact
your ability to grasp subsequent course material and place you even farther behind.
Therefore, if you’re having trouble mastering a concept early in the semester, get help and take
the additional time needed as soon as possible (don’t wait until the end of the semester).

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 !
Part II: The Solution Framework

•  Begin every new problem on a new page.

•  Sketch the problem out
•  List what's Given
Define the
Problem •  Define the variables

•  State what the problem is asking you to Find

•  Even if you don't know how to solve the problem, define the
problem and state your objective, and come back to the problem if
need be.
State your •  Following these two steps frequently helps students to assemble
Objective their thoughts well enough to work through the problem to some
extent.

•  Example: assume Pressure = 1 atm

•  You may outline assumptions as you start the problem, but
frequently you will make additional or new assumptions as you're
State your solving the problem; regardless of when you make these
Assumptions assumptions, all must be stated clearly.

•  Write the equations you'll use to solve the problem

•  if relevant, write comments describing the rationale for using these
Outline/Narrate equations
your Solution

•  Show all unit conversions

•  Sub in values to get final answer
•  Indicate final answer (through boxing it in)
Solve the •  With few exceptions, AN ANSWER WITHOUT UNITS IS NOT A
problem COMPLETE ANSWER.

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 Part III: Example Problems

Name
Assignment number
and date

All givens
Sketch
extracted
with labels
& notes from
problem
statement
(not
shown)

Statement of
assumptions

Page
number
/total page
number

Statement of Notes, restatement

relevant of assumption in
parameters context of its
application

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 Name on
every page
of
assignment
Notes

Notes

Notes,
restatement of
assumption in
context of its
application

Shows working of
units

Units on
final
answers
Final
answers
are boxed
in
Page
number
/total page
number
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Name
Assignment number and date

All givens
extracted
from
problem
statement
(not shown)

Notes
(page ref
in text)
Written
explanations
and notes to
Governing accompany
/Relevant numerical
equations answers
written

Final
answers
are boxed
in

Page
number
/total page
number

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Part IV: Tips on Problem-solving
One of the most frustrating experiences the student can have on an exam is devoting a huge
amount of their limited time deriving equations and trying to solve for unknowns only to realize
that they misunderstood the problem or lack the information necessary to solve it that particular
way. What a lot of students don’t realize is that most of the problem solving actually occurs
before the calculation, usually within the initial problem sketch. Because this is so important (and
gives so many students trouble), we’ve included some tips and examples of what we mean here.

• Part of sketching the problem is to define

the number of knowns and unknowns. For
the sketch here, the engineer has drawn
their system clearly along with all of the
knowns and unknowns given in the problem
statement. From the sketch, the engineer
can see clearly that they know the feed rate
and composition into the system, the
composition of the upper exit stream, and
the percentage of B from the feed stream
that can be found in the lower exit stream.
Just as important, the engineer can clearly see the unknowns of the problem. Having both of
these components laid out clearly is the first key to solving the problem, and will help you
determine the information you must find.

• You may be given superfluous information in the problem statement. Real-world problems
don’t include only the information you need to solve a problem, so the homework and exam
problems you encounter in your classes frequently won’t either. Following the procedure of
sketching your system and listing your knowns and unknowns will help you figure out which
information is actually necessary to solve the problem.

• Think about how you’re solving the problem in general—does it make sense? Try to
consider multiple approaches to the problem as well, and evaluate the merit of each approach
based on what makes the most sense, not “what you think the professor is looking for”. The
professor is looking for you to solve the problem correctly (they’re actually rooting for you to
solve the problem correctly)–but the solution you propose has to make sense. As previously
mentioned, the grader also needs to be able to clearly follow your process and logic, so make
sure your work is neat and detailed.

• Interpret the math—if the math produces multiple answers, don’t discard any without thinking
about what it means. The math can provide insight into the problem—insight you could be
missing.

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