Heuristics List

1. Get your hands dirty: Engage the problem. Try things out. Experiment. For example, list out initial terms in a series.
2. Externalize: Use paper or other things in the world to make up for your limited working memory.
3. Visualize: Use appropriate representations (diagrams, tables, etc.) for information to help organize.
4. Look for special features in the problem.
5. Go to extremes: Often the "ends" of the problem are important special features.
6. Simplify: Try the problem on small cases to gain understanding.
7. Don't be blind: If you are stuck, consider using another approach.
8. Sleep on it: Time and the subconcious mind can help you to see a solution.
9. Wishful thinking: Start with a "perferred" version of the problem, and see if you can then modify that back to the original.
10. Penultimate step: Find an intermediate step that must be solved. Then your original problem becomes getting to the intermediate step, and from there to the goal. Those subproblems might be easier to solve.
11. Look for symmetries and invariants: These might be special features of importance, or they might give additional insight into the problem.