Patterning

1. Identifying a class of problems, of which
   some particular instance may be of special interest.

2. Identifying several of the simplest problem
   instances of the class.

3. Solving the several simplest instances.

4. Observing a pattern relating the instances to
   their solutions, and stating the pattern as a solution
   to the generic problem associated with the problem
   class.

5. If some particular instance is of particular interest
   applying the pattern to obtain the solution to the
   original problem.