B.5.TU:4.2 - Recover what the theory lets you work with

For this application, identify the objects, relations, given information, permitted constructions and inferential rules. Read a definition together with an operation that uses it. Ask what can be supplied as an input, what can be produced, and which property or conclusion the rule establishes.

Follow the needed result backward to its prerequisites. Keep shared prerequisites and jointly required inputs visible. When a description names a construction without showing how to perform it, B.5.RC recovers its producing operations. When an inference remains unclear, B.5.RA recovers the reason and transitions needed by the receiving use.

Make an unfamiliar expression operative at the point of difficulty. Determine the arguments of a function, the objects related by a diagram, or the conditions under which a rule applies. A.6.3.RT helps construct a usable expression under the available notation. Understanding a symbol’s name is useful only as far as it helps perform or interpret the operation.