C.29:0 - First mathematical move

Ask what you need to find out. Choose the smallest mathematical object that could answer it; say how its elements and operations correspond to the working situation. Identify the structure needed for the inference, the distinctions omitted, and the assumptions on which the result depends. Derive a consequence, then decide what it changes and what would defeat its use.

For waiting work, a queue candidate turns “slow flow” into questions about arrivals, service and waiting. For a proposed dense state array, counting its entries can already rule out an implementation. For a familiar local calculation such as V = IR under its accepted conditions, use the equation directly: the calculation does not require a lens-use record.

If no concrete object can yet be chosen, retain the working cue and the next observation or construction as a candidate. B.5.FM helps when the participants or interactions needed to formulate that mathematical question are still unclear. A family label remains a discovery cue until a concrete object and correspondence are supplied. Recording options in :4.4 serve later inspection or reuse of the result; the mathematical operation comes first.