C.40.CD:4.1 - Recover what is being sought and what can already be done

Identify the result being sought, the conditions it must satisfy and the material or situation to which it applies. Distinguish a result someone needs from a constructed challenge used to develop a method. Either can justify inquiry; they give different reasons for continuing it.

Recover an available way far enough to find its inputs, operations, output and supporting conditions. A worked case may be enough. B.5.RC recovers the construction; B.5.TU makes an available theory usable. Start at the point affected by the new question rather than reconstructing an unchanged whole.

Keep any protected condition explicit while it matters. A resource limit, physical condition or required output can be changed in an exploratory problem, but the resulting answer then has to be related back to the original requirement.