NOT.6:1 - Problem frame

Use this when different representations support different parts of the work, but a reader cannot reliably combine their results or carry a change between them. A formula can support derivation, a table direct lookup and a diagram recognition of a relationship. Their usefulness together depends on knowing what corresponds and which claims each supplies.

Start with one operation that needs contributions from two representations. Identify the objects, quantities or relations those contributions concern. Construct the correspondence, perform the combined operation, then follow one relevant change through it.

The result is a usable combination: readers can obtain the joined answer, locate a disagreement and update the affected contributions. A discovered incompatibility can instead identify the subject decision that must be made before combining them.

The reader needs the interpretations of the participating representations and the subject relations used to connect them. NOT.2 and NOT.3 supply missing formation and reading rules; NOT.5 supplies a needed translation. A name or explicit correspondence beside the two representations can suffice for a small use.

Keep a single adequate representation when another adds no useful operation. Use NOT.5 for a one-time translation whose target alone supports the remaining work. This method is for continuing joint use, including representations that cannot be fully translated into each other. When different uses of a working method need complementary descriptions, ME.9 relates the claims those uses require; this construction supplies their notational connections.