Is there a way in which I can develope lateral thinking, logical analysis and reasoning and apply them in mathematics so as to solve even the complex problems? What steps should I take?

>Is there a way in which I can develope lateral thinking,
>logical analysis and reasoning and apply them in mathematics
>so as to solve even the complex problems? What steps should
>I take?

A google.com search revealed several promising sites including one authorized by Edward de Bono himself

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/

Several books of his are listed there, in particular, Lateral Thinking.

A search for "Roger von Oech" also produced several sites including a link to his own Creative Think:

http://www.creativethink.com/

Among books more specifically concerned with mathematics I may recommend Thinking Mathematically by John Mason and, of course, if you can get anyting by G. Polya, you'd get a delightful and fruitful source of mathematical wisdom.

Thanks for giving me the names of the sites.
But does hard work has any thing to do with it? I mean in Mathematics, to solve difficult problems elegantly and with in a short time, we do need practice.
T SAIDEEP

>Thanks for giving me the names of the sites.
>But does hard work has any thing to do with it? I mean in
>Mathematics, to solve difficult problems elegantly and with
>in a short time, we do need practice.

You need practice, sure. And there's never an assurance that you'd be able to solve difficult problems elegantly and with in a short time, or any difficult problem and always in short time.

Supposing we want to prove a theorem (or any other problem) in Geometry or Tringonometry (any branch of Maths), what steps should we take. Ofcourse we must see the given data and what we have to prove but are there any other factors?

T SAIDEEP

>Supposing we want to prove a theorem (or any other problem)
>in Geometry or Tringonometry (any branch of Maths), what
>steps should we take. Ofcourse we must see the given data
>and what we have to prove but are there any other factors?
>

I would recommend the books by G.Polya, especially How to Solve It? and that of J. Mason, Thinking Mathematically. Check

http://www.math.utah.edu/~alfeld/math/polya.html

Thanks. That was a big help. But about the time, please give some suggestions
T SAIDEEP

I'm guessing that you're looking for an algorithm, a fixed list of steps to take, for doing proofs. There isn't one. If there were, proofs would be a whole lot easier!!
:7

To get good at doing proofs, you need to learn some basic logical tools, and then you need to practice, practice, practice. And even this is no guarantee that you will always quickly come up with an elegant solution. Proofs require knowledge PLUS creativity PLUS logic PLUS time and hard work. Fortunately, they can also be challenging in a fun way, once you start getting the hang of them. Try looking at them like games or puzzles to conquer, and maybe they won't seem so bad!
;)