Q.How does reasoning help in solving problems?

Reasoning is introduced in the chapter through the example of noticing a person running desperately on a railway platform — a number of different explanations could be inferred, such as that he is trying to catch a train about to leave, that he wants to see off a friend already seated inside, or that he has left his bag on the train and is racing to retrieve it. Working out which of these explanations is correct calls on reasoning, which the chapter defines, more generally, as the process of gathering and analysing information in order to arrive at a conclusion. Framed this way, reasoning is described as itself being a form of problem solving: the goal in reasoning is to determine what conclusion can properly be drawn from a given set of information, in exactly the same way that the goal in problem solving generally is to move from an initial state to a desired end state using a connected series of mental steps. …