Specialising and Generalising

Specialising: Finding an example or starting point and trying it out.

Specialising means choosing examples and is a specific process that aids mathematical thinking. Specialising alone is unlikely to solve the problem but it does provide a starting point and can present cases of broader situations in the question (Mason et al. 2010).

Generalising is moving from examples to speculating about and expressing the wider pattern (Mason et al. 2010).