1. Statement of the Problem
As with any engineering problem, defining what you wish to know is the key starting point.� In the case of the helicopter, we wished to design a paper helicopter that had the longest time to drop.� We also had certain constraints in terms of available materials, etc.� For the catapult, we wanted to predict the distance traveled by the marble.� The most important point is that this problem statement is not significantly different than those you have done before for design or experimentation.