Solutions to problems are often not easy to find,
and those that at first appear to be obvious may address only symptoms rather than the true cause of the problem.
Identifying causes as an intermediate step makes solutions both easier to find and also more likely to address the problem fully.
Causes tend to appear in chains (Fig. 1), where one cause is caused by another, and so on. Thus an accident may be caused by a puncture, which is caused by a weak tire wall, which is caused by imperfections in the rubber, etc. One cause may also be caused by a combination of other causes. Thus the puncture may be caused by a rough road surface and by sudden braking, as well as a weak tire, as illustrated.