Problem-solving is the skill of working out how to fix things. Something is wrong, nobody has told you the answer, and you find one anyway.
The word belongs to schools and job adverts, where strong problem-solving skills has become almost compulsory wording. It covers a real process, though: noticing what is actually wrong, trying something, and changing approach when it fails. Maths teaching uses it for the kind of question that needs thought rather than a formula. It works in front of a noun as easily as alone — problem-solving ability, a problem-solving approach — and it is written with a hyphen far more often than without.
1nounproblem-solvingThe process of finding ways to deal with difficulties or answer questions.
“The course focuses on problem-solving rather than memorising.”
problem-solve a back-formation from problem solving.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 20 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word